Statistics: Jews Far More Happy to be Living in Jerusalem Than Arabs

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics just released a mountain of Jerusalem-related statistics, just in time for Jerusalem Day.

By David Lev

 

Jerusalem is Israel’s biggest city, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) announced Monday. In a slew of Jerusalem-related statistics, released in honor of Jerusalem Day, to be celebrated later this week, the CBS announced that at the end of 2011, there were 804,400 people living in the city, 499,400 (62%) of them Jewish. Of the rest, 281,000 (35%) were Muslim, 14,700 (2%) Christian, and 9,000 (1%) “other” or no declared religion. In addition, 200 Druze lived in the city. Continue Reading »

Hamas: No peace with Israel – EVER!

The EU, US & UN are getting all excited over The Arab League’s suggestion of an Israeli-Arab peace deal, but everyone is ignoring the actual players on the ground, like Hamas, which refuses to make any peace deal under any terms.

By Ryan Jones

 

While the American administration gets all excited over the Arab League making passing mention of its previous regional peace proposal, Western power-brokers are completely ignoring the fact that Palestinian powerhouse Hamas rejects the idea of peace with Israel under any circumstances.

zzzzzAfter Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani commented last week that the Arab League would be willing to accept minor territorial compromise as part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry got to work pressing Israel to accept the proposal. Continue Reading »

Lessons to be learned from Martin Luther King

“Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

By MICHEL STEVENS

 

In his 1968 speech to the Rabbinical Assembly, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said “peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy.”

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Wherever an Iranian embassy exists, terror plots on Jews & Israelis are born

 

The former head of the Counter Terrorism Bureau, Nitzan Nuriel, says Iran and their proxy Hezbollah could retaliate for Israel’s reported strikes in Syria by targeting Israeli & Jewish institutions abroad. 

Israeli embassies and institutions around the world raise level of alert.

By Ilan Gattegno, Daniel Siryoti, Lilach Shoval & Shlomo Cesana

Israeli embassies and major Jewish institutions around the world raised their levels of alert on Sunday over fears of terror attacks related to recent events in Syria. This step was also taken during prior periods of tension along the country’s northern borders.

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Livni rejects 1967 borders ‘precondition’ as catalyst for negotiations

 

Tzipi Livni stands fast & refused to accept the 1967 border as a ‘precondition’ to discuss borders, saying ‘That’s one of the points that must be resolved through talks.’

By JTA

 

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni reportedly refused to accept the 1967 border as the basis for a final Israeli-Palestinian border prior to negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State John KerryLivni told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday that Israel would not agree to the 1967 borders as a precondition of peace negotiations with the Palestinians, Maariv reported. Rather, she said, the border issue must be resolved through talks.

President Obama has called for the resumption of negotiations “on the basis” of the 1967 borders, a reference widely interpreted as allowing for an agreement in which Jewish settlement blocs become Israeli territory in exchange for other areas. Continue Reading »

Legislation committee approves Yisrael Beytenu’s electoral-reform bill

The Knesset’s legislation committee approved a bill seeking to raise election threshold and limit no-confidence motions against gov’t.

 

 

 

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a controversial Yisrael Beytenu electoral reform bill Monday.

Former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman at press conference, March 18, 2013

Former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

The legislation proposed by Knesset Law, Constitution and Justice Committee chairman David Rotem (Yisrael Beytenu) would increase the election threshold to four percent, limit the number of ministers including the prime minister to 19 and deputy ministers to four.

In addition, the bill would require no-confidence motions to be submitted by at least 61 MKs and to include an alternative candidate for prime minister.

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IDF proposes same time served for men & women

 

IDF suggests plan that will determine term of service by position, not gender and shortened service by 4 months.

By Yoav Zitun

An IDF plan aims to see male and female soldiers serving for the same amount of time with the length of service determined by their position, and not their gender.

Swearing-In Ceremony of IDF's Nachal Brigade at the  Kotel - IsraelandStuff PP

Swearing-In Ceremony of IDF’s Nachal Brigade at the Kotel – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

 

IDF officers presented a plan to shorten men’s army service by four months to 32 months at the committee for the Promotion of Equal Share of the Burden on Monday. If approved, the change will become effective as of July 2015. Continue Reading »

Syria Reports: Dozens of Elite Troops Killed in IAF Strike

Syria claims Israeli bombs hit a Republican Guard bases killing dozens of soldiers, long-range missile storehouses, & a chemical weapons research installation.

By Gil Ronen

 

The Israel Air Force (IAF) struck several critical military facilities in Syria, killing dozens of elite troops stationed near the presidential palace, a high-ranking Syrian military official said in an interview with the New York Times.

File photo of IAF planes - Photo EPA

File photo of IAF planes – Photo EPA

Israel refused to confirm the attack, which was the second in three days. The strikes are widely seen as attempts to prevent the Syrian government from transferring weapons to Hizbullah in neighboring Lebanon. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu goes to China as Israel goes on high alert

Iron Dome deployed in the north as airspace closed to all civilian traffic.

Security cabinet sends reassuring messages to Damascus: Israel’s sole interest is to prevent weapons from reaching Hezbollah

 

 

Though Jerusalem was careful not to claim responsibility for yesterday’s strike or for a similar one on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces deployed Iron Dome batteries near Haifa and Safed, authorities closed the northern skies to civilian air traffic, and pressure on gas mask distribution stations quadrupled compared to normal days.

Iron Dome

Iron Dome intercepting rocket launches.

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Netanyahu off to China, 2 hours late due to Syrian unrest

Despite tensions on northern border, visit to China continues as planned. On agenda: Trade relations & far more serious sanctions on Iran.

By Atilla Somfalvi

Even as things heat up in the north, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took off for China, with a slight two hour delay, due to the situation on the Syrian front. The main issues scheduled for discussion during the prime minister’s China meetings include economics and Iran.

עסקים כרגיל. נתניהו בישיבת הממשלה המיוחדת היום בהר הרצל (צילום: נועם מושקוביץ)

Special cabinet meeting convened Sunday – Photo: Noam Moskovich

Sunday morning Netanyahu made no mention of the attacks on Syria, for which Israeli officials had told news agencies that Israel was responsible. Continue Reading »

Analysis: Israel and a Sunni Alliance

An alliance will see Israel teaming up with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey & the United Arab Emirates to forge a Middle East “moderate crescent” to “contain” Iran, rather than confront it.

By Gil Ronen

 

The report of a new alliance between Israel and several Sunni Muslim Arab states for “containment” of a nuclear Iran has people more worried than they should be, according to Arutz Sheva strategic affairs contributor, Mark Langfan.

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (left) has coffee with Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Fahd bin Abdullah upon his arrival April 23 at King Khaled Int'l Airport in Riyadh. - Photo Jim Watson AFP

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (left) has coffee with Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Fahd bin Abdullah upon his arrival April 23 at King Khaled Int’l Airport in Riyadh.

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Settlers & Palestinians band together against problematic waste dump

Regional Arabs & Settlers all agree with the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel saying their dump is environmentally unfriendly.

 

 

 
Trash issues have trumped the conflict, as settlers and Palestinians band together to protest a new German funded landfill near a nature reserve in Area C of the West Bank.
THE NAHAL MAKOCH Nature Reserve

THE NAHAL MAKOCH Nature Reserve – Photo: Roee Simon/SPNI

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) is leading the battle against the dump, because along with the settlers and Palestinians, it believes that the landfill is environmentally problematic.

The Binyamin Regional Council is also upset that its settlements can not use the landfill, located in their region, precisely at a time when the state has mandated the closure of the dump where they now deposit their trash.

Continue Reading »

Kiwi peace activist caught lying to Israeli Security, then exiled!

Thomson, “I felt humiliated & ashamed. Eventually it seemed to me that he had found something out & knew that I had lied about something.”

By Bevan Hurley @BevanHurleyHoS

 

A peace activist was detained for 48 hours before being sent back to New Zealand for trying to enter Israel on a tourist visa.

Amy Thomson - Photo  Graeme Brown

Amy Thomson – Photo: Graeme Brown

Amy Thomson, 26, was held at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on February 26. She tried to enter the country for a three-month voluntary internship at a non-government organisation promoting peace.

Thomson said the Israel Palestinian Centre for Research and Information told her she should claim to be a tourist. Continue Reading »

Israel + Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates & Jordan share intel

UK newspaper reports Israel agrees ‘4+1’, a joint effort with ‘regional powers’ to counter Iran’s “fundamentalist crescent” of Iran, Iraq, Syria & Hezbollah.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Israel has been working toward a cooperative agreement in compliance with Turkey and three Arab states to implement an allied system of detection technologies to defend against Iranian ballistic projectiles, British newspaper The Sunday Times reported.

Iranian ballisitic missile launched at war game.

Iranian Fateh-110 ballistic missile launched at war game. – Photo: Ho New / Reuters

The initiative, termed “4+1”, reportedly proposes joint efforts to be taken by Israel along with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan to share access to radar and anti-missile technologies, according to the Times.

Continue Reading »

West Bank: Palestinians & Settlers clash = 10 injured

Security forces called in to disperse some 30 settlers & 100 Palestinians who clashed near Binyamin settlement

Itamar Fleishman

Violent riots broke out Saturday as dozens of settlers and Palestinians clashed in the West Bank settlement of Binyamin. Ten people sustained injuries as a result of stone hurling.

Settlers clash with Palestinians in Urif last week – Photo Reuters

The clashes started when settlers arrived at a central junction in the settlement in order to protest the recent incidents stone throwing at Israeli cars in the region. According to settlers, Palestinians from neighboring villages arrived at the scene and began hurling stones and attacking them with sticks. Continue Reading »