Turkey prevents NATO meeting with Israel

The Turkish daily Hurriyet reports suggestion to resume meetings between ministers from Israel and 6 Arab Mediterranean countries was blocked by Ankara & Cairo, who said ‘it’s not the right time’.

By Ynet

 

An initiative to bring Israel and six Arab countries’ ministers together under NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue group for the first time since 2008 has been nixed by Turkey and Egypt, Turkish daily Hurriyet reported Saturday.

Ankara and Cairo reportedly said “it was not the right time” for such a meeting.

“The general-secretary was planning to invite the foreign ministers of the Mediterranean Dialogue countries on the sidelines of the NATO foreign ministers meeting scheduled for April 23 but Turkey objected to the idea,” a Western diplomat told Hürriyet. Continue Reading »

Iranian military test-fires 3 new missiles

Iran’s Fars news agency reported that Iran’s Ground Forces successfully test-fired 3 missiles, some a type never tested before.

Iran‘s military has successfully test-fired three new missiles of a type never tested before, according to a Saturday report by the Iranian Fars news agency.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards personnel -AP - June 28, 2011.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards personnel watch the launch of a Zelzal missile during maneuvers by the city of Qom, Iran. June 28, 2011. – Photo: AP

“Three types of missiles developed by the Army and the Defense Industries have been successfully test-fired in the Ground Force’s recent wargames,” Fars cited Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Army’s Ground Force General Kioumars Heydari as saying. Continue Reading »

Israel finally set to launch its 24-hour satellite news network

Israel has been debating setting up a 24-hour satellite TV news network for years, but now is seems the dream might actually become reality.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Israel has been talking about fielding a global news network to compete with the likes of CNN, the BBC and Al Jazeera for years. It appears that dream might finally come true this summer with the launch of i24news.

Israel set to launch 24-hour global news network

i24 New Network Logo

Privately funded so that it will not rely on government backing or donations from the Jewish community, i24news will be based in the greater Tel Aviv area from where it will broadcast worldwide in English, French and Arabic. Continue Reading »

U.S. visa waiver bill hits wall over possible denial of Arab-Americans entering Israel

The American legislative effort that would allow visa-free entry for Israelis may be for naught because the Israeli gov’t is unable/unwilling to reciprocate, insisting on its right to refuse entry to certain U.S. citizens based on security concerns.

By

 

A legislative effort led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to enable Israelis to enter the United States without visas may be stymied by the government – Israel’s government.

U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer


U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.), after he signs the U.S.-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act in the Oval Office of the White House.

Continue Reading »

PA Pissed-Off After Canada’s FM John Baird Meets Livni in Eastern Jerusalem

Canada’s FM meeting Justice Minister Livni in her eastern Jerusalem office is a “slap in the face”, says former PA FM Nabil Shaath.

“The Canadians have been making a name for themselves by speaking out on the int’l scene in a way which is all too rare,” Israeli FM spokesman Yigal Palmor added, saying they were demonstrating an unusual “courage & moral stance”.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

The Palestinian Authority is fuming after Canada’s Foreign Minister, John Baird, met Israel’s Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in her eastern Jerusalem office this week.

John Baird visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem - Photo by Sebastian Scheiner-AP

John Baird visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem – Photo: Sebastian Scheiner/AP

Such a move is normally avoided by visiting diplomats since world countries do not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem, which it liberated during the 1967 Six Day War. Continue Reading »

IDF hits back on Syrian boarder after patrol target of Syrian artillery fire

Gunfire comes across Syrian border towards IDF patrolling in Golan Heights

IDF soldiers fire missiles at source of artillery fire, recording direct hit

Israel reports Syrian infraction to United Nations.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST.COM STAff

 

The IDF has confirmed that shots were fired from Syria on one of its border patrols on Friday evening.

There were no injuries or damages in the incident, an army spokeswoman said.

A tank battalion from the Armored Corps 401 Brigade held a war drill on the Golan Heights on Feb 20

A tank battalion from the Armored Corps 401 Brigade held a war drill on the Golan Heights on Feb 20 – Photo: IDF Spokesman Unit

IDF soldiers fired missiles at the source of the artillery fire, recording a direct hit. Continue Reading »

110 Jordanian MPs want pardon for Soldier who shot & killed 7 Jewish schoolgirls

 

110 Parliament members sign petition demanding Pardon for ex-soldier who shot & killed seven Israeli schoolgirls in 1997.

Former justice minister saying

‘He’s a hero’ 

Victims’ parents say they will fight against murderer’s release.

By Roi Kais

 

An overwhelming 110 members of the Jordanian House of Representatives signed a petition demanding a pardon for a Jordanian soldier who shot and killed seven Israeli schoolgirls in 1997.

שער "ידיעות אחרונות" למחרת הטבח (צילום: ארכיון ידיעות אחרונות)

Yedioth Aharnoth front page after the shooting – Photo: Yedioth Ahronoth archives

Ahmad Musa Mustafa Daqamseh shot the girls during a school fieldtrip in Naharayim, near the Israel-Jordan border, and is currently serving a life sentence. Continue Reading »

PA Open Museum to Invent 200-Year-Old Palestinian History

Everyone knows the Jews, of course, changed the original version of the Bible. That’s what happens when someone controls the media.

And everyone knows that Jesus was a Palestinian.

And everyone knows that Rachel’s Tomb is actually the Bilal ibn Rabah mosque, dating back more than 2,000 years before Islam was founded.

By: Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu

 

The cornerstone was laid Thursday for a new museum north of Ramallah to show off 200 years of the culture of “Palestinians,” another Arab effort to invent a past that has no future.

It is a lot easier to convince the world that Israel is “occupying its land” if Arabs can show that the “Palestinians” existed 200 years ago and were not invented by Yasser Arafat.   Continue Reading »

Facebook prevents PMW from exposing Palestinian promotion of hate speech

Facebook allows Palestinian promotion of hate speech but prevents PMW from exposing it

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

 

Following Palestinian Media Watch’s bulletin exposing the PA TV broadcast of a girl reciting a poem referring to Jews as “enemies of Allah, descendants of pigs,” Facebook, like YouTube, decided to remove PMW’s post.

Facebook: “We removed the following content you posted or were the admin of because it violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.”

 

Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities stipulates that “you will not post content that is hate speech” or “incites violence.”

While Facebook is preventing PMW’s exposure of the PA’s hate speech, Facebook’s policy has not been applied to the explicit terror promotion and terror glorification by Fatah on Facebook, which PMW has documented, all of which were posted by Fatah’s Facebook page administrator:

Fatah in Lebanon encouraged violence and terrorism by posting a picture of a mother dressing her young son with a suicide belt. Continue Reading »

Al-Qaeda Plot to Bomb U.S. Embassy & Synagogue Foiled by Turkish Police

Turkish police have uncovered & contained an alleged plot by Al-Qaeda to bomb a synagogue in Ankara as well as the U.S. embassy & other public sites.

By Arutz Sheva staff

 

 

Turkish police have uncovered and foiled an alleged plot by Al-Qaeda to bomb the United States embassy in Ankara, as well as a synagogue and other targets in Istanbul, Turkish media reported on Friday.

US Embassy in Ankara - AFP file photo

US Embassy in Ankara – AFP file photo

As a result of a February raid in Istanbul and the northeastern city of Corlu, police had arrested 12 people, including eight Turks, two Azeris and two Chechens, and seized 22 kilograms of explosives, CNNTurk reported. Continue Reading »

‘Facebook Minister’ learns supporters lavished praise one day, & are out for blood the next

Yair Lapid, Israel’s new finance minister, prefers to respond to criticism from home on his Facebook page, rather than in the Knesset podium.

By Ryan Jones

 

When he first announced his intention to form a party and run for Knesset, popular television personality Yair Lapid was hailed far and wide as a kingslayer for being most capable of unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Yair LapidWhen it became clear Lapid would join Netanyahu’s new govrnment, he was instead held aloft as a kingmaker, because without Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, Netanyahu would not have a stable coalition.

Now that it has come to actually governing the nation, Lapid is being mercilessly attacked as the “Facebook minister” due to his preference to respond to criticism of his work as minister of finance via social media, rather than at the Knesset itself. Continue Reading »

Balkan Report warns of Iranian & Hezbollah threats against Jews

Experts say weak law enforcement & security in Balkan states facilitate threats against Israeli, Jewish populations.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

 

 

BERLIN – A leading Balkan-based website covering the region’s politics published in late March a comprehensive study on Israeli-Balkan relations and the threat of Hezbollah, along with its chief sponsor Iran.

Truck carries bus damaged in terrorist attack

Truck carries bus damaged in terrorist attack – Photo: Stoyan Nenov/ Reuters

“While the Israelis are, of course, concerned by the occasional manifestations of neo-Nazism, they are currently focusing on Hezbollah – and behind it, Iran – as the main potential threat to their own interests.

Continue Reading »

Egyptian Member of Parliament: Egyptians ‘would love’ to be in a union with Israel

Abdulmawgoud Dardery, head of the Foreign Relations Committee at Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), told Turkey’s A9 TV that Egyptians “cannot wait” to see the formation of an Islamic Union model.

By Al Arabiya

 

Egyptians “would love” to be part of an Islamic Union model which will bring together not only the Muslim countries but Israel as well to discuss how to solve regional conflicts, a prominent Islamist member of Egyptian parliament told a Turkish television station during a visit to Istanbul this week.

Egyptian members of Parliament, from the Islamist Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), meet with members of Turkey’s A9 television station.

Continue Reading »

Abbas & Abdullah Playing the Jerusalem Card

Article IV of the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement agreement states the following:

“All necessary measures shall be taken to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale, and as quickly as possible to settle Jewish immigrants upon the land through closer settlement and intensive” cultivation of the soil.

By Mudar Zahran

 

The “Judaization” of the British Mandate for Palestine was the very thing the Hashemites were committed to support, in exchange for establishing an Arab state under Hashemite rule. The terms of the agreement were clear: Jews were to settle in the British Mandate for Palestine with no exclusion of Jerusalem.

Continue Reading »

Unnamed gov’t source: Israel’s planning to freeze settlement construction

Officials in Jerusalem suggest that while there won’t be a de jure freeze, expansion outside of major settlement towns will be halted.

‘It’ll take a while, but eventually talks will resume’ 

By Attila Somfalvi

 

US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the Mid-East may have ended without any obvious results, but official sources involved in the preliminary talks said Thursday night that “eventually the negotiations will resume. Israel is expected to quietly freeze construction outside of the major settlement blocs in order to resume bilateral talks.”

Settlement construction - Photo Ynet Archives

Settlement construction – Photo Ynet Archives

A few days ago Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas demanded that Prime Minister Netanyahu present a permanent agreement border outline. Continue Reading »