Report: France backs adding Hezbollah militiamen on terrorists’ blacklist

Earlier this week, Bahrain declared the Lebanese group a terrorist organization and called on other Persian Gulf nations to follow suit.

By JTA

 

PARIS– The French government supports adding the armed wing of Hezbollah to the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations, an Arabic daily reported.

Hezbollah terrorists - Photo by EPA

Hezbollah supporters – Photo by EPA

 

The London-based Al Hayat daily reported on Friday that French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius informed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry of Paris’ decision at a meeting on Wednesday.

According to the report, the French government endorsed the designation following the finding by Bulgarian authorities that Hezbollah was responsible for the terrorist attack last summer on a busload of Israeli tourists in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas, Bulgaria, and because of the support Hezbollah is providing to the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Continue Reading »

‘J’lem Post’ poll: Huge rise in Israelis who see Obama as pro-Israel

Poll survey shows the number of those who consider President Obama pro-Palestinian, falls to 4-year low.

The more left-wing Israelis defined themselves, the more they see the Obama administration more pro-Israel.

 

US President Barack Obama’s trip to Jerusalem last week made a significant impression on Israelis, but not the impression he was trying to make, according to a Smith Research poll taken for The Jerusalem Post in the aftermath of the visit.

US President Barack Obama speaks in Jerusalem on March 21, 2013.

US President Barack Obama speaks in Jerusalem on March 21, 2013. – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

The percentage of Israelis who consider the Obama administration more pro- Palestinian than pro-Israel fell by a whopping 20 percent since before the visit, the poll, taken on Sunday, found. Continue Reading »

Three brothers missing off Ashkelon beach

Rescue divers continue searching for 3 brothers who were swept to sea off the Ashkelon beach, after 2 entered trying to save youngest.

‘I hope at least one survives,’ says father.

By Ilana Curiel

 

A diving team started searching on Friday morning for three brothers where last seen at a beach near Ashkelon Thursday night.

ההיערכות על החוף. כוחות רבים ממתינים  (באדיבות משטרת ישראל)

Rescue teams at the beach – Photo: Courtesy of police

According to testimonies, the youngest brother bathed in the sea with a cousin. They shouted for help and the two elder brothers came to their rescue, but were swept into the sea themselves.

“I hope at least one of them survives,” said the father of Shenhad, 26, Suleiman, 19 and Ataf, 16. Continue Reading »

Christians descend on Jerusalem for Good Friday events in the Holy Land

Later today, Protestants & Roman Catholics to walk in processions following Jesus’ footsteps in Jerusalem’s Old City.

 

Hundreds of Christians are marking the crucifixion of Jesus in the Holy Land.

Worshipers have packed Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulcher church, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected, for a morning mass that started Good Friday events.

Roman Catholic clergymen hold candles as they circle the aedicule during the Holy Thursday mass

Roman Catholic clergymen hold candles as they circle the aedicule during the Holy Thursday mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s old city, March 28, 2013. – Photo: AFP

Roman Catholics and Protestants will walk in processions following Jesus’ footsteps in Jerusalem’s Old City later in the day. Continue Reading »

As Passover Coincides with Arab ‘Land Day’, Security Forces go on High Alert

The IDF, Police & Border Guard are all on high alert in Jerusalem and throughout Judea & Samaria as the regional Arabs prepare to mark Land Day.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Police are on high alert in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria (Shomron) as Arabs prepare to mark Land Day. This year, it overlaps with Passover, leading to extra cause for concern.

Land Day marks the anniversary of widespread Arab riots in 1976 over Israeli plans to expropriate unused land in the Galilee, some of which was Arab-owned. The day is often celebrated with violent riots.

Hundreds of police officers have been stationed across the Old City and eastern Jerusalem due to concern that riots could break out after the Friday morning Muslim prayers at the Al Aqsa mosque. Continue Reading »

Palestinian journalist jailed for a year for ‘insulting’ Abbas

Arab Journalist sentenced to a year in prison by Palestinian Authority court after posting photo comparing Abbas’s face to a fictional villain on a Syrian TV show.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Palestinian journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh from Bethlehem was sentenced on Thursday to one year in prison for “insulting” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook.

The photo that landed Palestinian journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh in jail.

The photo that landed Palestinian journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh in jail. – Photo: Courtesy

He is the second Palestinian to be sentenced to prison for one year on the same charges since the beginning of the year.

Hamamreh, who works for the Palestinian Al-Quds TV station, was found guilty of sharing a photo on Facebook that compared Abbas with a villain who played the role of a French spy in a popular Syrian TV series.

Continue Reading »

Cyprus jails Hezbollah terrorist for plotting attack on Israelis

Hossam Taleb Yaacoub sentenced to 4 years in prison for plotting to attack Israeli interests in Cyprus.

US says Yaacoub’s guilty verdict demonstrates need for EU to take severe measures against Hezbollah threat.

By Reuters

 

A Cyprus court sentenced a member of Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement to four years in jail on Thursday on charges of plotting to attack Israeli interests on the island.

Hossam Taleb Yaacoub – Photo: AP

In a case bearing similarities to a deadly bus bombing in Bulgaria targeting Israelis last year, the Cypriot court convicted Hossam Taleb Yaccoub on five counts of participating in a criminal organization and agreeing to commit a crime. Continue Reading »

Obama tells Palestinians: Accept Israel as the Jewish State

While telling the Palestinians to accept Israel as the Jewish state is not the only shift in US policy announced during Obama’s Jerusalem trip (another: telling the Palestinians not to set preconditions for negotiations), this one looms largest because it starkly contravenes the Palestinian consensus.

By Daniel Pipes

One key shift in U.S. policy was overlooked in the barrage of news about U.S. President Barack Obama’s eventful fifty-hour visit to Israel last week. That would be the demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state, called by Hamas leader Salah Bardawil “the most dangerous statement by an American president regarding the Palestinian issue.”

Continue Reading »

Suspected terrorist cell nabbed near Bethlehem

An Israeli military tribunal indicted the men for the alleged production of arms, attempted murder & conspiring to commit crimes.

By JTA

 

Israeli security forces arrested and indicted some 30 Palestinians from the Bethlehem area who are suspected of belonging to a terrorist network.

Bethlehem after Christmas

Terrorists move missiles in Bethlehem after Christmas

The defendants were arrested in January and February in Beit Fajar, a village near the Palestinian city, Army Radio reported Thursday following the expiration of a gag order on the arrests.

They were arrested in an operation coordinated by Israel’s General Security Service and are believed to have belonged to the PLO. Continue Reading »

Israel establishes ‘field hospital’ to treat the injured Syrians

Officials confirm that due to growing number of injured Syrians arriving at Israel’s border, a ‘military field hospital’ was built on an IDF outpost in the Golan Heights.

Yoav Zitun, AFP

 

In light of the steady increase in the number of wounded Syrians Israel has been treating, the IDF has set up a “military field hospital” at army outpost 105 in the Golan Heights, AFP reported Thursday.

Netanyahu looks at Syrian patient IDF field hospital. – Photo: KOBI GIDEON/GPO

Israeli officials confirmed that the hospital was set up to treat injured Syrians near the border fence and avoid having to evacuate them to hospitals inside the country. Continue Reading »

How the People of Turkey View Israel’s Apology

Turkey & Israel have always been friends. The only thing that has changed is that circumstances have reminded them that this friendship is even more important now.

By Aylin Kocaman

The apology took its time coming, and the peoples of Israel and Turkey heard it unexpectedly. With amazement.

Billboards put up in Ankara to thank Erdogan for getting Israel to apologize for Marmara incident.

Billboards put up in Ankara to thank Erdogan for getting Israel to apologize for Marmara incident. – Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Immediately in the wake of the communist terror organization, one of Turkey’s greatest problems over the last 30 years, speaking of “wanting peace.” At a time when everyone was constantly making comments regarding Turkish domestic policy. Continue Reading »

Gilad Schalit’s imprisonment: His Account

The former IDF soldier who was held captive by Hamas in Gaza for 5 years gave IDF investigators an honest, painful & vivid account of the attack that led to his underground incarceration & the deaths of 2 of his fellow comrades.

By BEN CASPIT

 

In conversations with a psychologist after his return to Israel from five years in captivity, Gilad Schalit expressed fears over the Israel Defense Forces investigation he would undergo. Shalit knew exactly what he was worried about – he knew all too well the circumstances that led to his captivity. He knew that there would be no military glory in what had happened there, on that night.
Continue Reading »

Despite Disputes Daylight Savings Time Starts Friday

Israelis will set clocks forward from 2 am –> 3 am on Friday

MK Horowitz suggests Daylight Savings Time be extended even further

By Omri Efraim

 

Daylight Savings Time (DST) will go into effect early Friday morning, March 29th, when Israelis will move their clocks forward from 2 am to 3 am.

מזיזים את השעון

DST will end later than usual this year, on October 6, some three weeks after Yom Kippur, in accordance with legislation passed by the previous Knesset.

The new law states that DST, known in Israel as “Summer Time,” will be extended to 193 days a year, starting from the Friday before the last Sunday in March (at 2 am) and ending on the first Sunday after the 1st of October (at 2 am). Continue Reading »

Bulgaria: Any EU gov’t could request blacklisting Hezbollah

Bulgaria’s interim PM says he will “provide needed evidence” to place Hezbollah on EU’s terror blacklist following their Burgas terrorist bombing.

By REUTERS

 

BRUSSELS – Bulgaria will provide more evidence Hezbollah planned an attack that killed five Israelis last year, in a move it said on Wednesday should convince European Union countries to put the Islamist group on its terrorist list.

ZAKA man examines damage in Burgas

ZAKA man examines damage in Burgas – Photo: Avigdor Shatran

Bulgaria accused the Lebanese militant movement on Feb. 5 of carrying out a bomb attack on a bus in the Black Sea city of Burgas that killed the Israelis and their Bulgarian driver last July.

Continue Reading »

UNSC: Both Syria & rebels must ensure safety of UN in Golan

UN Security Council calls on Syrian gov’t & rebel leaders to ensure the safety of all UN peacekeeping force monitoring ceasefire line on Syria-Israel border in the Golan Heights.

Associated Press

 

Also Wednesday, the UN Security Council called on the Syrian government and rebel fighters to ensure the safety and freedom of movement of the UN peacekeeping force that has monitored a cease-fire line between Israel and Syria for nearly four decades.

UN peacekeepers kidnapped by rebels – Photo: AFP/Youtube

Council members underscored the increased risk the conflict poses to UN personnel, highlighted by the recent hostage-taking of 21 peacekeepers by armed opposition elements. Continue Reading »