Kidnapped Israeli calls his family: ‘Stay calm’

Israeli-Arab Amir Omar Hasan, kidnapped in the Sinai, speaks with his family members, says: ‘Situation is ok’.

Egyptian report: Bedouin Kidnappers reject negotiation, demand release of relatives held in Egyptian jail

By Hasan Shaalan

 

Amir Omar Hasan, the 23-year-old Israeli-Arab who was kidnapped together with a Norwegian citizen by a gang of Bedouins while vacationing in Sinai, has spoken with his family members in Israel Friday.

Amir Omer Hasan - Photo  nsrawy.net

Amir Omer Hasan – Photo: nsrawy.net

According to his relatives, Hasan himself had called the family to inform them of his captivity. “He asked us to stay calm, and said that he is healthy,” a family member said, adding: “We’re not so sure about the circumstance of the actually kidnapping.” Continue Reading »

Hezbollah steams over Obama for terrorist designation in Jerusalem speech

In Obama’s speech to Jewish & Arab students in Jerusalem on Thursday, the President said: “Every country that values justice should call Hezbollah what it truly is – a terrorist organization.”

By Reuters

 

Lebanon‘s Hezbollah condemned on Friday a call by U.S. President Barack Obama for the militant Shi’ite group to be designated a terrorist organization following a bomb attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year.

Hassan Nasrallah on Lebanese TV

An image grab taken from Lebanon’s Hezbollah-run Manar TV shows Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivering a televised speech from an undisclosed location in Lebanon on February 27, 2013.- Photo by AFP

The European Union has so far resisted U.S. Continue Reading »

MK Lieberman Objects to Netanyahu’s Apology to Turkey

Netanyahu’s apology to Turkish PM Erdoğan ‘harms IDF soldiers’ motivation & strengthens the radical elements in the region’ says former Foreign Minister.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman blasted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday, over Netanyahu’s apology to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Earlier, Netanyahu spoke on the phone with to his Turkish counterpart and apologized for the deaths of nine Turks in a 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

In response, Lieberman said in a statement, “Anyone who saw the photos taken on the Mavi Marmara understands beyond any doubt that IDF soldiers acted in self-defense against the activists of the IHH organization, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Europe. Continue Reading »

IDF’s new Depth Corps looks at Lebanon

 

Lebanon War III scenario: Hezbollah wakes up to find elite IDF troops have taken over the Beirut airport & that IDF forces are in control of all major bridges & highways connecting Lebanon to Syria.

Hard to believe? An exclusive glimpse into  IDF’s new Depth Corps.

By Yoav Limor

It was August 2, 2006. Deep in the throes of the Second Lebanon War, Operation “Short and Sweet” was underway. A joint force consisting of the elite Sayeret Matkal (General Staff Reconnaissance Unit) and the IAF crack commando outfit Shaldag was ferried by helicopter into Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, where it raided a number of Hezbollah strongholds in the Baalbek region. Continue Reading »

President Obama: Israel’s existence prevents a second Holocaust

“The State of Israel does not exist because of the Holocaust.  But with the survival of a strong Jewish State of Israel, such a Holocaust will never happen again.” – Barack Obama

By JTA

 

JERUSALEM – Israel does not owe its existence to the Holocaust but its existence prevents another one from happening, U.S. President Obama said on the third and final day of his first presidential visit to Israel.

U.S. President Barack Obama takes a moment for reflection while visiting Yad Vashem. – Photo: Emil Salman

“Here we hope,” Obama said on Friday at Yad Vashem’s Hall of the Children after touring the Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Palestinians disappointed with Obama – Calls for resistance against occupation

PA disappointed at US president’s stance on prisoners, and Jewish construction. 

Obama rejects Palestinian preconditions to peace talks.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Even before US President Barack Obama left Ramallah, Palestinian Authority officials were quick to express disappointment with the result of his talks with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Obama shakes hands with a Palestinian teen during his visit to the Bireh Youth Center in Ramallah - Photo REUTERS

Obama shakes hands with a Palestinian teen during his visit to the Bireh Youth Center in Ramallah – Photo REUTERS

The officials discussed the differences between Abbas and Obama on two major issues: settlements and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Click here for full JPost coverage of Obama’s visit to Israel

They said that during the meeting Abbas reiterated his demand for a full cessation of settlement construction and the release of Palestinian prisoners in order to pave the way for the resumption of the peace process. Continue Reading »

Arab-Israeli tourist from Nazareth kidnapped in Sinai

According to reports, the Israeli tourist was abducted with a Norwegian woman.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirms that an Israeli citizen was kidnapped in the Sinai, & are in contact with Egyptian authorities.

 

An Israeli tourist and was kidnapped in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula along with an European tourist, Egyptian media reported Friday morning.

An archive photo of an Egyptian Bedouin waiting for tourists in Sharm el-Sheikh.

An archive photo of an Egyptian Bedouin waiting for tourists in Sharm el-Sheikh. Photo by Bloomberg

According to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, an Arab-Israeli man and a Norwegian woman were kidnapped as they were traveling between two beach resorts in Sinai.

There were conflicting reports as to the nationality of the woman. Continue Reading »

ex-PM Olmert: Netanyahu Not Worthy of Being Israel’s PM

Former PM Olmert attacks the Prime Minister in new interview, accuses him of treating President Obama ‘like a retarded student.’

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attacked his successor, current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in a new interview published by Globes.

Among other things, Olmert slammed Netanyahu over his relationship with United States President Barack Obama.

“What is this? You go to the President of the United States, stick a finger in his face on live television, preach to him, and while you’re at it, give him a history lesson?” he said.

“Excuse me, with all due respect, he learned something in life, this president,” Olmert continued. Continue Reading »

Naftali Bennett: A nation doesn’t ‘occupy’ its own land

The US President’s speech was met with mixed reactions.

MK Miri Regev believes Obama’s speech was “offensive to Netanyahu.” 

By LAHAV HARKOV

 

Reactions from MKs to US President Barack Obama’s speech in Jerusalem on Thursday ranged from excited support to condemnation.

Obama speaking in Jerusalem - Photo by AFP

Obama speaking in Jerusalem – Photo by AFP

Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett mentioned the rockets fired at Sderot in the morning, saying they were the result of the previous withdrawal from land, as were thousands of victims over the years.

“A Palestinian state is not the right way,” the Bayit Yehudi chairman said. “The time has come for new ideas and creativity to solve the Middle East conflict.” Continue Reading »

Cypriot Court Convicts Hezbollah Terrorist Over anti-Israel Plot

Dual Swedish-Lebanese citizen found guilty of membership in a criminal organization, participating in a criminal act & money laundering.

Israeli official: Abundant proof Hezbollah is, & always has been, deeply involved in terrorist activities worldwide.

By AFP

A Cypriot court on Thursday found guilty a self-confessed Hezbollah terrorist who had been accused of involvement in a plot to attack Israeli interests on the Mediterranean island.

Hezbollah terrorists - Photo by EPA

Hezbollah terrorists – Photo by EPA

Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, a dual Lebanese-Swedish citizen arrested in the port of Limassol in July last year, was found guilty on five counts – including participating in a criminal organization, taking part in a criminal act and money laundering. Continue Reading »

Iran’s Khamenei: We will destroy Tel Aviv & Haifa if attacked

Islamic republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened Israel against attacking Iran, which Israel hinted to in the past, unless Iran abandons its nuclear aspirations.

 

Iran’s most powerful authority said the Islamic Republic would destroy the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa if Israel launched a military attack against it.

Khamenei

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. – Photo: AFP

“At times the officials of the Zionist regime threaten to launch a military invasion but they themselves know that if they make the slightest mistake the Islamic Republic will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during an address, broadcast live on state television. Continue Reading »

Response to Hamas’ Rockets: Gaza Fishing Zone Halved – Quid pro quo

Senior defense source: Israel will no longer allow Hamas to “drizzle” rockets into Israel.

By Gil Ronen

Israel has responded to the firing of four rockets at Sderot Thursday by cutting the permitted fishing zone for Gaza fishermen in half, from six miles to three miles offshore. This brings the fishing zone back to its size before Operation Pillar of Defense.

Moshe Yaalon - Photo Reuters

Def. Minister Moshe Yaalon – Photo Reuters

“We will not allow Hamas to go back to the previous situation of a ‘rocket drizzle,’ and the entire defense establishment is in agreement on this matter,” a senior defense force in southern command told Arutz Sheva. Continue Reading »

Obama received a chilly reception from the Palestinians

In Bethlehem, Palestinians burned several of the American flags that had been hung along the streets of the biblical city.

By Israel Today Staff

 

If President Shimon Peres was able to cover up Israelis’ general apathy regarding US President Barack Obama’s visit, the hostile response to the American leader’s arrival in Ramallah made it impossible to do the same among the Palestinian Arabs.

As Obama entered the Palestinian Authority compound known as the “Muqata,” hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside holding up their shoes (a major insult in the Arab world) and demanding that the president leave “Palestine.”

Israeli and Palestinian media cited many of the protesters changing slogans such as “We don’t want peace, only bullets and missiles” and “Go home you devil, we don’t want to see Americans here.” Continue Reading »

Obama views Israeli gadgets: a robotic snake & brain scanner among many

Today the American president was presented with a selection of Israeli technological innovations before going off to Ramallah.

By Haaretz Staff

 

 

United States President Barack Obama was shown an array of cutting-edge Israeli technological innovations at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Thursday.

The Brain Network Activation system monitors brain activity for medical purposes.

The Brain Network Activation system monitors brain activity for medical purposes.

Among the technologies – selected by a special professional committee headed by the chairman of the National Economic Council in the Prime Minister’s Office, professor Eugene Kandel – was an aluminum-air battery developed by high-tech startup Phinergy. Designed to power electric vehicles, the low-cost battery has zero emissions, is fully recyclable and is expected to have three times the capacity of electric car batteries currently on the market. Continue Reading »

Obama says in Ramallah that settlement freeze not needed to restart peace talks

“If the only way to begin the conversation is that we get everything right at the outset, then we’re never going to get to the broader issue,” President Obama.

By JTA

 

TEL AVIV — President Obama implied in Ramallah that a settlement freeze should not be a precondition for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Obama, Abbas reviewing honor guard.

Obama, Abbas reviewing honor guard. – Photo: Reuters

He made the statement Thursday at a news conference following a long meeting in the West Bank city with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

“If the only way to begin the conversation is that we get everything right at the outset, then we’re never going to get to the broader issue, which is how do we structure a state of Palestine and how do you provide Israel confidence about its security,” Obama said. Continue Reading »