Hamas’ Mashaal to challenge Abbas for PLO presidency

Palestinian sources as saying Qatar & Jordan are pushing for Mashaal to chair PLO, according to ‘Al-Quds Al-Arabi’.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is seeking to take over the presidency of the PLO, currently chaired by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported on Monday.

PA chief Abbas and Hamas leader Mashaal in Cairo - Photo by Reuters

According to the report, Mashaal’s desire to chair the PLO is behind his decision not to stand for reelection to his position as chairman of Hamas’s Political Bureau.

Al-Quds Al-Arabi quoted Palestinian sources as saying several Arab states, led by Jordan and Qatar, are pushing for Mashaal to chair the PLO as a way of getting Hamas to sign the Oslo Accords and recognize Israel.

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The not ‘Jewish enough’ Ms. Margolis

The granddaughter of Holocaust survivor who came to Israel as child and serves as IDF an officer was stunned to find Rabbinate does not deem her ‘Jewish enough’ to marry under religious law.

Reuven Weiss

 

In less than four months, Rita Margolis, 26, will marry 27-year-old Captain A. Despite the fact that her fiancé serves in a combat unit and Margolis is a combat hummer operator, who repeatedly finds herself in reserve duties, the State of Israel is disallowing the two to marry, “by law.”

Rita Margolis Photo: Shaul Golan

Rita Margolis – Photo: Shaul Golan

Due to the sensitivity of his military position, Captain A. Continue Reading »

Iranian Arms Shipment Seized Off Coast of Yemen

Yemeni coast guard intercepted a ship carrying a “substantial” cache of illegal weapons that officials suspect were being smuggled from Iran.

By Rachel Hirshfeld

 

Yemeni authorities working with the United States Navy intercepted a ship carrying a substantial cache of illegal arms that U.S. officials suspect were being smuggled from Iran.

Followers of Yemen's al-Houthi Shi'ite group armed with weapons

Followers of Yemen’s al-Houthi Shi’ite group armed with weapons – Reuters

The arms, intercepted aboard the ship in Yemeni territorial waters in the Arabian Sea last Wednesday, included surface-to-air missiles, potent explosives and rocket-propelled grenades, a U.S. official and Yemen’s government announced Monday.

The crew of the USS Farragut, a Naval destroyer, was working with Yemeni authorities when they spotted the vessel, said an official in the Obama administration, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Continue Reading »

Governor of Bethlehem forbids any contact with Israel

Gov. Hamayel issues an order forbidding all Palestinian institutions in his district from having any communication with Israel.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

Bethlehem’s PA governor, Abdel Fattah Hamayel, on Sunday issued an order banning Palestinian institutions in his district from having any direct contact with Israel.

Bethlehem

The order applies to all municipal and village councils in the Bethlehem area, as well as Palestinian NGOs and trade institutions.

The governor justified the ban by arguing that Israeli authorities have been avoiding dealing with Palestinians through the Palestinian District Coordinating Office [DCO].

“In wake of repeated Israeli calls to deal directly with Palestinian municipalities and institutions and hold meetings and conferences with the Israeli side, it is forbidden to have direct contact or coordination with Israel,” Hamayel stated in his order. Continue Reading »

Syria’s chemical/biological arsenal is now within Hezbollah reach

PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with a U.S. delegation about the developments in Syria, reporting that the potential outcomes facing Israel are “bad, bad& worse”.

Just off the Syrian coast, Russian navy conducts large-scale training exercise.

By Shlomo Cesana & Daniel Siryoti

Israel continued to warn the world on Monday of the potentially devastating outcome if Syria’s chemical arsenal falls into the hands of rebels, or worse, Hezbollah, as Lebanese media outlets reported that the Lebanese terror group had already obtained some chemical weapons and long range missiles.

Footage of Hezbollah fighters in Syria on Monday. – Photo: Channel 10 News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Sunday met with a delegation from the U.S. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Shin Bet Reports it Prevented 100 ‘Serious’ Terror Attacks in 2012

For the 1st time in 4 decades, 2012 saw no Israelis killed in terrorist attacks in Judea and Samaria. BUT, despite the lack of deaths in Judea and Samaria, there was an increase in the number of attacks there.

By JNS.org

 

Israel’s domestic spy agency, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), says it thwarted 100 “serious” terror attacks in 2012, of which a third were planned kidnappings, the agency revealed in a report published Thursday. The Shin Bet said it arrested 2,300 terror suspects, which led to 2,170 indictments.

Shabak (Shin Bet) Emblem

Half of the planned kidnapping attacks were planned roadside bombs followed by small-arms fire. Continue Reading »

PLO’s apathy at Hamas’s Talibanization of the Gaza Strip

Instead of seeking unity with Hamas, the PLO leadership should be making a bigger effort to prevent radical Islam from extending its control to the West Bank.

By Khaled Abu Toameh

 

Those who thought that Hamas would ever establish a modern and liberal regime in the Gaza Strip received another reminder this week of how the radical Islamist movement is pursuing its effort to create a Taliban-style entity in the territory that has been under its control since 2007.PA chief Abbas and Hamas leader Mashaal in Cairo - Photo by Reuters

The reminder came in the form of a decision taken by the Al-Aqsa University administration in the Gaza Strip to force female students to dress in accordance with Islamic teachings. Continue Reading »

Anti-Semitic incidents in Australia rise by 5% for 2012

Jews were pelted with eggs and other objects while walking to synagogue.

Comments yelled at Jewish people in Australian streets such as “Hitler didn’t do his job properly,” and “It’s a pity that the Germans didn’t burn the lot of you.” were common.

By JTA

 

SYDNEY, Australia  – Anti-Semitic incidents in Australia rose by five percent over the previous 12-month period, according to a new report.

anti-Semitic bannerJeremy Jones, a former president of the Executive Council of Australia Jewry, released data this week showing that during the 12-month period from October 2011 until September 2012, there were 543 incidents of “racist violence” against Jewish Australians documented by Jewish organizations. Continue Reading »

Israel becomes first country to boycott UNHRC review

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor says Jerusalem has no plans to change policy of withholding contact with the overtly biased UN body.

 

Israel is likely to become on Tuesday afternoon the first country to boycott a United Nations Human Rights Council periodic review that all 193 member states participate in.

UNHRCIt is the council which Israel objects to, not the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of its human rights record, which it underwent in 2008.

Israel cut its ties with the UNHRC in March after the council approved a fact-finding mission to investigate Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.

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FBI: Jews are the Victims of Nearly 2/3 of all Religious Hate Crimes in U.S.

Jews & Jewish institutions continued to be principal targets, accounting for 63% of all religion-based hate crimes, attesting that anti-Semitism is still a serious & deeply entrenched problem in America.

By JNS.org

 

The release of the FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA) report indicated a promising new trend in America, with overall hate crimes overall falling by 6 percent in 2011. However, despite the improvement, anti-Jewish hate crimes still remain disproportionately high, the report found.

According to the report, there were 6,222 hate crimes in the U.S. in 2011 with 1,480 religious hate crimes, down 3.4 percent from 2010. Continue Reading »

Murdoch personally apologizes for offensive Sunday Times’ Netanyahu cartoon

Murdoch said ‘grotesque and offensive’ cartoon portraying Palestinians bricked alive into wall being built by Israeli PM did not reflect his paper’s editorial line

By the Associated Press

 

Media baron Rupert Murdoch has apologized for a Sunday Times cartoon depicting Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu building a wall using blood-red mortar, an image Jewish leaders said was reminiscent of anti-Semitic propaganda.

Rupert Murdoch Photo by GettyimagesThe political cartoon, which was published on Holocaust Memorial Day, shows Netanyahu wielding a long, sharp trowel and depicts agonized Palestinians bricked into the wall’s structure. It was meant as a comment on recent elections in which Netanyahu’s ticket narrowly won the most seats in the Israeli parliament. Continue Reading »

Arabs Caught Red Handed Robbing Ancient Burial Cave

Three Arab suspects were caught inside the 1st century cave near Kibbutz Metzer, with digging tools in hand.

By Gil Ronen

 

A protracted surveillance operation led to the capture of three suspects who were caught red handed robbing an ancient grave near Kibbutz Metzer.

The arrest of the suspects

The arrest of the suspects – Antiquities Authority

Inspectors for the Unit for Prevention of Theft in the Antiquities Authority caught the suspects inside a burial cave dating from the 1st century CE.

The suspects are Arabs from the town of Baka el Gharbiya and the village of Zamer. They were in possession of numerous digging tools. Continue Reading »

IDF shoots 2 ‘would-be terrorists’ in attempted infiltration from Egypt

2 armed men shot after ignoring warning from IDF soldiers in attempted infiltration of Israel-Egypt border, IDF spokeswoman says.

 

Two men were shot and injured during an attempted infiltration of the Israel-Egypt border on Sunday night, the IDF said.

IDF On Southern BorderSeveral unidentified gunmen approached the Israeli border from the Sinai Peninsula, and attempted to cross the border fence, an army spokeswoman said. At the same time, a vehicle arrived from the Israeli side, and approached the border fence, driving towards the men, and entering a closed military zone.

Soldiers shouted out warnings to the suspects to stop, but were ignored, an army spokeswoman said.

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Op-Ed: Israel Without A Real Winner – Stepping Back To Square One

When the new governing coalition is formed, where will it start from & where can it go?

By Italian MP Fiamma Nirenstein

 

Sent by the writer in translation from Il Giornale

The entire punditry got it wrong, television, press, and politicians from all over the world who were warning against the incumbent victory of Benjamin Netanyahu, “King Bibi” as he had been dubbed by Time Magazine, featuring his “unsettling” image as its front cover. He will get a crushing majority, they said, flanked by a growing right.

Let it be clear, they insisted in countless columns (see for instance Jodi Rudoren’s article in the Herald Tribune the day before the elections) that Israel is lurching to the right, to the radical right, into the depths of black holes of the currents ethical mainstream, against Obama, against Europe, against the UN – so they maintained.

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Israel is at ‘Battle Stations’

The State of Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah or any of the global jihad movements taking possession of Syria’s chemical or biological weapons, but any premature military operation could give the embattled Syrian regime an excuse to turn their weapons on Israel.

By Yoav Limor

It is hard to overstate the severity of the Syrian threat, and the sharpness of the pounding headache created by it. Every possible scenario is dangerous, and any choice available to Israel goes from bad to worse.

Israel Air Force F-16 fighter planes. - Photo: AFP

Israel Air Force F-16 fighter planes. – Photo: AFP

Recent reports out of Syria indicate the immediacy of the issue.

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