Bureaucracy delays construction of Italy’s 1st Holocaust Museum

Rome’s City Council approved final plans for the museum a year ago, but city funding was later blocked by government-imposed financial restrictions on municipal spending.

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

 

ROME (JTA) — If all goes according to plan, a starkly modern, $30 million Holocaust museum will soon rise on the site of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini’s Rome residence.

The design of Italy's Holocaust museum in RomeThe site, also the location of ancient Jewish catacombs and now a city park, will be home to a museum first proposed in 2005 but held up repeatedly by financial and bureaucratic problems.

“I hope construction begins this summer,” Leone Paserman, the president of the Museum of the Shoah Foundation, told JTA. Continue Reading »

Ex-CIA: Unconfirmed Iranian blast may be largest sabotage in decades

Former Revolutionary Guard turned CIA tells ‘Post’ that such an explosion to the Fordow nuclear facility would harm Iran drastically.

 

Iranian dissident-turned CIA operative Reza Kahlili told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that an alleged blast at the Fordow nuclear installation in Iran is “the largest case of sabotage in decades.”

Iran's Ahmadinejad at Natanz nuclear facility

Although it has not yet been verified, a report by  Kahlili, according to which a massive blast rocked Iran’s key Fordow nuclear installation last week, continued to spread on Monday.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization has dismissed reports of an explosion as “Western propaganda,” while The Sunday Times cited Israeli intelligence figures as confirming the claim.

Continue Reading »

European Jewish Congress: Sunday Times cartoon ‘sickening’

European Jewish Congress president calls for apology from British newspaper for a particularly offensive caricature drawn of Israel’s PM Netanyahu published on Int’l Holocaust Day

Ynetnews

 

European Jewish Congress President Dr. Moshe Kantor has called for an apology from the Sunday Times, which published a cartoon on International Holocaust Remembrance Day of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu building a wall on the bodies of Palestinians, depicting their blood as cement.

Cartoon shows Netanyahu building wall on bodies of Palestinians – Photo: Emil Salman

The cartoon, drawn by Gerald Scarfe, includes a caption stating: “Israeli elections – will cementing peace continue?”

“This cartoon would be offensive at any time of the year, but to publish it on International Holocaust Remembrance Day is sickening and expresses a deeply troubling mindset,” Dr. Continue Reading »

Palestinians flee catastrophe in Syria to catastrophe in Lebanon

“We go from catastrophe to catastrophe, from refugee camp to refugee camp, but at least we are alive,” Umm Sami said in Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, near the southern port city of Sidon.

By

 

Then she told her sons they were leaving their home in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital for neighboring Lebanon, where they would wait out Syria’s civil war.

Palestinian children who fled their houses in the Yarmouk camp

“There will be no more martyrs for Palestine in my family,” the 45-year-old widow said. “This war is a Syrian problem.”

Now safe in Lebanon, Umm Sami and her family have joined thousands of other Palestinian refugees who have found shelter in the country since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad erupted nearly two years ago. Continue Reading »

Report: Hizbullah Bases Sets Up Close to Syria’s Chemical Depots

According to an Israeli media outlet, Hizbullah terrorists are setting up bases in Syria very close to known chemical weapons storage facilities.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

The Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization is setting up bases in Syria close to known chemical weapons storage facilities, according to a source quoted in a report published Monday by Israeli Hebrew-language news outlet Ynet.

Chemical war drill

Chemical war drill – IDF Spokesman’s Unit

Hizbullah, which is generously funded and equipped by Iran, has been working to shore up the government forces backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, together with Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

But even with that assistance, the loyalists are beginning to lose their grip on the country, and it appears likely that Assad’s regime may soon fall. Continue Reading »

Letter found on PA terrorists: ‘Al Aqsa Brigades claim responsibility’

IDF soldiers intercept 2 Palestinian terrorists with grenades, firebombs and a letter they carried read: ‘Martyrs’ Brigades claim full responsibility for bombing at Elon Moreh settlement’

By Yoav Zitun

 

Palestinian gunmanTwo Palestinians who were detained on Saturday in the Hawara area near Nablus were carrying three makeshift grenades and three Molotov cocktails. The terrorists managed to hurl two additional firebombs at an IDF post before being apprehended by soldiers from the Lavi Battalion.

There were no reports of injury, but the army post was damaged. The terrorists were transferred to the custody of the Shin Bet security service for further interrogation. Continue Reading »

Israel’s PM: Iran is preparing for another Holocaust

Netanyahu, ‘Israel must not make the mistake of underestimating the Iranian threat to destroy Israel’, adding that his gov’t’s 1st & foremost mission remained to prevent Tehran from becoming a nuclear power.

By DPA

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accused Iran of planning another “Holocaust,” as the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – Photo: Reuters

“Holocaust denial is continued energetically by a central state in the world,” he told his cabinet in Jerusalem.

“Not by groups. Not by single individuals. Not by marginal elements. But by Iran, whose leaders on a daily basis and at the United Nations and any other platform deny that the Holocaust occurred, while at the same time they prepare what they believe will be an additional Holocaust: The destruction of the Jewish state.” Continue Reading »

Arabs Stone Kindergarten, Arabs shoot into Bus

Sunday saw a number of incidents in which inciting Arabs rioted, threw rocks at kindergarten children and shot at Israelis traveling in a bus.

By David Lev

 

Arab terrorists fired on a bus traveling in the Binyamin region Sunday evening. There were no injuries reported.

The attacked bus

The attacked bus – Photo courtesy: Israel Police

The number 172 bus, traveling from Jerusalem to the town of Anatot, was fired at as it passed near the Arab town of Hizme, north of Jerusalem. The bus was damaged, with several of the bullets piercing the bullet-proof windows.

Police closed the road immediately after the shooting was reported, and began a search for the culprits. Continue Reading »

On Int’l Holocaust Memorial Day, EU’s Aston says “never forget”

EU’s foreign policy chief Ashton paid tribute to Holocaust survivors.

Germany’s Chancellor Merkel reiterated, responsibility for Nazi crimes is eternal.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, BLOOMBERG

 

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton paid a special tribute to Holocaust survivors, in a statement released on International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday.

Greeks wave swastikas to greet Merkel - Photo by REUTERS-Yannis Behrakis

Ashton said that the survivors of the Holocaust “remind us of this tragedy that we must never forget.”

“Today we remember the victims of the Holocaust. We honor every one of the six million who were brutally murdered in this darkest period of European history,” Ashton stated.

She stressed the importance of remembering that the crime was not perpetrated by a few individuals, but that many were involved directly and indirectly.

Continue Reading »

Abbas tells African Union: Palestinians will defeat Israeli apartheid

Abbas tells African Union that Israeli coalitions may change, but Palestinian demands won’t.

By Elior Levy

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that the Palestinians’ goals for the peace talks with Israel will remain unchanged, regardless of the makeup of the governing coalition in the Jewish state.

Zionism = Nazism

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators spreading lies and hate to further their cause.

Addressing the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Abbas stipulated that the negotiations must achieve a settlement construction moratorium, secure the release of prisoners and address other core issues, including Jerusalem and the refugees.

Abbas further blasted Israel for imposing a blockade on the Gaza Strip and accused the Jewish state of subjecting the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to racist policies by razing homes, confiscating land and falsely arresting thousands. Continue Reading »

1st Patriot missile battery to defend Turkey against Syria is operational

Germany, Holland & the U.S. are each sending 2 batteries to Turkey & up to 400 soldiers to operate them after Ankara asked NATO for protection.

By Reuters

 

The first of six Patriot missile batteries being sent by NATO countries to defend Turkey from possible attack from Syria went operational on Saturday.

Dutch military trucks carrying NATO's Patriot Missile Defense System to protect Turkey

Dutch military trucks carrying NATO’s Patriot Missile Defense System to protect Turkey – Photo by AP

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are each sending two batteries to Turkey and up to 400 soldiers to operate them after Ankara asked NATO for help. The Patriots are capable of shooting down hostile missiles in mid-air. Continue Reading »

Kinneret Rises 10.5 Centimeters as Winter Rains Continue

In what is being seen as the most bountiful rainy season in a decade, Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is continuing to rise!

By Chana Ya’ar

 

Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is continuing to rise in what is being seen as the most bountiful rainy season in a decade.

Winter rains raised Kinneret level

Winter rains raised Kinneret level
Photo: Hana Levi Julian

In the past week, the lake rose by 10.5 centimeters (4.13 inches), bringing the level of the country’s largest single source of drinking water up to 210 meters (689 feet) and 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) below sea level.

More rain is predicted for Sunday night, and again later in the week, which Israelis hope will raise the level of the lake even higher. Continue Reading »

Six new MKs required to renounce foreign citizenship before entering Knesset

Newly elected members of the 19th Knesset will first have to give up their foreign citizenship before they are sworn in as MKs.

 

Six incoming members of the 19th Knesset will have to give up their foreign citizenship before they are sworn in as new MKs on February 5.

Moshe Feiglin

The Knesset requires any citizen with dual citizenship to cancel his or her additional nationalities before being sworn in. Knesset Secretary Yardena Maller-Horowitz has already contacted incoming MKs to inform them of the law.Two new MKs – Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid’s Dov Lipman – will no longer be American citizens.

Continue Reading »

Major explosion rocks Iran’s ‘impregnable’ nuclear site

Reports from WND website says mysterious explosion destroys large part of the highly fortified Fordo nuclear facility.

Ynet

 

WND, an American news website affiliated with the Right, reported Friday that a mysterious explosion has destroyed a significant portion of Iran‘s Fordo nuclear facility – considered Tehran’s most fortified facility.

Fordo nuclear site

The website alleged that Hamidreza Zakeri, formerly with the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security, confirmed that the facility was hit, but the report has not been corroborated by any Western source.

The website further said that its Iranian source pegged the blast as taking place last Monday at the eve of Israel’s general elections. Continue Reading »

Pro-Palestinian group protests against Israeli Soccer at UEFA offices

Anti-Israel Protesters chanted slogans & carried banners & placards in protest against Israel’s hosting of the European Under-21 Championship Games.

 

A group of pro-Palestinian activists occupied UEFA’s headquarters and met with its president Michel Platini on Friday to protest Israel’s hosting of the European Under-21 Championship.

Pro-Palestinian protesters at the UEFA headquarters, January 25, 2013.

Pro-Palestinian protesters at the UEFA headquarters, January 25, 2013. – Photo by AP

Protesters chanted slogans and carried banners and placards critical of Platini before some were invited into his office following a meeting of his executive committee.

Olivia Zemor, a spokeswoman for the group, said they told Platini that UEFA was “encouraging war crimes” by choosing Israel to host the eight-nation event in June. Continue Reading »