Here’s Yair Shamir, a political scion & Avigdor Liberman’s likely replacement

Yair Shamir says “When you look at who Israeli politicians are, there isn’t enough representation of industry and agriculture, the people that are really doing anything.”

By Ben Sales ,JTA

 

For the Israeli Air Force commander turned technocrat turned politician, these topics include how to respond to settlement evacuations or achieve Palestinian statehood, a fracture in the U.S.-Israel relationship or Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman’s departure from politics.

Yair Shamir

Shamir, the 67-year-old scion of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, is the hard-line Yisrael Beiteinu’s No. 2. With Liberman, the former foreign minister, under indictment for fraud and breach of trust, he is the de facto heir apparent to one of Israel’s largest political parties. Continue Reading »

Jordan forming int’l bloc to adavnce peace talks

Jordan’s King Abdullah says he is working with European leaders to rejuvenate long-stalled Peace-talks between Israel & the Palestinians.

 

Jordan is in the process of consolidating an international coalition to kick-start the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the country’s King Abdullah said Sunday in an interview with French publication Le Nouvel Observateur.

Abdullah, Abbas

“We are working closely with several parties in Europe, including France, to put some effective and workable ideas on the table that would enable the US to engage and play a leading role in the peace process soon after the start of the second term of President [Barack] Obama,” Abdullah said in his interview, translated into English by The Jordan Times.

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Palestinian PM pleads with Arab leaders to give PA more cash

PM Fayyad meets with Arab League leaders to find ways to receive the $100 million they promised the Palestinian Authority.

 

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad warned Sunday that his government could fail to meet its obligations to its people because of a cash crunch, and urged Arab countries to deliver on promised aid.

Salam Fayyad.

Salam Fayyad. – Photo by AP

 

Fayyad met with Arab League members to discuss ways to raise the $100 million they pledged earlier to his Palestinian Authority. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said seven countries have responded favorably, but he did not name them. Continue Reading »

Remaining Ethiopian Jews plan Return to the ‘Promised Land’

Members of Falah Mura say they’re suffering from long separation from family members who have already left Ethiopia & feel eager to become Israeli.

By AFP

 

It was one of the most daring operations in Ethiopian history: Israel’s 1991 airlift of Ethiopian Jews, when nearly 15,000 people were crammed into a series of non-stop flights lasting 36 hours.

Ethiopian Jews

Clutching only a few belongings, in planes with seats removed to make more space, they left a nation their ancestors had called home for two millennia for a land they knew only from scripture.

More than two decades later, some 2,000 descendants and relatives of those Israel had identified as original Jews are set to join them in the Holy Land. Continue Reading »

Iran Spying on Israel from Golan Heights

A recent U.S. report indicates Iran has established intelligence stations in several areas in the Middle East, including Syria’s Golan Heights.

By Elad Benari

 

Iran has been establishing signals intelligence stations in several parts of the Middle East, including the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the U.S.-based World Tribune reports.

The Defense Department has indicated that one of the intelligence stations was established in the Golan Heights, close to Syria’s border with Israel, the report said.

The Pentagon’s counter-terrorist support office said the stations were established by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps together with Tehran’s leading ally, Syria, according to the World Tribune. Continue Reading »

King Abdullah: Palestinians & Israel to Talk Next Month

In an interview, Jordan’s King Abdullah plans to host talks between Israel & the Palestinian Authority as soon as next month

By David Lev

 

Jordan’s King Abdullah expects to host talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as soon as next month, he said in an interview Sunday. Abdullah said that a “window of opportunity” would soon open, and it was necessary to take advantage of it.

Jordan's King Abdullah II

Jordan’s King Abdullah II – AFP/File

That “window” would commence after the inauguration of Barack H. Obama as President of the U.S. for a second term. Abdullah said that Jordan was coordinating with France and other European countries to come up with fresh ideas to implement an agreement between Israel and the PA. Continue Reading »

Gaza Media Reports: Hamas test-fires improved long-range rockets

Palestinian sources report that Hamas’ military wing recently conducted test launches of 2 rockets made in Gaza with Iranian know-how, with range 10′s of kilometers

Palestinians say IDF shoots & kills 1 Palestinian in West Bank and 1 in Gaza.

By Daniel Siryoti and Lilach Shoval

 

 

Operation Pillar of Defense ended only two months ago, but Hamas is already preparing for the next clash with Israel. Palestinian media sources have reported that the military wing of the Gaza-based organization recently test fired improved long-range missiles.

Hamas fires a rocket from Gaza at southern Israeli communities during Operation Pillar of Defense in November.

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Sen. McConnell: Israeli & U.S. Mideast agendas are ‘the same’

The PM’s office reports Sen. McConnell as saying, “…There’s broad bi-partisan support for Israel, & our agenda in this part of the world is the same as your agenda,”

By JTA

 

Sen. Mitch McConnell said in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. and Israeli agendas in the Middle East were identical.

Sen. McMonnellNetanyahu met Friday with McConnell, the minority leader in the U.S. Senate, who was leading a group of senators on an Israel tour.

“As everybody in Israel knows, there are a lot of things we disagree on in America, we’ve had big battles over deficit and debt, but there’s broad bi-partisan support for Israel, and our agenda in this part of the world is the same as your agenda,” McConnell said, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office. Continue Reading »

Erekat defends Hamas’ right to run in Palestinian elections

In interview on Army Radio, chief PLO negotiator says of Palestinian elections, “we use ballots not bullets…everyone has a right to run.”

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

“Hamas and Fatah have differences in opinion,” Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday morning, but stressed that “everyone has a right to run.”

Saeb Erekat

“We are a democracy” he told Army Radio, emphasizing that “whoever wins, wins.” This does not mean that Hamas would be “taking over” the West Bank, however, adding, “We don’t use bullets, we use ballots.”
When probed over whether Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is expected to run in the Palestinian presidential elections, Erekat said he has not announced a decision.

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Arab cartoonists bash Israel, the U.S. & fellow Arab Countries

Arab caricaturists never held back criticism for the Jewish state.

Assault on Gaza returned Israel to media’s center stage after Arab spring stole its spotlight.

By Roi Kais

 

Political cartoonists across the Arab world have never spared criticism for Israel, but the armed conflict in the Gaza Strip this past November has spurred them to step up the satirical reproach of the Jewish state.

קריקטורה בזמן עמוד ענן. ישראל אוכלת את הפלסטינים במזלג אמריקני ובסכין שעליה כתוב "השתיקה הערבית"

Cartoon published during Gaza hostilities. Caption on knife: Arab silence

Operation Pillar of Defense has regained Israel its traditional spot in the caricature arena, after it lost the center stage to the Arab Spring,” one prominent cartoonist, who asked to remain anonymous, told Ynet. Continue Reading »

Israel Police Forces Evacuate Illegal Arab E-1 Outpost

The Judea & Samaria District of the Israeli Police evacuated the illegal Palestinian outpost in the area known as E-1 by busing them out.
“There was no violence during the evacuation and no arrests were made” the Police reported.

By Elad Benari

 

The Judea and Samaria District of the Israeli Police evacuated on Saturday night the illegal Arab outpost that had been set up in the area known as E1.

Arab outpost at E1

Arab outpost at E-1
Arutz Sheva

Large security forces who arrived in the area boarded the Palestinian Authority Arabs who were in the outpost onto buses, which will take them back to the PA-assigned areas of Judea and Samaria. Continue Reading »

Israel to Court: Palestinian outpost aimed to trigger riots

Gov’t gears to evict Palestinians squatters who set up encampment in contested E-1 area of West Bank, stating that their presence poses security threat because it could provoke unrest.

Aviel Magnezi

 

Israeli security forces geared to evict the Palestinians staying in the Bab al-Shams outpost that was erected in the contested West Bank area of E1.

Bonfire at outpost Photo: AFP

Bonfire at outpost – Photo: AFP

“An urgent evacuation is required due to a pressing security need,” the State said in a petition filed with the High Court of Justice late on Saturday.

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said in the document that the State has issued orders to define the outpost as a closed military zone and to remove squatters from its land. Continue Reading »

U.S. plans to stop release of convicted Lebanese terrorist who killed Israeli & U.S. diplomats

George Ibrahim Abdallah, granted release from imprisonment by French appeals court for  the 1982 murders of an Israeli diplomat & the U.S. military attaché in Paris, as well as the attempted murder of the U.S. Consul General in Strasbourg in 1984.

By Reuters

 

 

The United States objected on Friday to a French court’s planned release of a Lebanese leftist militant, saying he may still be a threat a quarter century after he was convicted of killing an American and an Israeli diplomat.

A file picture taken on July 3, 1986 shows former Lebanese militiaman George Ibrahim Abdallah

A file picture taken on July 3, 1986 shows former Lebanese militiaman George Ibrahim Abdallah during his trial in Lyon, central-eastern France.

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Palestinian Shot Dead While Trying to Infiltrate Into Israel

21 year-old Palestinian Arab shot to death by IDF forces south of Hevron as he was trying to sneak into Israel. 

By Elad Benari

 

A 21-year-old Palestinian Authority Arab was shot to death by IDF forces south of Hevron on Saturday night, as he was trying to infiltrate into Israel through the border fence.

PA security forces march in Hevron

PA security forces march in Hevron
AFP Photo

An initial investigation has found that the Arab was shot and wounded in the lower part of his body. He was taken to the Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva, where he died of his wounds.

“A Palestinian attempted to infiltrate Israel through the security fence,” an IDF spokesman told AFP. Continue Reading »

Rand Paul: Israel’s building in Jerusalem is ‘none of the United States’ business’

Senator Paul says U.S. should not meddle in Israel’s decisions regarding settlement construction, but on the issue of Iran, Jerusalem’s decision could have ramifications for the entire Mideast.

 

It is “none of our business” whether Israel builds new neighborhoods in east Jerusalem or withdraws from the Golan Heights, and the US should not tell Israel how to defend itself, US Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said Saturday night at the end of a week-long visit to the country.

zzzxPaul, a maverick libertarian senator known for his advocacy of slashing US foreign aid, said at a press briefing that the issue of cutting aid to Israel — something he advocates as part of a gradual process — did not come up during his meetings with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu or President Shimon Peres.

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