Intel Officials: Iran’s Ability to Attack Israel Minimal

Iran’s retaliatory capability to attack Israel has been significantly compromised this past year, intelligence officials reported.

By David Lev

 

Iran’s ability to attack Israel has been compromised significantly in the past year, Israeli diplomats meeting in Jerusalem were told by Defense Ministry intelligence officials. According to the study by the officials, Iran’s attempts to prop up Bashar al-Assad and the weakness of Hizbullah has taken a great toll in manpower and treasure from the Islamic Republic.

The officials, quoted in Maariv, said that neither Syria nor Hizbullah are in any position to not only start a war with Israel, but would also be largely unable to respond on behalf of Iran in the event of an Israeli strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities.

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Israeli peppers put Lebanese Army on High Alert

Shocked customer picks up a pack of peppers with ‘Israel’ printed on the sales tag, calls police.

Police refer the peppers to the Lebanese Army, who launched an investigation into the forbidden fruit’s unlawful infiltration into Lebanon.

By Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

A supermarket in the Lebanese city of Sidon had a ‘hot potato’ on its hands Tuesday when a shopper discovered Israeli bell peppers in the produce aisle, Lebanese media reported.

Clear and present pepper! – Photo: Yossi Zeliger

The shopper called the police, who immediately contacted the army. When members of Lebanese military intelligence arrived at the Spinney’s supermarket, one of Lebanon’s largest chains, their search bore fruit.

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Netanyahu tours Egyptian border, heralds completion of security fence

PM  Netanyahu says security fence has achieved primary objectives of stopping the flood of African migrants and defending Israel from Sinai terrorists.

 

“There has not been an engineering feat this large since the days of Herod,” said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on tour of the 4.7- meter-tall, 242-kilometer-long fence going up along the Egyptian border.

NATANYAHU

MP Natanyahu meets soldiers on the border – Photo: GPO

Netanyahu, who shepherded through the massive, 1.35 billion shekel project, said that the model will now be duplicated on the Golan Heights border with Syria, and later on the country’s eastern frontier.

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Washington Post Editorial: Jewish Settlements are not main obstacle to Peace

Abbas’ Overheated rhetoric on Israeli settlements, are counterproductive and the int’l community’s incessant criticism of prospective Israeli plans to build new housing units, primarily in Jerusalem, only reinforces 2 mistaken but widely held notions: that the settlements are the principal obstacle to a peace deal and that further construction will make a Palestinian state impossible

This is a Washington Post Editorial:

Overheated rhetoric on Israeli settlements

 

Note from the Editor:

Wash Post Opinion logoEditorials represent the views of The Washington Post as an institution, as determined through debate among members of the editorial board. News reporters and editors never contribute to editorial board discussions, and editorial board members don’t have any role in news coverage.

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Watch rifles, rockets & axes in Fatah rally in Bethlehem Terrorist Parade

With Christmas over, and the Christian tourists gone, watch dozens of veiled Fatah men march in Bethlehem with their axes, guns and rockets, while Palestinian security forces are conspicuously missing from the scene.

Elior Levy

 

A video posted online shows dozens of veiled men taking part in a march marking 48 years since Fatah‘s inception. The men are seen marching at the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem carrying knives, axes, clubs and rifles.

With Christmas over, and the Christian tourists gone, Watch Fatah march in Bethlehem with their axes, guns and rockets. - screenshot

With Christmas over, and the Christian tourists gone, Watch Fatah march in Bethlehem with their axes, guns and rockets. – screenshot

Two men were also seen carrying a rocket model. Continue Reading »

Man in Wheelchair requests ‘last chance’ at Kotel

“I was crying as I stood next to him at the Kotel.”

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

Magen David and Police made an exception to allow a man to pray at the Western Wall (Kotel) when he explained his illness may not allow him another chance.

Prayer at the Western Wall for another chance

Prayer at the Western Wall for another chance – Isarel news photo: Magen David

Handicapped accessibility at the Western Wall (Kotel) usually must be made in advance, but an exception was made for patient David Schneer, who made the sudden request to Magen David Adom medics who were transferring him from a Jerusalem hospital to his home in the metropolitan Tel Aviv area. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem passes intel to EU for ban on Hezbollah

Information was given on the terror group’s connection to the 2005 Hariri murder, narcotics & money-laundering operations, their ongoing role in destabilizing Syria, and the 2000 kidnapping of an Israeli businessman.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

 

 

Hezbollah supporters in Beirut - Photo: REUTERS

Hezbollah supporters in Beirut – Photo: REUTERS

BERLIN – The Israeli government is redoubling its efforts to convince the European Union to outlaw Hezbollah within the 27-member body because of the Lebanese group’s record of terrorism.

According to reports in the Hebrew media, Israel’s new case involves showing Hezbollah’s role in the 2005 murder of Lebanese president Rafik Hariri, based on evidence culled from the international tribunal that investigated the bombing.

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Likud’s Feiglin: Pay Palestinians to leave Judea & Samaria

Likud’s most far-right members suggest paying each Palestinian family in Judea & Samaria $500,000 to move to West.

Akiva Novick

 

Several Likud officials called for the annexation of the West Bank on Tuesday, in contradiction with the party’s official policy.

Moshe Feiglin Photo: EPA

Moshe Feiglin – Photo: EPA

Despite being instructed by the Likud campaign not to give interviews, Moshe Feiglin made controversial statements during a conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

The Women in Green conference was attended by several Likud officials who discussed operative ways to impose Israeli sovereignty beyond the Green Line.

Feiglin, who earlier on Tuesday was detained by police after trying to pray at the Temple Mount, proposed paying Palestinians to leave Israel. Continue Reading »

3 Attempts to Smuggle Weapons into Gaza Foiled by Egypt

Sources: On 3 occasions since Operation Pillar of Defense, Egypt has prevented the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.

By Elad Benari

 

Western sources have revealed that Egypt has prevented three instances of large-scale smuggling of weapons into Gaza since the end of Operation Pillar of Defense, the Israel Defense website reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, the activity against the weaponry smuggling is part of Egyptian-U.S. coordination, agreed upon in the discussions involving Secretary of State Hillary Clinton two days before the end of the operation.

Western sources said that the agreement includes assistance with U.S. technological measures made available for Egyptian use, and intelligence cooperation in order to counter the smuggling of weapons. Continue Reading »

MK Edelstein & MK Elkin call on Israel’s annexation of ‘Area C’

High-ranking Likud politicians suggest that the lack of Israel’s annexation where all the Jewish settlements are located strengthens the int’l community’s demand for withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines.

 

Israeli annexation of the West Bank’s Area C – where all settlements are located – received public support from two high-ranking Likud politicians on Tuesday evening, Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein and MK Ze’ev Elkin.

“Lack of Israeli sovereignty over Area C means the continuation of the status quo,” said Edelstein, as he spoke about an area of the country that is now under Israeli military control. “It strengthens the international community’s demand for a withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines.”

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2013: Israel bans cosmetic tests on animals

MK Cabel: This is a revolutionary step in animal welfare. Import & marketing of cosmetics and detergents tested on animals officially barred by law.

Ynetnews

 

Israel now officially bans the import, marketing and sale of any cosmetics, toiletries or detergents whose manufacturing process involves animal testing.

Look for this icon on your cosmetics Photo: Shutterstock

Look for this icon on your cosmetics – Photo: Shutterstock

The Knesset originally passed the law in 2010. The new regulations take effect on January 1, 2013.

MK Eitan Cabel (Labor), who serves as head of the Knesset’s Animal Rights Lobby, promoted the legislation, which states that “Israel will no longer allow the import and marketing of cosmetics, toiletries or detergents that were tested on animals. Continue Reading »

Another Int’l Expert: Israel Has a Historic Right to Judea & Samaria

Dr. Alan Baker, an expert on int’l law, contends that Israel has a legal right to build anywhere in Judea & Samaria

By David Lev

 

Dr. Alan Baker, an expert on international law and a member of the committee headed by Judge Edmond Levi recommending the extension of Israeli law to Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, said at a conference discussing the matter Tuesday night that Israel would be fully in its rights to do so. “The task of the Levi Committee was to look at the construction situation in Judea and Samaria and make the appropriate recommendations on how to proceed,” Baker said at the event sponsored by the Women in Green organization. Continue Reading »

British Muslim MP Admires Israel

We are mere beginners compared to Israel, a nation that is governing itself in the same territory, under the same name, with the same religion, and the same language as it did 3,000 years ago.

Now that’s what I call longevity!

By Israel Today Staff

 

It is somewhat rare these days to hear outright statements of support for Israel from the upper echelons of British politics. It is even more rare to hear such statements from British Muslims.

Conservative MP Sajid Javid – Photo:israel today

Earlier this month, support for Israel was voiced from both quarters, in the form of one man: Conservative MP Sajid Javid. Continue Reading »

In revolutionary decision, Rabbis will allow ‘gender selection’

Up until now, rabbis forbade intervention in selecting the sex of a baby, but Rabbi Menachem Burstein says an increase in the number of requests stemming from deep psychological needs has led rabbis to reconsider.

Yehuda Shlezinger

 

 

After years in which rabbis forbade any sort of gender selection at conception, a recent revolutionary Halachic (Jewish legal) ruling has now deemed it permissible to intervene and select the gender of a fetus in certain situations.

A boy or a girl? – Photo: Getty Images

The ruling was to be officially issued at a conference on Wednesday organized by the Puah Institute, which offers fertility treatments in line with Jewish law. Continue Reading »

JTA’s Gentiles of the Year 2012

Remembering 10 Gentiles that influenced Jews through 2012.

By JTA Staff

 

gentiles of the year

 

Whether they made us cheer, bang our heads against the wall, wish they were Jewish or thank God that they’re not, this year had plenty of non-Jews who played an important role in the Jewish story. And what better time to highlight them than now, in this season of best-of lists and holiday cheer?

 

  •  Begrudged mazel tovs greeted news in August that Benjamin Millepied had wed Natalie Portman, one of the most desirable Jewish women in Hollywood. Millepied, the French-born choreographer who prepped Portman for her Oscar-winning turn as a troubled dancer in the 2010 hit “Black Swan,” donned a yarmulke and wrapped himself in a tallit for the ceremony, held underneath a chuppah in Big Sur, Calif.
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