Canada says Tehran ‘most significant threat’ to world peace, recalls Ambassador, Closes Iran Embassy

 

Citing hostility to Israel, assisting Assad & its nuclear program, Foreign Minister John Baird said Canada will expel all Iranian diplomats within 5 days; Netanyahu: Canada took a moral step.

Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and will expel all remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada within five days, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Friday, denouncing Tehran as the biggest threat to global security.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - AP.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks at Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. – Photo by AP

Baird cited Iran’s nuclear program, its hostility toward Israel and Iranian military assistance to the government of President Bashar Assad in Syria, which is locked in civil war with rebels, as the reasons for suspending diplomatic relations. Continue Reading »

Britain’s Hague Recommends that the EU Designate Hizbullah as a Terror Org

Britain’s Foreign Secretary presses the EU to have Hizbullah put on its list of terrorist organizations.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague on Friday urged the European Union to place the military branch of the Lebanese-based Hizbullah on its list of terrorist organizations, AFP reported.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague

British Foreign Secretary William Hague
Reuters

“I would like to see the EU designate and sanction the military wing of Hizbullah,” Hague was quoted as having said in response to a question on arriving for talks with his EU counterparts.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, however, appeared to suggest this was not possible now. Continue Reading »

IAF Eliminated 3 More Terrorists Attempting to Launch Rockets

Gaza sources say 3 terrorists killed, 1 seriously injured as Air Force jets hit terrorist cell planning to fire rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip.

By Yoav Zitun

 

Air Force jets hit a terrorist cell planning to fire rockets at Israel from the central Gaza Strip, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said. A direct hit had been carried out. According to Gaza sources, three terrorists were killed while riding a car and one was seriously injured.

Gaza blast – Photo: AP

The IDF said that the cell had been involved in previous rocket attacks.

The Palestinians said that the cell had been hit near the border. Continue Reading »

West Bank Gunmen kill Palestinian Authority security chief

Colonel Hisham al-Rukh attacked while driving in the Jenin refugee camp, which has been the target of security checks by PA forces since May.

By Reuters and The Associated Press

 

Gunmen killed a colonel in the Palestinian security forces early on Wednesday when they raked his car with gunfire in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, local officials said.

Palestinian security forces

Today, security coordination between Israel and the PA continues to prove itself. Here, PA security officers with the coffins of Palestinian terrorists. – Photo by Reuters

Hisham al-Rukh was attacked while driving home in the Jenin refugee camp, which has been the focal point of a broad sweep by security forces since May following an upsurge of violence led by criminal gangs and corrupt security officers. Continue Reading »

Iron Dome Battery Stationed to Protect Tel Aviv

The anti-missile system has been deployed to protect central Israel for the first time.

By Gil Ronen

 

For the first time since the anti-missile system became operational, an Iron Dome battery has been deployed in central Israel, where it protects Tel Aviv and its environs.

Iron Dome anti-missile system

Iron Dome anti-missile system
IDF Spokesman

IDF Radio reported Wednesday that while the placement of the battery in its current location is for “training and tweaking” purposes, in case of a real threat it will be able to protect Tel Aviv and large swathes of the Dan Bloc area.

An Iron Dome battery was placed in Eilat earlier this month, a week after a Grad missile struck near the city. Continue Reading »

Interior Minister: Migrants on Egyptian side of the border will not be allowed to enter Israel

Activists stopped at border in attempts to bring food to about 20 Eritrean migrants  stuck in Egypt at Israel’s border.

By Gili Cohen

 

In response to a report of some 20 Eritrean migrants trapped between the Israel-Egypt border, Interior Minsiter Eli Yishai declared, “We will not bring the Eritreans into Israeli territory.”

IDF soldiers standing guard over African migrants on the Egypt-Israel border.

IDF soldiers standing guard over African migrants on the Egypt-Israel border. – Photo by Eliyahu Hershkovitz

“It is hardest for me, of anyone, to see these pictures, and return families to their homelands. It is hard for me to see these pictures, but I am the one who has to make the difficult decision, and if I have to choose between the good of the state, its civilians, and its security, [and the good of the families] I will choose that there be a fence, that they won’t enter, and instead return to their country,” continued Yishai. Continue Reading »

CBS: Adult Males Perpetrated Most Israeli Crime in 2010

Israeli Arabs are estimated at 20% of the population, yet were over 40% of the offenders in 2010.

The country’s Jewish population made up around 50 percent of those charged with crimes in 2010, lower than their percentage of the population, while Israeli Arabs – an estimated 20% of the population – comprised over 40% of offenders the same year, according to figures released Tuesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

[illustrative]

Suspect arrested – Photo: REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

The overwhelming percentage of offenders charged with crimes in 2010 were men, and most of them were repeat offenders.
According to the report, 45,275 people were charged with crimes in Israel in 2010, over 90% of them adults. Continue Reading »

Palestinians protest cost of living by taking to streets

Due to ailing economy, self immolation incidents sweep across the PA in wave of social protests.

By Elior Levy

 

Israelis are not the only ones protesting price hikes and a general increase in the cost of living: Palestinians across the West Bank protested on Tuesday against the rising price of petrol, while police forces attempted to restore order.

Fuad Shubaki, the general director of the Palestinian Petroleum Corporation, recently announced that the Palestinian Authority is looking into the possibility of importing petrol from other countries in coordination with Israel.

Shubaki claimed that his announcement has nothing to do with the recent protests. Continue Reading »

Terror Relocation: Attacks Shift from Gaza to Sinai & Jerusalem

Terrorist attacks dropped in August. While terrorists in Jerusalem & Sinai launched more attacks, Gaza launched fewer.

 

Terrorists slightly changed their mode of attack in August, coming at Israel from the Sinai Peninsula rather than Gaza, the Shin Bet reported Wednesday. Twenty-one attacks were launched from Gaza in August, compared to 28 in July.

Two attacks originated in Sinai, one of them a major infiltration attempt in which terrorists killed 16 Egyptian soldiers and commandeered two APCs, which they used to try to enter Israel.

In a second attack, terrorists fired rockets at the city of Eilat.

While overall attacks from Gaza were down, the number of rocket launchings remained nearly unchanged, with terrorists firing 21 rockets and 3 mortar shells in August, compared to 18 rockets and 9 mortar shells in July. Continue Reading »

Syrian Information Minister accuses Mossad of targeted assassinations in Syria

Syria’s Information Minister criticizes Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi after he voiced sympathy for the Syrian revolt: “There is no difference between Mubarak and Morsi, who has done nothing for the Palestinians & continues to sell gas to Israel.”

By Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies & Israel Hayom Staff

 

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi accused Israel’s Mossad on Monday of carrying out targeted assassinations in Syria, as well as aiding the rebellion which has brought Syria to civil war.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi rebel attacks have “the fingerprints of intelligence services, including Israel’s Mossad” – Photo: AP

“We found arms caches with the weapons used by the terrorists, and their source was Israel,” al-Zoebi said.

Continue Reading »

Facebook Doesn’t ‘Like’ Nasrallah’s Birthday, Deleted Event-Page

Facebook cancelled an online “event” of Hizbullah leader, Hassan Nasrallah’s 52nd birthday celebration.

By Rachel Hirshfeld

 

Facebook cancelled an online “event” on Friday celebrating the fifty-second birthday of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanese media reported.

According to the Assafir newspaper, around 7,000 users had signed up to “attend” the event with 52 apparent Hizbullah supporters writing on the event’s page extending their birthday wishes.

“Congratulations to us that we were born in a Nasrallah’s era,” one supporter wrote, according to Al-Arabiya.  Another, describing himself as a “Hizbullah fighter,” said that, “52 years have passed and Nasrallah has rejected oppression…and stayed as banner of victory.” Continue Reading »

The Iranian People Fear a War with Israel is on the Horizon

Ordinary Iranian citizens tell Channel 10TV, they fear a war with Israel

By Elad Benari

 

Iran’s leadership has publicly stated that it would crush any Israeli offensive against its nuclear facilities, but Iran’s ordinary citizens appear to feel otherwise, Channel 10 News reported on Monday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Reuters

The channel spoke with several Iranian citizens who, without revealing their identities, said that there is great tension and fear among Iranians over a possible war with Israel.

“The Iranians understand their current president says terrible things about Israel,” said one Iranian, a resident of Bushehr. “You can be sure that not all Iranians agree with the behavior of their leaders.” Continue Reading »

High Court demands A-G explain decision not to charge Knesset Member Zoabi

High Court of Justice orders Attorney-General Weinstein to give a more extensive explanation on why he decided not to prosecute Sheikh Raed Salah & Balad MK Zoabi, for their participation in the May 2010 Gaza flotilla.

 

In an unusual rebuke, the High Court of Justice on Tuesday ordered Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein to present the court with a more extensive explanation of the reasons that the state decided not to prosecute Balad MK Haneen Zoabi and Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah for their participation in the May 2010 flotilla.

MK Hanin Zoabi - Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

MK Hanin Zoabi – Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

The decision was made following Monday’s hearing on a petitionfiled by MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union), activist Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Movement for Our Land of Israel.The

Continue Reading »

Israeli actress seeks to save ex-boyfriend, Gaddafi’s son from execution

Ex-girlfriend Orly Weinerman,  asks former British PM to save Saif Gaddafi from death penalty in Libya

News agencies

 

Orly Weinerman Photo: Anat Mosberg

Saif Gaddafi, the second son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who is on trial in Libya for his role in the killing of protesters during last year’s uprising against his father, may face the death penalty.

Human rights groups fear that he will not face a fair trial and efforts to extradite him to the International Criminal Court in the Hague have not been successful.

Now Orly Weinerman, a 41-year-old Israeli model and actress who was Gaddafi’s girlfriend for six years after meeting him in London in 2005, has called on Tony Blair to make Saif’s accusers “see reason.” Continue Reading »

Iran Attack May be Delayed in Return for Bunker Buster Bombs

Maariv reports U.S. may supply Israel with   MOP bunker-busters & refueling planes

By Gil Ronen

 

The United States may supply Israel with advanced Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker-buster bombs that can penetrate through up to 60 feet (almost 20 meters) of reinforced concrete, reports Maariv Tuesday.

Air Force mid-air refueling

Air Force mid-air refueling
Israel news photo: IDF

This is part of a deal being worked out between the countries, which also includes the supply of refueling jets.

This equipment will make the job of demolishing Iran’s nuclear weapon production array more feasible for Israel, should it decide to do so.

In exchange for the weapons, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will agree to hold off on an independent attack until after the U.S. Continue Reading »