Country of Concern: Turkey Suppressing Christian Worship

ISTANBUL, Turkey — On April 18, 2007, three Christians were bound to their chairs, tortured, and stabbed repeatedly at a Bible print shop in Malatya — their throats slit.

Country of Concern: Turkey Suppressing Christian Worship

Country of Concern: Turkey Suppressing Christian Worship

Five years have now passed since the Malatya murders, an incident that was perhaps the most tragic and brutal murder of Christians in modern-day Turkey.

Click to view interview

Today, believers are facing increased persecution and the country is gradually moving away from secularism.

“You see everyday is April 18. Everyday I have to live without him,” widow Susanne Geske told CBN News on the one year anniversary of her husband’s murder. Continue Reading »

Ethiopian demonstrators claim double standard on right to protest outside Netanyahu’s home

The authorities say Ethiopian Israelis’ protest camp near the Prime Minister’s Residence is disturbing the neighbors. Funny, they never said that about other demonstrations.

 

For nearly two years now the sidewalk outside attorney David Hagoel’s home in Jerusalem has been blocked. As someone who lives on the corner of Ramban Street opposite the Prime Minister’s Residence, Hagoel is used to protesters pitching their tents nearby. It doesn’t bother him anymore.

Yayo Avraham.

Yayo Avraham. 'People will come to Jerusalem from every corner of the country - Photo by: Emil Salman

“The protest vigil doesn’t infringe on my right and my family’s right to privacy,” Hagoel wrote last week.

Continue Reading »

Israeli Official: Rockets Fired at Eilat Came from Libya

Israeli defense official says that the rockets that were fired from Egypt toward Eilat earlier this month were smuggled from Libya.

The rockets that were fired from Egypt toward Israel earlier this month were smuggled from Libya, an Israeli defense official told
The Associated Press on Friday.

The official was referring to the firing of two Grad-style rockets at the Israeli resort town of Eilat, right before the Passover holiday.

Israel has said the attacks originated in the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt has denied the rockets were fired from its territory.

The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity according, told AP that Israel believes the rockets were stolen from a Libyan weapons storehouse and smuggled into Egypt. Continue Reading »

In Egypt and Jordan, Brotherhood feels the heat

Analysis: Islamist movement finds journey to power may be more difficult than expected.

 

The euphoria with which the West first welcomed the Middle East revolts has long subsided, as Islamists’ electoral victories across the region spark fears that the “Arab Spring” has devolved into an Islamic winter. But developments in Egypt and Jordan last week have forced the region’s oldest and largest Islamist group – the Muslim Brotherhood – to wonder whether the road to political rule may be bumpier than anticipated.
This week, the Egyptian Brotherhood’s presidential ambitions suffered a blow when the country’s electoral committee disqualified its main candidate, Khairat al-Shater, over a prior criminal conviction.
Continue Reading »

2 terrorists nabbed near Tapuach Junction

Two Palestinian teens arrested by Border Guard officers found in possession of five pipe bombs; explosives defused safely

 

A terror attack was thwarted Saturday following the arrest of two Palestinian teens by Border Guard and police officers, near the Tapuach Junctionin the West Bank.

The two, both 17, took a taxi to the junction and upon arrival began walking towards the checkpoint.

Their behavior aroused the suspicion of Border Guard and police officers stationed at the checkpoint, who called on them to stop for a routine search. The teens attempted to flee and the officers initiated suspect-arrest protocol, eventually apprehending them. Continue Reading »

Sinai Bedouin factions demand Egypt amend peace accord with Israel

Demands come as Israel Counterterrorism Bureau calls on Israelis to leave Sinai, citing immediate threats.

The heads of Bedouin communities in northern Sinai are demanding the Egyptian parliament amend the Camp David Accords with Israel, claiming they do not guarantee national security and do not provide for the Bedouin population’s participation in security plans for the Peninsula.

Bedouin Sinai - Reuters - 15.3.12

Bedouin squat over a hilly area overlooking Gaza, in Rafah city, north Sinai - Photo by: Reuters

The Bedouins’ demands were made on Thursday, when members of the Egyptian national Security Council visited the coastal town of Al-Arish to inspect the community’s economic situation and assess the security situation. Continue Reading »

GOP Backing $680M for Iron Dome

Republicans are pushing for a large military aid allotment for Israel’s Iron Dome system due to Obama’s refusal to name a figure.

 

US lawmakers are considering an aid allotment of $680 million to strengthen Israel’s Iron Dome short-range rocket shield.

The move by Republican lawmakers comes in the face of previous attempts by the Obama administration to prune defense aid to Israel.

An Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket

An Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket - Photo by Reuters

Senior Republicans Howard McKeon (R-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) criticized Obama for his lack of support of a “vital defense cooperation program.”

The Obama administration earlier announced that an “appropriate” level of funding will be provided for this program, but did not request any specific sum for 2012. Continue Reading »

Syrian Opposition Leader Says Syrian People Want Peace

One of the leaders of the Syrian opposition is saying that the Syrian people will seek regional peace, including with Israel.

Syrians Protest for Freedom

Syrians Protest for Freedom - Photo by Reuters

In an interview with Kol Yisrael radio, portions of which were released on Friday, Nofal al-Dawalibi, said that if Presdient Bashar Assad’s regime falls, the Syrian people will realize their deprived rights and will seek peace in the region.

Speaking from Paris, al-Dawalibi said that the Friends of the Syria conference which was held in Paris this week does not bode well for the Syrian people, and that it offered no practical solutions for the ongoing crisis in the country. Continue Reading »

‘Hamas-Israel truce to be like with Lebanon, Syria’

Abu Marzouk also continued Hamas’ refusal to recognize any future peace treaty signed by Israel, PA.

 

Hamas rejects any peace treaty with Israel, but supports the possibility of establishing a lasting ceasefire such as the one between Israel and Lebanon or Israel and Syria, a top Hamas official said in a rare interview with an American-Jewish newspaper published on Friday.

Hamas leaders Khaled Meshaal, Moussa Abu Marzouk -Photo: Khaled Al Hariri / Reuters

Hamas leaders Khaled Meshaal, Moussa Abu Marzouk -Photo: Khaled Al Hariri / Reuters

Speaking with The Jewish Daily Forward, Hamas’s Mousa Abu Marzouk expressed views ranging from Hamas’ willingness for a “Hudna,” or truce, with Israel, to a possible willingness to change Hamas’ charter regarding Jews, to a refusal to recognize any future peace treaty signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Continue Reading »

Israelis taking over online advertising

In recent years, digital advertising in Israel has quietly grown to $500M a year industry

The growing prevalence of the Internet in all areas of life is changing the map of advertising as well, with advertisers and agencies allocating more and more funds to digital advertising.

Archives Photo: Gilad Kavalerchik

Archives Photo: Gilad Kavalerchik

This trend has seen Israel quietly turning into a hub for digital advertising optimization. Between 2007 and 2011 the industry doubled its revenues, according to Yankee Group, a research and advisory firm. Although TV advertising still draws larger budges than its digital counterpart, the gap is expected to narrow in the next few years, according to digital marketing consulting firm eMarketer. Continue Reading »

The Catholic priest who discovered he was a Jew

Jacob Weksler was raised a Catholic and became a priest. He later learned he was Jewish and came to Israel, where he found ultra-Orthodox relatives, a mixed welcome at a kibbutz ulpan and a confrontation with the Law of Return.

 

One night at the end of the winter of 1943, a frightened young woman knocked on the window of the Waszkinel family home in Stare Swieciany, a small town located not far from Vilnius, which was part of Poland at the time. The young woman quickly handed a carefully wrapped little bundle to Emilia Waszkinel. The bundle contained a newborn infant. Continue Reading »

UN Rights Office: Hamas Executions ‘Unlawful’

Hamas has violated the rights of three executed men, as well as PA law, human rights officials say.

The UN human rights office on Friday charged that three men sentenced to death in Hamas-run Gaza were executed unlawfully.

Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights -Photo Reuters

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s spokesman, Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva that the death sentences carried out by hanging on April 7 weren’t approved by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as required by law.
He also said the men didn’t have regular access to lawyers and were tried by a military court despite being civilians.
Continue Reading »

Melanie Phillips: The destruction of free speech: Europe’s auto-immune disease

In decadent Europe, freedom of speech is dying. Loudly trumpeted as a ‘human right’ for any attacks on America, Israel, Christians or on the core values of the west, it is swiftly transformed into ‘hate speech’ and the shutters are slammed down on the speaker whenever Islam is in the frame.

Lars Hedegaard is President of the Danish Free Press Society, which is devoted to defending freedom of expression

Lars Hedegaard is President of the Danish Free Press Society, which is devoted to defending freedom of expression.

Lars Hedegaard is President of the Danish Free Press Society, which is devoted to defending freedom of expression – particularly against the threat from radical Islam to extinguish it on the spurious grounds of ‘Islamophobia’. Continue Reading »

US mulls prosecution of Schalit deal prisoners

FBI, US Justice Dept. “reviewing info” about prisoners freed in Schalit deal for “potential prosecution,” ‘Post’ learns.

The US is reviewing terror attacks linked to Palestinian security prisoners released in exchange for soldier Gilad Schalit, for further investigation and potential prosecution in US courts, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Freed Palestinian prisoners honored entering Gaza - Photo: REUTERS

Freed Palestinian prisoners honored entering Gaza - Photo: REUTERS

Those involved include the FBI, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and the National Security Division’s Counter-terrorism Section. However, according to US Assistant Attorney-General Ronald Weich, there are “significant impediments” to prosecuting Palestinian terrorists in the US who are connected to attacks in which Americans are killed or maimed.

Continue Reading »

‘Memory of 6 million must never be trivialized’

US Congress marks Holocaust Day; Israeli Ambassador to DC warns: “We cannot ignore similarities between conditions that fostered Holocaust, those we now witness daily’

WASHINGTON – The US Congress marked Holocaust Remembrance Day during its Thursday session.

Michael Oren Photo: AP

Michael Oren - Photo by AP

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren addressed Congress and warned of the similarities between pre-WWII climate and the one prevalent today.

“Human history is rife with atrocities, massacres, and wars, but nothing can be equated with the enormity of the Holocaust,” he said. “It is profoundly, unbearably, unique.”

The legacy of the Holocaust, he added, “Endows us with a double duty. Continue Reading »