‘Flytilla’ organizers: Israel won’t determine who enters Palestine

Internal security minister says pro-Palestinian ‘provocateurs’ from Europe, North America ‘will be dealt with in a determined, quick manner. Bethlehem mayor: Let them enter without ‘humiliation’

Israel vowed Tuesday to prevent the entry of hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists from Europe and North America expected to arrive in the country this weekend, calling them provocateurs who are intent on disturbing public order.

The activists are set to board flights to Israel with the aim of participating in demonstrations against Israeli policy in the West Bank. Although organizers say all protests will be peaceful, Israeli officials said the activists would be deported.

Police at Ben-Gurion Airport Photo: Yaron Brener

Police at Ben-Gurion Airport - Photo: Yaron Brener

“The provocateurs will be dealt with in a determined and quick way,” said Israel’s public security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovitch. Continue Reading »

Iran says cut oil supply to Spain, may halt flow to Germany, Italy

Iran has cut oil exports to Spain and may halt sales to Germany and Italy, Iran’s English-language state television reported on Tuesday, in an apparent move to strengthen its position ahead of crucial talks with world powers later this week.

iran oil - Glenn Klasner - December 12 2011

Irainian Ship - Photo by: Glenn Klasner

But in an indication that Tehran’s “counter-sanctions” were of little impact, Spain’s biggest refiner said it had already replaced its Iranian crude with oil from Saudi Arabia several months ago.

Iran has played a tit-for-tat game over crude shipments since the European Union agreed in January that it would stop all Iranian oil imports as of July. Continue Reading »

CBS’s Ben Stein Warns of Second Holocaust

CBS’s Ben Stein warns that the Jewish people must heed the lessons of history in order to prevent another Holocaust from befalling it.

In light of the Passover holiday, CBS’s Ben Stein warned that the Jewish people must heed the lessons of history in order to prevent another Holocaust from befalling it.

Scud-B Missiles

Scud-B Missiles - Reuters

Every Passover, the Jewish people attest to the daunting and recurring theme that, as it says in the Haggadah, “In every generation we are faced with enemies that seek our complete annihilation and destruction.” Stein gives voice to his understanding that Jews must not rely on the nations of the world to determine their destiny, but must do so themselves. Continue Reading »

IDF considering interceptors for sea-based gas platforms

Fearing missiles, Navy seeking budget for 4 new vessels to improve defense coverage of Mediterranean Sea; Israel concerned Hezbollah will try to attack platforms.

 

The IDF is considering the deployment of missile interceptors on gas rigs that Israeli companies plan to construct in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in the coming years, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Israel’s concern is that Hezbollah will try to attack the platforms with anti-ship missiles or explosives-laden vessels.

Leviathan holds 453 billion cu.m. of gas – Photo: Albatross

 

The navy is particularly concerned about Syria’s recent purchase of the Russian Yakhont anti-ship missile, which could be transferred to Hezbollah and used to target the gas rigs. Continue Reading »

Santorum blasts Obama, Romney over Jerusalem’s statue

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum leveled scathing criticism at US President Barack Obama and his GOP rival Mitt Romney for failing to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Rick Santorum Photo: AP

Rick Santorum - Photo: AP

In a feature article published in the New York Daily News, Santorum said that the fact that Obama and Romney “won’t state this basic fact” is a mistake.”It has been longstanding US policy not to officially recognize any part of Jerusalem as part of Israel — and it is dead wrong,” he wrote.

Mitt Romney Photo: AP

Mitt Romney- Photo: AP

The republican presidential hopeful further lamented the “huge divide between the Obama administration’s position and that of the government of Israel with regard to Jerusalem.” Continue Reading »

Israeli officials see Syria falling into battle between al-Qaida, Iran

Israeli officials are also concerned about reports showing Syrian weapons falling into Hezbollah’s hands, though it is still unclear whether the Shi’ite organization has gotten hold of chemical weapons.

Israeli officials are very skeptical the Syrian government and opposition will stick to the cease-fire that UN envoy Kofi Annan hopes will take hold on Tuesday.

Funeral in Syria.

Funerals in Syria. Photo by: AP

Annan, a former UN general secretary, has been traveling to Syria for several weeks in an attempt to broker a truce between President Bashar Assad and opposition forces, after many months of unrest.

Human rights reports show that more than 100 civilians have been executed so far this year, and the opposition says more than 150 civilians – including 17 children – were killed on Monday alone.

Continue Reading »

Peres Makes Emergency Plea for Pollard

President Shimon Peres sent an urgent message to US President Barak Obama asking Jonathan Pollard be pardoned on humanitarian grounds

President Shimon Peres on Monday sent an urgent personal request to US President Barack Obama asking for Jonathan Pollard to be pardoned on humanitarian grounds.

Peres also met with Esther Pollard on Sunday. According to his office, Peres listened carefully as she outlined her husband’s deteriorating condition and implored the President to use all his influence as quickly as possible to ensure that Pollard – who was rushed to a hospital last Friday – is not sent back to prison.

She said returning Pollard to prison would “be a death sentence.” Continue Reading »

Mofaz: ‘Palestinians should get 100% of their territorial demands’

 Kadima Chairman MK Shaul Mofaz gets flak from Right and his own party for interview given to The New York Times • Kadima MK Schneller: He who goes back to the warm embrace of the Left…cannot be prime minister.

In a New York Times profile on Friday, new Kadima Chairman and opposition leader MK Shaul Mofaz outlined what he believes should be Israel’s new public agenda.

In the article entitled “Defying an Image With a Tilt to the Left,” Mofaz is quoted as saying that while he believes Israel should keep its current settlement blocs, the Palestinians should get 100 percent of their territorial demands met via land swaps.

Continue Reading »

Iran slams BBC over film about Israel relations

Islamic Republic says Iranian-Canadian’s film includes “unauthorized” footage shot in Tehran.

 

Iran sharply criticized the BBC on Friday for airing what it said was “illegal footage” of Tehran in a new documentary examining the history of Iran’s relationship with Israel, from the Babylonian exile through the present conflict.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prays - Photo: REUTERS

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prays - Photo: REUTERS

BBC Persian – whose broadcasts are jammed in Iran – posted Iranian- Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari’s film, From Cyrus to Ahmadinejad, on its website last week, where it is still available for viewing. The Persian-language channel has also organized a showing of the documentary at London’s Frontline Club later this month.

Continue Reading »

Police: Employees embezzled millions from Holocaust fund

Some 10 people arrested following lengthy undercover investigation over suspicions they pocketed funds from association for Holocaust survivors

They collected tens of millions of shekels in donations for Holocaust survivors – then swept the funds into their own pockets. Police on Sunday arrested 10 suspects, including the manager of fund in the Jerusalem area on charges of theft; fraudulently obtaining benefits and money laundering.

Supects arrested (Illustration) Photo: Shutterstock

Supects arrested (Illustration) Photo: Shutterstock

“This is a cynical abuse of the plight of Holocaust survivors,” officials at the National Fraud Investigation Unit, who carried out the investigation, noted.

The lengthy undercover investigation was revealed just as the funds and associations are at the height of their activities – during the Passover holiday season and ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Continue Reading »

Essay: When Zionism was an Arab cause

The theory that the Arabs missed out on what was good for them is not any more true than the theory that the Zionists missed the chance to realize their dream without a war.

Isaiah Friedman focused most of his professional work as a historian on eight fateful years: 1915-1922. Now 91, Friedman, a professor emeritus of history at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, knows every person and every intrigue, every scheme and every document that led to the formation of the modern Middle East, including the establishment of the State of Israel. He also knows generations of scholars and waves of contradictory theories, and remains adamant: The century-old conflict over the Land of Israel was not inevitable.

Continue Reading »

Israel Ranks 14th in World Happiness Poll

Israel ranks 14th in the United Nations’ World Happiness Report; Denmark, Finland, Norway and Netherlands top list; U.S. ranks 11th.

The report lists Denmark, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands as the world’s happiest countries, with the United States ranking at 11th place and the United Kingdom at 18th place.

The report aims to “review the state of happiness in the world today and show how the new science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness.”

The rankings, based on a “life evaluation score,” measure factors including health, job security, personal freedom and degree of political corruption. Continue Reading »

Jonathan Pollard’s wife makes desperate plea to Peres

Wife of imprisoned Israeli agent pleads with president to pressure Obama for her husband’s release: I don’t want to be a widow; Peres promises to make it top priority; Netanyahu: The time has come to free Pollard.

Esther Pollard, the wife of the convicted American Naval Intelligence analyst who has spent 27 years in prison for spying for Israel, on Sunday entreated President Shimon Peres to act immediately to try to secure her husband’s freedom before it is too late.

Jonathan and Esther Pollard - By Courtesy J4JP
Jonathan and Esther Pollard – By Courtesy J4JP

Esther was accompanied by MKs Uri Ariel and Ronit Tirosh who head the Knesset lobby for the release of Jonathan Pollard, along with members of The Committee for the Release of Jonathan Pollard.

Continue Reading »

Why I no longer hate Israel

Op-ed: Portuguese blogger explains why he changed his views, fell in love with Israel

I’m a 22-year-old Portuguese gay activist and PhD student. I’m not Jewish, Israeli or even religious, but I am a Zionist and strong supporter of Israel, and I want to explain why.

Romeu Monteiro - A Zionist

Romeu Monteiro - A Zionist

My story begins at the age of nine, when I went to the school library to get the Diary of Anne Frank. I had no prior idea about the Holocaust and I could not comprehend such persecution. I had never met a Jew, but I was raised to see other people as similar to myself. Continue Reading »

Erdogan: Turkey will take ‘steps’ if Syria disregards ceasefire deadline

Turkish PM does not specify what measures Turkey could take; Ankara has in the past floated the idea of creating a buffer zone inside Syria.

Turkey’s prime minister says the country will wait “patiently” to see if Syria abides by a cease-fire deadline, but may take certain “steps” if the violence does not stop after that.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not specify Saturday what measures Turkey would take. But Ankara has in the past floated the idea of creating a buffer zone inside Syria if refugee flows become overwhelming.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan - Reuters - 5.4.2012

Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressing the media in Ankara - Photo by: Reuters

Officials say nearly 700 Syrians have crossed into Turkey since Friday, raising the number of refugees to 24,324. Continue Reading »