Poll: Gazans Blame Hamas, Not Israel for Fuel Crisis

Poll conducted among PA Arabs finds that most blame Hamas for Gaza fuel crisis. Abbas enjoying increased popularity.

A recent poll conducted among Palestinian Authority Arabs has found that a majority of residents of Hamas-controlled Gaza blame their leaders, not Israel, for the fuel crisis in the region.

The poll, which was conducted by Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD), was released on Saturday.

When asked ‘Who do you blame the most for the fuel crisis in Gaza?’ 48.4 percent of respondents said Hamas and its government in Gaza were responsible for the crisis. 21.1 percent blamed Israel, which last week transferred diesel to Gaza, and 11.6 percent said the PA leadership under Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was responsible. Continue Reading »

AP Retracts Story Because of Hamas Lie

 

In yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream, I noted an AP dispatch (subsequently updated) reporting the first Palestinian fatality attributed to the Gaza crisis.

A five-month old baby, said the wire service, died when the generator running Mohammed Helou’s respirator, ran out of fuel.

Who wouldn’t be moved by such a tragedy?

Turns out the story was based on a lie. AP issued this retraction (via our colleagues at CAMERA) explaining:

The timing and reason for the death were confirmed to the AP by a man identified as the baby’s father and a Gaza health official, but the report has been called into question after it was learned that a local newspaper carried news of the baby’s death on March 4.
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Plans revealed for Israel’s tallest office tower

Azrieli Sarona tower in Tel Aviv scheduled to be completed by 2016; 50-stories tall building will offer 125,000 sqm of office space.

 

Azrieli Group controlling shareholder David Azrieli laid the foundation stone Sunday for the Sarona Center – a single, 200-meter, 50-stories tall building in Tel Aviv’s nascent southern Kirya business district.

Azrieli Sarona will become Israel’s largest office tower upon its scheduled completion in 2016, offering 125,000 sqm of working space, a three-story, 11,000 sqm mall, and a seven-story underground parking lot for 1,600 vehicles. It will be the country’s second-tallest building overall, behind Ramat Gan’s 244-meter, 68-story, multi-purpose Moshe Aviv Tower.

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‘Hamas, Hezbollah helping Iran in Yemen’

US envoy to Sanaa tells ‘al-Hayat’ that Washington believes Tehran working with Shi’ite Muslim rebels in northern Yemen.

 

Washington believes that Hezbollah and Hamas are helping their backers in Iran to expand its influence in Yemen at the expense of Yemen’s Gulf neighbors, the US envoy to Sanaa told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

In a London interview, Gerald Feierstein was quoted as accusing Hezbollah and Hamas of helping their backers in Shi’ite Iran at the expense of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a bloc in which Sunni-led oil giant Saudi Arabia’s influence is dominant.
Iran is working with Shi’ite Muslim rebels in northern Yemen and secessionists in the country’s south to expand its influence, Feierstein said.

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Court rejects Migron deal; orders evacuation by August 1

In dramatic ruling, High Court justices reject request to delay voluntary evacuation of outpost built on private Palestinian land until 2015. Petitioners’ attorney: Court showed no one is above the law

 

The High Court of Justice rejected on Sunday the compromise agreement reached between the State and the residents of the Migron outpost in the West Bank.

The judges, headed by Supreme Court President Asher Grunis, ruled that the outpost must be evacuated by August 1. The annulled compromise deal stated that the outpost’s residents would voluntarily relocate to state-owned land situated on a nearby hill within three-and-a-half years

In its ruling, the court chastised the State for failing to evacuate Migron. Continue Reading »

Israel Warns Neighbors Over March to Jerusalem

Israel warns neighbors that it will forcefully respond to attempted breaches of its borders during the ‘Global March to Jerusalem’.

As activists are planning to lead a Global March to Jerusalem next Friday, Israel has warned neighboring countries that it would forcefully respond to attempted breaches of its borders.

The Global March to Jerusalem initiative aims at getting over one million Arabs and their supporters to attempt to infiltrate Israel’s borders on March 30th. A spokesman for the march said last week the initiative “demand[s] freedom for Palestine and its capital Jerusalem.”

Jerusalem, Wailing Wall Plaza

Jerusalem, Wailing Wall Plaza

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) has presented information that Iran is behind the initiative and openly supports it. Continue Reading »

Hamas: PA using Gaza fuel crisis to incite

PA denies charges that West Bank leadership had asked the Egyptians to cut off fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip.

 

The Palestinian Authority is exploiting the severe fuel crisis in the Gaza Strip to incite Palestinians against Hamas, the Islamist movement charged Saturday.

The allegation is a sign of renewed tensions between the two Palestinian parties in light of their failure to implement the recent Qatari-brokered reconciliation agreement that was signed between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.

The fuel crisis has forced the only power plant in the Gaza Strip to cut off electricity for several hours every day. Continue Reading »

A Jew-free Europe

Op-ed: The ongoing process of Jews leaving European continent is tragic but unavoidable

The Jews of Europe are once again in grave danger, while anti-Semitism has become the common currency of politics in many European countries.

Seventy years after the Holocaust, a pogrom took place in Toulouse, one of the most pleasant French cities. An Israeli rabbi and three Jewish children were executed during a killing spree. Four Jews “returned” to Israelin a coffin.

The question we face at this time is as follows: will the Jews have a place in the New Europe? Or will the remnant of European Jewry flee once again? Continue Reading »

Economic distress, not ideological fervor, is behind Sinai’s terror boom

When looking for the motivation behind the 13 explosions that hit the gas line connecting Egypt and Israel, it’s too easy to blame al-Qaida.

Egyptian security forces breathed a sigh of relief twice this week. Once after Bedouin from the Rafah region agreed to lift the siege of the military base used by international peacekeepers in Sinai, and another time after Bedouin from Nuweiba “agreed” to release a Czech woman who was taken hostage while acting as a tour guide to a group of 15 Czech tourists who were on their way to Sharm el-Sheikh.

The three previous abductions, of U.S., Continue Reading »

FBI — Most Wanted Terrorists

The alleged terrorists on this list have been indicted by sitting Federal Grand Juries in various jurisdictions in the United States for the crimes reflected on their wanted posters. Evidence was gathered and presented to the Grand Juries, which led to their being charged. The indictments currently listed on the posters allow them to be arrested and brought to justice. Future indictments may be handed down as various investigations proceed in connection to other terrorist incidents, for example, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

The Rewards for Justice program, administered by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, offers rewards for information leading to the arrest of many of these terrorists.

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Borat anthem played by mistake at medals ceremony

Gold medalist Dmitrienko listens solemnly to fake anthem after Kuwaiti organizers mistakenly download wrong version.

 

Kazakhstan’s shooting team demanded an apology after a spoof national anthem from the comedy film Borat was played instead of the real one at a medal ceremony in Kuwait, the BBC reported on Friday.

The team’s coach told Kazakh media the organizers of the Kuwait tournament had downloaded the parody from the internet by mistake and had also got the Serbian national anthem wrong.

Footage of Thursday’s original ceremony shows gold medalist Maria Dmitrienko listening solemnly to the anthem before smiling. The ceremony was later rerun. Continue Reading »

Report: ‘Land Day’ march to reach Beaufort Castle

Sources claim Lebanese branch of ‘Universal Jerusalem March’ planned for Friday will refrain from Israeli border to avoid clashes with Israeli authorities

The Lebanese branch of the “Universal Jerusalem March,” also known as “Land Day,” planned for Friday will only reach Beaufort fortress in southern Lebanon instead of heading to the Israeli-Lebanese border as previously reported, Sources close to the march told “The Daily Star” on Saturday.

According to the sources, the route was changed to avoid any clashes with Israeli authorities along the border. The organizers said they estimate some 30,000 protesters will participate in the march on Friday. Continue Reading »

Report: Iran planned to bomb Israeli ship in Suez Canal

Egyptian paper Al-Ahram reports that two Egyptian citizens received instructions from Iranian agents to attack an Israeli ship, and offered a third man 50 million Egyptian pounds to carry out the act.

Iran had planned to bomb an Israeli ship while it crossed the Suez Canal, the prosecution in Egypt’s state security court said, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Saturday.

According to the report, two Egyptians were recently arrested and investigated for allegedly planning an attack on an Israeli ship in the Suez Canal.

The investigation of the two found that they had received their instructions from Iranian agents, and that the two asked a third person, by the name of Mohamed Zakri, to carry out the act in exchange for 50 million Egyptian pounds.

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US Blames Israel for Endangered Americans in PA

The US blamed Israel for endangered American citizens in the PA-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria in a travel warning issued Friday.

The United States bluntly told its citizens it is risky to travel to “Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” citing “threats to themselves and the U.S. interests in those locations.”

Although the U.S. trained and equipped the Palestinian Authority’s military police force several years ago – which “resulted in a marked decrease in violence in recent years” – the State Department nevertheless warned that Americans would still not be safe there.

One year ago, PA police gunned down a group of Israelis who were visiting the Tomb of the Prophet Joseph near Shechem, killing one and wounding four others. Continue Reading »

Is desalination the solution for Israel’s water problems? Depends who you ask

Desalination systems account for a fifth of the freshwater used in Israel and, according to existing plans, by the end of the decade that amount will be doubled.

Increasing desalination can improve water quality and save the economy some NIS 500 million a year, according to a new survey commissioned by the Israel Water Authority. Experts from the Environmental Protection Ministry, however, believe desalination plants’ costs outweigh their benefits.

Desalination systems account for a fifth of the freshwater used in Israel and, according to existing plans, by the end of the decade that amount will be doubled. Recently the Water Authority commissioned an economical value survey through Adan Technical & Economic Services.

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