An anonymous U.S. official has said that, in addition to stable relations with Israel, “the U.S. is expecting Egypt to use the good ties that link the Muslim Brotherhood with the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip to curtail any plans that Hamas might have towards escalation with Israel." The U.S. is also expecting President Morsi's Egypt to remain committed to its traditional policy of limited engagement with Iran.
According to Al Ahram, Egyptian journalist Adel Al-Gogari, 56, died on Wednesday night while discussing the crisis in Syria during a live televised broadcast on Iraqi Al-Hadath private channel in Media Production City, Cairo. Al-Gogari, a Nasserist, also accused the Free Syrian Army of being funded by Israel during the show.
Iran was elected to a top post on the UN Arms Trade Treaty conference, UN Watch revealed on Sunday. The Geneva-based human rights group is calling on UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who addressed the conference on the same day, to condemn the selection of the Tehran regime.
By Ron Kampeas
WASHINGTON – Mitt Romney’s announced trip to Israel, at the height of his campaign to wrest the presidency from Barack Obama, could be a twofer, drawing closer two critical constituencies: evangelicals and foreign policy hawks.
Iran's current three-day military drill, understood as a thinly-veiled and defiant response to the newest round of EU sanctions on its petroleum industry, is intended to demonstrate Iran's ability to retaliate to a US or Israeli attack. But the maneuvers may be having the opposite effect, as more experts are coming to the conclusion that Iran's incessant sabre-rattling and bellicosity seek to mask the obsolete and impotent state of its armed forces.
With tougher sanctions by the European Union taking effect, Iran announced new missile tests and threatened to obliterate Israel. The Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps launched missiles with ranges of 300, 500, 800, and 1,300 kilometers, the Mehr agency reported on Tuesday.
Ahmed Mohamed Shafik Zaki, who came second in Egypt's presidential runoff election last week, is reported to have boarded a flight to Abu Dhabi fleeing several corruption complaints.
“In our strategic planning, we have defined a radius named the radius of deterrence, which includes all strategic interests of the enemy in the region, so that we can manage the battle at any level in case of the outbreak of war,” Brigadier General Hossein Salami said.
U.S. officials are saying Bashar al-Assad’s closest supporters are secretly making plans to defect to the other side in case the Syrian dictator succumbs to attacks by the rebellion. And a Syrian activist group reported Friday that four senior officers announced they are defecting and joining the ranks of the opposition.
JERUSALEM – After terror groups operating from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula launched Grad missiles into the Southern Negev’s Mitzpeh Ramon and Uvda regions last weekend and murdered an Israeli Arab construction worker from Haifa on Monday, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak took the unusual step of ordering IDF tank units to deploy along portions of Israel’s southern border with Egypt.
By Jewish Press Staff Reporter
If official results stand, Mursi will have won Egypt's first post-uprising elections with 51.89 per cent of the vote, succeeding toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak. The ruling military council will "hand over power" on 30 June.
IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yoav (Poly) Mordechai said that the understanding that the Bashar Assad regime in Syria has “reached its end” is now permeating among Assad’s allies Iran and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, a Russian military source said that Russia may send warships and troops to Syria to protect its logistics base in Tartous, Syria.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Saturday revved up his attacks on President Obama's Mid East policy, suggesting the president fears that Israel might attack Iran more than he fears that Iran will develop a nuclear weapon. “I think, by and large, you can just look at the things the president has done and do the opposite,” Romney said.
Russian Independence Day celebration at Tel Aviv’s Hilton Hotel were dampered by the arrival of a group of demonstrators protesting Russian military support for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s harsh crackdown on civilians and armed opposition.
By Larry Luxner
DHAKA, Bangladesh – Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury sat at the cafe of the five-star Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in downtown Dhaka – capital of the third-largest Muslim nation on earth – proclaiming his love for Israel and the Jewish people.
JERUSALEM – Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz to draw up plans for a possible series of preemptive strikes against various Scud missile installations and suspected WMD (weapons of mass destruction) sites across Syria, as the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship appears to be entering a dangerous phase.
By JTA
"We have confronted the Russians about stopping their continued arms shipments to Syria," Clinton said Tuesday. "We are concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria."
IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh said Monday night that “Syria has the world’s largest arsenal of chemical weapons, along with rockets and missiles that can reach all of Israel." But Palestinian officials criticized the amplified Israeli criticism on Sunday as a tactic to deflect attention from Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and the "moribund peace process."
Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, is calling Syrian President Bashar Assad’s war against opposition a “genocide”, and said Israeli support is behind efforts to overthrow him.
JERUSALEM – Despite the absence of an attack on Iranian military and nuclear facilities, Israel and the U.S. are engaged in a covert cyberwar campaign against a growing list of Iranian targets. The dual objective is to hamper the Iranian regime’s ability to build an atomic bomb while pressuring them to bow to Western and UN demands to downgrade their enrichment capabilities to less than 10 percent.
The IDF Operations Department has put together instructions for military operations in cyberspace against enemies of the Jewish state. The IDF will engage in consistent and continuous intelligence gathering operations online, and said it will handle cyberspace as a battlefield as important as those at sea in the air, and on the ground, executing attacks when necessary.
In an address marking the 23rd anniversary of the death of his predecessor Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also accused the West of cynically exaggerating the threat a nuclear Iran poses to divert attention: "What Americans and Westerners do is idiotic. They magnify the nuclear issue to cover up their own [economic] problems."
JERUSALEM – In a meeting with a visiting U.S. delegation fresh off nuclear talks in Baghdad, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak and National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror expressed their government’s growing concerns over America’s diplomatic negotiations with Iran.
"Iran is here," said Northern Command Chief Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, "its negative influence is significant in the Gaza Strip, in Lebanon and in Syria." He also warned, "al-Qaeda might attack Israel in time." Meanwhile, an Iranian official threatens that a Syrian war would "engulf" Israel.
According to a report in the semi-official Fars News Agency, Iran's foreign ministry has blamed Israel for the recent massacre of Syrian civilians in Houla, claiming that “we palpably feel the Zionist regime's hand in Syria's internal developments."
Thousands gathered overnight in Tahrir Square, Cairo, to demonstrate against Egypt's election results which will pit deposed ruler Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Mursi in a runoff election on June 16 and 17.
Deputy Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee Ayoob Kara on Monday called on Western democracies "to stop their intolerable procrastination, which allows the Assad regime to continue its massacres."
Kaspersky Lab announced on Monday the discovery of a highly sophisticated malicious program being used as a cyber weapon attacking several countries. The complexity of the newly discovered malicious program exceeds those of all other cyber menaces known to date.
Barak took the opportunity to reiterate that "All options remain firmly on the table."
Saudi Muslims have launched several campaigns against McDonald's in "response to the savage attacks on the noble Prophet," under banners like "Help your Prophet!" and "Together in support of the Prophet."
By JTA
Evidence found in an underground bunker in Iran could signal the country’s having moved one step closer toward the uranium threshold needed to make nuclear arms, International Atomic Energy Agency diplomats said today. IAEA inspectors found traces of uranium enriched up to 27 percent at Iran's Fordo enrichment plant.
According to Najem News —which says the bank's policy "contradicts Jordan's laws and constitutions"—the bank "fired all female employees who refused to wear the hijab, after warning them that it is mandatory, despite the fact that some of the employees are Christians."
By JTA
The 144-page indictment seeks 10 aggravated life jail sentences for each commander, including former Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, according to the English-language Turkish news service Today's Zaman, citing the Sabah daily.
In anticipation of the historic Presidential elections being held today, the Egyptian Independent offered a survey of the foreign policy platforms of the candidates. Despite their differences, they speak in one voice about the need to restore Egypt to its rightful place of primacy in the Arab world and their hostility towards Israel.
Retired general turned security analyst and Junta spokesman Sameh Seif Al-Yazal told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that rumors about an Israeli military intervention in Egypt are "misguided," because it was "not in Israel’s interest to fight Egypt at the present time, as the situation remained tense with its other neighbors."
Animosity toward Israel is playing a significant role in the Egyptian presidential race, according to a report by Reuters.
Washington prefers the diplomatic option and stated as much time and again – but it seems that beneath the surface, an attack is ready to roll on command. An unusual moment of candor on the part of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro at a closed meeting in Tel Aviv, reveals the planning behind the scenes. "The military option is not only possible, it's ready," he says.
In a televised speech in suburbs south of Beirut on Friday, Hizbullah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah boasted that his sophisticated terror network is capable of hitting any target “in Tel Aviv and occupied Palestine”, and would target Tel Aviv in a future war.
Ibrahim Hassan Tali al-Asiri is a 28 year old Saudi citizen now living in Yemen who is expert at creating bombs that can elude detection and penetrate airport security. He is the maker of two near miss underwear bombs as well as other hidden small devices including a bomb placed in his own brother's body […]
A report titled "The Emperor Has No Clothes: Palestinians and the End of the Peace Process" was issued this week by the International Crisis Group, asking: "Does anybody still believe in the Middle East Peace Process?" It claims the current process, even if it yields some local progress, "will not bring about a durable and lasting peace.
Speaking at the annual convention of the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly in Atlanta on Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden made the case that Obama's strategies regarding the Iranian nuclear program have worked, but said the decision to strike must be Israel's. "I would not contract out my security to anybody, even a loyal, loyal, loyal friend like the United States," Biden said.
Warren Weinstein, an American humanitarian aid worker kidnapped by al-Qaeda begged US President Barack Obama to free all al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners in US detention camps, and end airstrikes against forces in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia in exchange for his freedom. Weinstein, 71 of Rockville, Maryland, was kidnapped August 13, 2011, while in Lahore, […]
Press TV, Iran's television network, broadcasting in English round-the-clock, on Sunday published an interview with Mark Glenn, of The Crescent and Cross Solidarity movement, who said that Israel is the only regime that “has threatened to take the entire world down in a nuclear Armageddon in the instance that her precious experiments in Jewish self-rule in the Middle East ceases to materialize.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is facing the grim prospect of witnessing the 33-year-old Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement unravel as the rise of radical Islamic political parties in Cairo and unchecked Bedouin terrorist activities across the Sinai Peninsula – which have included sabotaging a gas pipeline to Israel – threaten to create a new political and military crisis between the two countries and throughout the Middle East.
Turkey will block Israel from participating in a NATO summit next month because the Jewish state has not responded for the killing of Turks who attacked Israeli naval officers boarding the illegal flotilla Mavi Marmara in May 2010.
By Tibbi Singer
Egypt's International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul Naga said on Monday that Egypt is prepared to resume gas exports to Israel, but at new rates, after unilaterally canceling its previous, long-term contract, signed in 2005. The Israeli side of the dispute had kept its cool since the original Egyptian announcement, maintaining that there was a businesslike solution to the crisis.
Despite major concerns being raised about the future of peace between Egypt and Israel in the wake of Egypt’s decision to terminate the a contract to provide natural gas to the Jewish State, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that he hopes the dispute will be solved in a business environment, and that relations between the two countries will return to normal.
Iran has started manufacturing models of its captured US spy plane, the commander of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps announced on Saturday, Meher reported.
Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, a top Egyptian Islamic cleric, came to Jerusalem to show support for Palestinian claims to eastern Jerusalem on Wednesday, breaking a long-standing taboo imposed by Muslim clerics, professional and private organizations against visiting Israel.
Aaron Klein’s popular radio program made the radio industry’s highly coveted Talkers Magazine “Heavy Hundred,” one of only two all-weekend shows in America to make the list.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel would not refrain from striking Iranian nuclear installations during the course of the ongoing negotiations between the Western allies and Iranian government officials if Israel’s intelligence apparatus determined that the Iranian military was on the verge of constructing a nuclear warhead at its secret underground facility in Qom.
Saeed Jalili, Secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, says Tehran does not intend to stop producing uranium enriched to a purity level of 20 percent, insisting that enrichment of uranium is his country's right. The UN Security Council has demanded the suspension of enrichment. Iran has enough enriched uranium for around four bombs if the material is refined further to about 90-percent purity.
JERUSALEM – The latest round of negotiations between the West and Iran, designed to force the latter to abandon its nuclear weapons program, has for now seemingly prevented the IDF from proceeding with what many believe to be its planned preemptive strike against key Iranian nuclear installations.
By Tibbi Singer
This is too funny not to be true. Egypt's national soccer team is "forced" to break the Arab Youth and Sports Ministers’ decision to boycott Adidas, after the sportswear company sponsored the Jerusalem marathon… because the national team do not have an alternative kit to wear. "We have no choice but to wear Adidas in the UAE camp as we don’t have any other outfits," said the team's Executive Director.
Iran has announced that "key members of an Israeli terrorist network have been identified and arrested." Apparently, Iranian intelligence forces, carrying out a series of sophisticated operations in a number of central and border provinces of Iran, managed to identify "a major Zionist network of terror and sabotage" and on Monday arrested "a number of criminal terrorists and mercenaries affiliated with the network."
By Armin Rosen
TUNIS – More than a year after Tunisia became the first Arab country to overthrow its dictator through a popular, nonviolent uprising, two political movements are challenging Tunisia’s cosmopolitan political and social attitudes, and are threatening to reverse the country’s longstanding moderation toward Israel and Jews.
By dvora
JERUSALEM – If pro-Palestinian calls for a so-called Global March to Jerusalem are heeded, thousands of Arabs from the West Bank, Gaza, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria could converge on Israel’s borders.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, and Tajiki President Emomali Rahmon "called for more cooperation" during their summit in the Tajiki capital of Dushanbe on Sunday. The meeting happened against the background of the increasing economic sanctions against Iran.
Klein was discussing the upcoming Global March to Jerusalem, which seeks to breach Israel's borders while "confirming that the policies and practices of the racist Zionist state of Israel against Jerusalem and its people are a crime not only against Palestinians but against all humanity.”
On his WABC Radio show, Aaron Klein offered $50,000 to an organizer of the upcoming Global March to Jerusalem if the activist could name one city in the Middle East outside of Israel that has more freedom than Jerusalem.
By Dana Kennedy
PARIS – When Arie Bensemhoun, a Jewish community leader in Toulouse, woke up Tuesday morning, he thought for a moment the horrific shooting of three children and a rabbi at a local Jewish school might have been a bad dream.
A heavy firefight has broken out in a main district of the Syrian capital Damascus, between Free Syrian Army rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. On Monday the sound of heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades echoed throughout the night from the most heavily guarded neighborhood of the capital, which is home to a number of security facilities.
By Tibbi Singer
the Canadian Supreme Court has accepted the appeal of Iman Musa and Majida Mugrabi, an Israeli Muslim lesbian couple who sought refugee status in Canada. The judge ordered further hearings on the request due to the possibility that they would be honor-murdered if deported to Israel
JERUSALEM – Life in south-central Israel began returning to normal as the fragile cease-fire, brokered by the Egyptian military junta, appeared to take hold.
By dvora
JERUSALEM – Egypt announced that a cease-fire it brokered between terrorist groups in Egypt and Israel went into effect at 1 a.m. Tuesday, but several rockets and mortar shells fired from Gaza exploded in Israel after the announcement.
By Rafi Harkham
The Obama administration has begun "serious discussions" about directly arming the opposition, deploying troops to secure a humanitarian corridor, or establishing a no-fly zone in Syria.
By Tibbi Singer
A resident of Israel's central region driving last night on the Ayalon Highway spotted two unidentified objects glowing in the sky, and decided to pull over and capture the strange phenomenon. "It was unusual, I was shocked and could not stop myself," he told News 2. "I never believed it but now I think again." Watch the documentation: an illusion or a discovery?
By Rafi Harkham
Anonymous diplomatic and intelligence sources tell Israeli paper that the Obama administration would supply Israel with weapons that would extend its time-line for military action – like advanced GBU-28 bunker-busting bombs and long-range refueling aircraft, so that Israel could wait till after the 2012 presidential election to launch a strike.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may no longer be as popular with Iran's powers that be as he used to be. The Majlis, Iran's parliament, has approved a proposal calling for the removal of the President from the general assembly of representatives of shareholders of major companies affiliated with the Oil Ministry, including the National Iranian Oil Company. Meanwhile, the President will appear before the parliament to answer questions on March 14 about irregularities in his administration.
MK Zeev Bielski, chairman of the Knesset subcommittee on Israel’s home defense: “The home front is not ready. We have made improvements over the situation since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, when the home front was completely unprepared, but the situation is not good.”
By Jacob Kamaras and Maxine Dovere
After the recent attacks on Israeli embassies in India and Georgia, Jewish institutions in the U.S. are asking a question that is much closer to home: Does Iran pose a local terror threat?
If the reports are accurate, North Korea is playing a direct role in helping Tehran create the infrastructure to assemble nuclear warheads that can be mounted on missiles aimed at Israel, American military bases in the Persian Gulf and pro-Western oil sheikhdoms in the Middle East.
At a speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, coinciding with the Super Tuesday primaries, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum accused President Barack Obama of appeasement of Iran and urged an ultimatum demanding that it put a stop to its nuclear production immediately, or the US will "tear down" its plants. Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich took a break from their race for votes in the high-stakes primaries to speak to the pro-Israel lobby.
Berlin-based researcher Benjamin Weinthal argues that Israel is militarily capable today of launching a successful attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. It would require successive strikes, using GBU-28 bunker busters to knock out Iran's entire nuclear program. Those devastating bombs were delivered to Israel by President Obama, who made good on a promise made by President Bush.
After immigrating to Israel from England in 1999 at age 50, Susan Nathan has become an outspoken pro-Palestinian advocate, appearing in the Swedish Human Rights festival and the Stockholm Olof Palme Centre, as well as forums sponsored by the Arab American Association. She came to India for medical treatment, but her visa expired and the government wants her out on suspicion of contact with extremist Muslim organizations.
Occupy AIPAC is a weekend long series of events to coincide with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual Policy Conference, going through March 6. The Occupy AIPAC website says the group is gathering in Washington DC for a policy-style summit on the issues of Iran, the Arab Uprising and Palestine and "the affects of AIPAC in determining US foreign policy around those topics."
By Tibbi Singer
Once we recognize that the enemy is not acting against us based on rational reasons, but out of a pathological hatred, it is our duty to act on our conclusion and strike at the enemy, disregarding world opinion.
Burhan Ghalioun, head of the Syrian National Council indicated that - despite the blood of over 7000 Syrian citizens on the hands of Hizbollah's patron Assad - political expedience alone will dictate its policy: "There are no permanent enmities in politics as there are no permanent friendships. Alliances are built on goals. We want to achieve our goals."
Malkah and Yishai discuss Canadian dedication to Israel, and simple but deeply important aspects of distinctly Jewish life, experts from Brookings get real on Middle East dynamics, and, finally, Rebbitzin Mizrachi teaches how to be truly happy.
Why would Saudi Arabia support Israel instead of attacking it? Forbes' Peter Cohan argues that Saudi Arabia is dominated by Sunnis, while Iran’s ayatollahs are the Sunni's sworn enemies, the Shi’ites. Saudi Arabia’s rage against the Shi’ites exceeds its dislike of its Jewish neighbors.
The Syrian military continues to pound opposition strongholds as voting stations opened around the country to decide on a new constitution.
The AP reported that the European Union is working on regulations that would shut out Iran's banks from the financial clearinghouse SWIFT, which is used by virtually every country in the world. The move is part of an unprecedented escalation of economic pressure by the United States and the EU meant to halt Iran's suspected […]
The Syrian army's assault on Homs enters its 20th day and resulted in the deaths of 80 people on Wednesday, including 3 journalists...A UN report accuses "officials at the highest level of government" of committing "crimes against humanity and other gross human right violations"...Egypt recalls its ambassador...Saudi Arabia blasts Syria and Russia...Free Syrian Army is turning away jihadists...Republican presidential hopefuls join growing chorus of voices that support arming the opposition.
As atomic energy watchdogs reported being denied access to critical Iranian nuclear facilities, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told reporters that Israel alone would make the decisions necessary for the security of its citizens.
The IDF has made contingency plans to deal with what may be large numbers of desperate Syrian citizens attempting to rush the border in order to seek refuge or attack Jewish and Druze communities in the area.
By Tibbi Singer
If Syrian TV News can't be trusted, who can we trust?
The “Syrian people” is a composite of Sunni Muslims, Alawites, Kurds, Druze, Turkmens and Circassians.
By Rafi Harkham
Russia and China, constrained by outdated Cold War outlooks, continue to frustrate attempts to end the conflict in Syria.
Deputy Minister for Development of the Negev and the Galilee Ayub Kara appeared on Israel’s Knesset channel and spoke over the phone with defecting Syrian Army officer Abu Bilal, who urged Israel to support the Syrian populace against President Bashar al-Assad’s terror. Watch the video:
A photograph that has made the rounds on the internet, supposedly depicting an IDF soldier stomping on a Palestinian girl, is exposed as a complete fabrication.
Proposal comes as Assad's forces intensify their assault on Syrian opposition strongholds.
By Sam Ser
If Bashar Assad does not accept the national unity government proposal, the Arab League will ask the United Nations to step in and end the crisis.
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry has rejected the New Year’s wishes of Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, sending the letter back because it called Jerusalem the capital of the State of Israel.
By Sam Ser
Witnesses said the Free Syrian Army held territory and set up roadblocks in Douma, a center of dissent, for up to several hours before retreating to their hideouts.
Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan has commissioned a jeweler in Calcutta, India to make shoes for her out of gold.
By Sam Ser
European foreign ministers declared their countries’ intent to embargo oil from the Islamic Republic, beginning as early as July, and freeze the assets of Iran’s central bank
By Sam Ser
Longtime Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who has ruled the terrorist group’s political structure from Damascus since 1996, has told Palestinian media he would soon step down.
By Sam Ser
“The Syrian people are living their worst period,” parliament member Imad Ghalioun said in an interview from Egypt on Sunday night.
By Sam Ser
“Stop the violence. Stop killing your people,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said in a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose troops have killed more than 5,000 people during a 10-month-old uprising.
In a letter handed to the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, the Iranian foreign ministry relayed to the United States that it believes the CIA was behind the recent assassination of another Iranian nuclear scientist.