Israel News Update

‘Jerusalem cannot be the capital of state called Israel’

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:04:57 +0000

Nasrallah derides peace talks as dead on arrival in “Jerusalem Day” speech after explosions erupt from suspected Hizbullah arms cache.

The current round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will not succeed, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said during a “Jerusalem Day” commemoration speech on Friday.

Nasrallah characterized the talks as “stillborn” and said, “Jerusalem, and not even one of its streets, can not be the capital of the state called Israel.”

Iran’s Ahmadinejad calls on Palestinians to fight on

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:04:23 +0000

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Palestinians to keep up their armed struggle against Israel a day after Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to continue talks on a U.S.-backed peace deal.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who hosted the first session of talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington, voiced confidence that this latest attempt to bring peace to the region could succeed where so many others have failed.

Ahmadinejad said that the talks, seeking to end a conflict that has boiled for six decades, would once again fail. He criticized some Muslim leaders for not providing all-out support to the Palestinians in their revolt against Israel.

Ahmadinejad predicts the removal of ‘Zionists’ from the world

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:03:47 +0000

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has predicted the failure of the Middle East talks and the removal of “the Zionist regime from the world scene”.

The hardline leader told the annual Palestinian solidarity day rally in Tehran that a popular revolt by the people of the Middle East would extinguish the Jewish homeland even if the governments reach a peace agreement.

“If the leaders of the region do not have the guts, then the people of the region are capable of removing the Zionist regime from the world scene,” he said.

The new Netanyahu?

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:03:04 +0000

If Bibi actually believes what he has been saying publicly of late, friends of Israel should be worried. Very worried.

Read more.

The Peace Delusion

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:02:22 +0000

It’s been nearly two years since Palestinian representatives and Israelis sat across a table from each other to talk about peace. As the latest round of talks got under way yesterday, it’s hard to imagine that the results this time will be much different than any other time. Has anything changed that might lead to a different outcome? Gaza is still being run by Hamas. The “moderates” sitting across the table from Israel – Fatah, Egypt and Jordan – refuse to do to take any action that would delegitimize the group of terrorists who rule Gaza. The much vaunted “two state solution” can hardly work when half of the proposed Palestinian state refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist, sneers at peace talks involving their enemy and, just to emphasize their contempt, carries out terror attacks two days before those talks commence.

Gaza Arabs celebrate massacre of Jewish civilians

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:01:47 +0000

The Palestinian Arabs of the Gaza Strip came out en masse Tuesday night to celebrate the brutal slaying of four Jewish civilians in Judea (the so-called “West Bank”) earlier in the evening.

Read more.

UN nuclear chief asks Israel to join nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:00:54 +0000

New IAEA report reveals agency chief Yukiya Amano, during his visit to the region last month, asked Israel to place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguard.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency asked Israel to consider signing up to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, a report said Friday.

Israel refuses to confirm it possesses a nuclear arsenal but is widely considered to be the Middle East’s only nuclear power.

Hezbollah leader praises Hamas for West Bank shooting attacks

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:00:19 +0000

Nasrallah on attacks which left 4 Israelis dead and 2 injured this week: This is the way to free Jerusalem and Palestine.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah praised Hamas on Friday for the West Bank shooting attacks which left four Israelis dead and two injured on two consecutive days, saying “this is the way to free Jerusalem and Palestine.”

Four Israelis were killed and two injured this past week in separate shooting attacks in the West Bank. The armed wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, took responsibly for both attacks and vowed that there would be more, just as U.S.-sponsored direct peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians were officially launched in Washington.

Arab league chief: This round of Israeli-Palestinian talks will be the last

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:59:43 +0000

Amr Moussa’s hopeful words contrast comments made earlier this week, when he said he had ‘little hope’ that talks would be successful.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa predicted on Friday that the latest round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be the last.

Israeli-Palestinian talks resumed in Washington this week and are meant to continue later this month.

US envoy Oren warns: Hizbullah has 15,000 rockets on border

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:59:01 +0000

Ambassador says Islamist group amassing arsenal in southern Lebanon with long enough range to hit Eilat; missiles now hidden beneath hospitals, homes and schools to avoid Israeli Air Force strikes.

Hizbullah has an arsenal of approximately 15,000 rockets amassed on Lebanon’s border with Israel, including some with a long enough range to hit the southern city of Eilat, US envoy Michael Oren told AFP on Friday.

Iran’s revenge: Syria and Hizballah join to sink Israeli warships

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:58:26 +0000

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Tehranand its extremist and terrorist allies, having failed to abort Barack Obama’s initiative for direct Israel-Palestinian diplomacy, have hit back with two belligerent steps. debkafile’s military sources disclose that Syria and the Lebanese Hizballah have set up a joint military command for sinking Israeli warships, and Hamas has brought all 13 Palestinian rejectionist organizations under one roof for a sustained bid to intensify terror operations against Israel.

Read more.

Day of Anti-Israel Protest Reveals Iran’s Internal Rift

Editor — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:57:49 +0000

Iran’s government used annual pro-Palestinian demonstrations Friday to renew its threat to wipe Israel off the map, while dissident leaders accused the regime of using verbal attacks on Israel to divert attention from its battle with domestic political opponents.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a long speech during religious services, attacking Washington’s efforts to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians and saying no one has the right to negotiate away any Palestinian land.

Obama wants signed agreement, not peace

Editor — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:07:08 +0000

Excerpts:

Diplomatic sources revealed to Israel’s Yediot Ahronot that when direct Israeli-Palestinians peace talks resume in Washington on Thursday, US President Barack Obama intends to strongly press both sides to sign a peace deal, even if it can’t be fully implemented.

…The signing of such an agreement will give Obama the diplomatic achievement he needs to bolster his increasingly unpopular presidency. But that will do little to change the situation on the ground in Israel, as evidenced by the fact that even Obama acknowledges it can’t be implemented in the short term.

Read the article.

US Intel: Tehran pushes Hizballah hard to attack Israel

Editor — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:13:59 +0000

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Hizballah’s southern units reinforced on war alert

Western intelligence and Persian Gulf sources report that on August 30, Hizballah put its forces on a state of war alert and issued a partial call-up of reservists. According to debkafile’s military sources, Hizballah appears to be preparing a major attack on Israel straight after the ceremonial start of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington Thursday Sept. 2. A second target date is the Jewish New Year festival starting on Sept. 8. The pressure from Tehran for the Lebanese Shiite terrorists to strike Israel has intensified in the wake of the example the Palestinian Hamas gave Tuesday night Aug. 31 in the drive-by murder of four Israeli civilians on a road near Hebron.

Dr. Kedar Warns: Iran May Take Over Persian Gulf

Editor — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:13:12 +0000

Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an expert on Arab politics and Islamic Fundamentalism at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies warns that Iran may be planning a full takeover of Persian Gulf states. He is also concerned that Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon may try to build a nuclear reactor similar to Iran’s Bushehr reactor, and obtain atomic weapons that could be used against Israel.

In a blog post which appeared on News1, Dr. Kedar says that there are several reasons that pressure is building between Iran and the Arab states in the Persian Gulf: