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发帖数: 4 | 1 Palestinian stonethrowers wound Jewish baby
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
Palestinian Arab stone throwers attacked a Jewish vehicle south of the
Judean town of Hebron on Tuesday, wounding an infant passenger.
Israeli army medics treated the baby at the scene, but decided the child
needed to be evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital for further treatment.
While such an attack by Jews on an Arab family likely would have made
headlines around the world, Tuesday's attacks by Arabs on a Jewish family
was all but ignored.
Palestinian Muslims who reject violence are persecuted
Monday, June 07, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
Palestinian Arabs belonging to the little-known Ahmadiyya sect of Islam have
come under increased persecution, while being denied basic protections by
the Palestinian Authority.
Ahmadi Muslims follow the teachings of Mirzam Ghulam Ahmad, whom they
believe to have been the Muslim messiah. They reject the use of violence in
all cases, and believe that mainstream Islam has been distorted into a blood
-thirsty religion.
For their beliefs, top Palestinian clerics have ruled that the Ahmadi
Muslims among them are apostates, a label that puts them in danger of
regular acts of intimidation, violence and other mistreatment. As apostates,
Palestinian Ahmadis are also stripped of their rights in court, meaning
they have no legal recourse against their more violent Sunni neighbors.
The Palestinian Authority is "encouraging the cold-blooded murder of Ahmadis
" by failing to take concrete action to protect the community, Mohammed
Sharif Ouda, head of the Ahmadi community in Israel, told Arutz Sheva radio.
Peres inadvertently contrasts loving God to hateful Allah
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 | Israel Today Staff
While dining with local Arab leaders and visiting Muslim diplomats to break
the Ramadan fast on Tuesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres appeared to
inadvertently contrast God's loving nature to the violence taught in the
name of Allah.
Israel National News reported that Peres told his hosts, who included the
Jordanian and Turkish ambassadors, that Jews and Arabs are cousins with a
shared father in Abraham, and should be able to coexist peacefully.
Peres seemed to suggest that the problem is that while "the One we pray to
in Hebrew does not command us to throw bombs," Muslims praying in Arabic are
apparently receiving a different set of instructions.
Muslim clerics across the Middle East, but especially in Israel and the
Palestinian Authority-controlled territories, regularly use their pulpits to
preach violence against Jews and the "Christian" West.
Nevertheless, Peres, always the diplomat, maintained that the world would be
worse off without Islam. He did not elaborate.
Saudi girl executed for becoming Christian
Thursday, August 14, 2008 | Israel Today Staff
A young girl in Saudi Arabia was brutally executed by her Muslim father this
week after he learned his daughter had converted to Christianity.
Middle East business news website Zawya.com reported that the man, who is a
prominent member of a "virtue committee," first cut out his daughter's
tongue and held a one-sided religious debate with her. He then burned his
daughter alive.
Observant Muslims hold that their Prophet Mohammed taught that Muslims who
convert to any other religion must be killed, often in extremely brutal
fashion.
Report: Israel, US preparing for war with Iran
Thursday, June 24, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
A flurry of news reports over the past week indicate that Israel and the US
are readying for an imminent military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
On Wednesday, Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported that about a
week ago a squad of Israeli military aircraft landed at a military airstrip
in Saudi Arabia, of all places. It was reported earlier this month that
Saudi Arabia had agreed to let Israel pass through its airspace in order to
strike Iran.
The Israeli aircraft reportedly landed at the airport in Tabuk in northwest
Saudi Arabia, which according to the report will act as the central base of
operations for the Israeli air campaign against Iran.
Fars cited a local Saudi resident who said the Israeli presence and
cooperation between the ruling local Saudi prince and the Jewish state was
the talk of the town.
Saudi Arabia does not have formal relations with Israel, and publicly refers
to the Jewish state as an enemy. But Riyadh is just as fearful of an
Iranian nuclear bomb as Israel, and would likely resort to any means to
avoid having its regional economic influence disturbed.
At the same time, Iran's Press TV reported that a very large contingent of
US ground forces had massed in neighboring Azerbaijan. The independent
Azerbaijani news website Trend confirmed the report.
Those reports came just days after the Pentagon confirmed that an unusually
large fleet of US warships had indeed passed through Egypt's Suez Canal en
route to the Persian Gulf. At least one Israeli warship reportedly joined
the American armada.
Middle East Muslims urged to rise up against Christians and Jews
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
One of the top leaders of the Yemen-based branch of Al Qaeda urged fellow
Muslims in an audio recording posted to the Internet this week to rise up in
holy war against all Christians and Jews found in the Arabian Peninsula.
"The Christians, the Jews, and the treacherous apostate rulers have pounced
on you...you have no other way out from this plight other than to wage jihad
," declared Saeed al-Shehri, a former Saudi inmate at the US prison at
Guantanamo Bay.
Shehri today serves as the deputy commander of Al Qaeda forces in Yemen, a
burgeoning base of operations for the terrorist network. Authorities in
Yemen believed he had been killed in an air strike in December, but later
announced they had been mistaken.
New Iran sanctions not enough, warns Israel
Thursday, April 01, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev said on Thursday that a new
package of sanctions against Iran currently being considered by the UN
Security Council won't be enough to halt Iran's nuclear program.
"The sanctions being crafted won't prevent Iran from continuing to enrich
uranium," Shalev told Israel's Army Radio.
Shalev was happy to see China finally joining the rest of the security
council in taking the Iran threat seriously, but noted there was a downside
to such broach cooperation, since China's involvement means the sanctions
that are eventually adopted will be much softer.
US and European officials hope to have new sanctions ironed out by the end
of April. But Israeli officials warn that Iran is too close to developing
nuclear weapons to continue wasting time, and that in the absence of severe
sanctions, military action is becoming increasingly necessary.
Jordan to join Middle East nuclear mix
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 | Israel Today Staff
Jordanian media reported this week that the Hashemite Kingdom has signed a
civilian nuclear cooperation deal with China as part of an accelerated
effort to develop nuclear energy capabilities.
Jordan currently imports nearly all of its energy, being one of the few
Middle East nations with little or no oil reserves.
The new deal will see China help Jordan mine and process uranium and build
an initial nuclear power station.
The news did raise some concerns from those who noted that Jordan and other
"moderate" Middle East states could translate their civilian nuclear
capabilities into nuclear weapons programs if they feel threatened by Iran's
nuclear program.
In Jordan's case that could prove exceptionally dangerous to Israel in the
long-term, as King Abdullah has repeatedly warned that his rule could be
threatened by Jordan's far more radical Palestinian majority.
Vatican blames Israel for all Christian problems in Mideast
Thursday, January 21, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
A document released by the Vatican this week blamed Israel not only for the
exodus of Christians from Palestinian-controlled territories, but for the
plight of Christians across the entire Middle East.
The document will serve as the basis for an October gathering of bishops to
discuss the difficulties of minority Christian communities in the Muslim
world.
It was largely authored by Arab bishops from the Middle East, most of whom
said that the Israeli "occupation" of Arab-claimed lands is the root cause
of nearly all oppression of Christians in the region. They suggested that in
the absence of the "occupation," radical Islamic forces across the region
would lose support and be unable to cause trouble for Christians.
The document also appeared to justify the use of terrorist violence by
Muslims in both Israel and Iraq:
"Violence is in the hands of the strong and weak alike, the latter resorting
to whatever violence is within reach in order to be free."
A Vatican official told reporters on Tuesday that the Catholic Church is not
trying to take sides or make policy recommendations, but insisted that the
Middle East-based bishops who authored the document "know the situation well
."
Jimmy Carter cozies up to Syrian and Hamas despots
Sunday, December 14, 2008 | Israel Today Staff
Former US President Jimmy Carter arrived in Syria on Saturday where he
declared that relations between the two countries would improve
significantly under President-elect Barack Obama.
"I don't have any doubt that the situation will improve between the United
States and Syria after we have a new president," Carter told reporters in
Damascus following his meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.
Despite Syria's recently revealed covert nuclear program, its alliance with
Iran's current leadership, its support of anti-American insurgents in Iraq
and its sponsorship of anti-Israel terror groups, Carter wants the US to
positively engage Assad, and is confident Obama will do just that.
Carter also sided with Assad on his position that peace between Israel and
its neighbors can never be achieved until the Jewish state surrenders all
the land the Arabs claim it illegally occupies.
Carter was scheduled to spend Sunday with Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled
Mashal.
The former president has long rejected the notion that just because Hamas is
a recognized terrorist organization openly dedicated to Israel's
destruction that it shouldn't be engaged in dialogue.
Lebanon: We love Hizballah
Thursday, April 08, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
Though the United Nations has officially demanded that Lebanon disarm and
dismantle Hizballah as a fighting force, Beirut continues to insist it will
do no such thing and that the terrorist militia enjoys broad popular support.
Speaking to reporters in Qatar, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman stressed
that "all the Lebanese are united both behind the army and behind the
resistance [Hizballah], defending their land and their dignity against
aggression."
Suleiman was adamant that "no one in Lebanon, especially in the government,
will harm the resistance's status."
Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, widely regarded as a
moderate in Western capitals, visited Damascus on Wednesday to solidify his
country's renewed ties with Syria.
Hariri called the newfound friendship between Lebanon and Syria, which
illegally occupied and controlled its neighbor for decades, a response to
what he called "Israeli aggression."
Report: Israel to attack Iran this year
Thursday, April 16, 2009 | Israel Today Staff
United Press International reported on Wednesday that Arab gulf states are
convinced that Israel will attack Iran's nuclear facilities in the very near
future, and that the Islamic Republic's first response will be to launch
missiles at its Arab neighbors.
Iran considers states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United
Arab Emirates to be collaborators with an imperialist American regime, and
therefore culpable in any US-backed Israeli strike on its soil.
According to the report, those states are currently deploying Patriot
missile batteries to defend against incoming Iranian missiles.
Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres told visiting US envoy George
Mitchell that talk of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran is "nonsense," and
that Jerusalem remains committed to a diplomatic resolution of the crisis.
But earlier in the week, Peres issued a firm warning that should US-led
diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's nuclear program ultimately fail, Israel
will have no choice but to exercise its military option.
Gilad Shalit becomes pawn in Palestinian power struggle
Monday, November 23, 2009 | Israel Today Staff
Newspapers in Israel on Monday were bursting with news that a prisoner swap
deal with Hamas that would see abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit finally
released was just days away. But Arab media outlets revealed that the
purported deal may have a lot more to do with internal Palestinian politics.
According to Israeli reports, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu had agreed to release nearly all of the terrorists demanded by
Hamas in exchange for Shalit. The deal was reportedly being held up by
squabbling over just a few names.
Israeli organizations that represent the victims of Palestinian terror
responded by preparing Supreme Court petitions and other protests against
releasing dangerous terrorists who will inevitably go on to kill more
Israelis.
Meanwhile, Saudi and Kuwait newspapers ran stories suggesting that the
alleged deal was actually a power play by Hamas. According to the reports,
Hamas had agreed to reach a swap deal with Israel if Egypt altered the terms
of reconciliation efforts between the terror group and Mahmoud Abbas'
Palestinian Authority.
If true, that could mean a new Palestinian unity government in which Hamas
would play a very significant, and perhaps even overriding, role. Israel has
vowed in the past that it would not be party to peace talks with a
Palestinian Authority ruled by Hamas. But with US President Barack Obama so
determined to oversee a peace deal at any cost, Hamas may be banking on the
idea that Israel would have no choice but to legitimize the terror group by
negotiating with it.
Israeli, Lebanese armies clash along border
Tuesday, August 03, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
The Israeli and Lebanese armies engaged in a rare armed clash along Israel's
northern border on Tuesday.
According to Israeli military sources, the incident was sparked when
Lebanese soldiers confronted Israeli troops conducted routine operations
along a disputed section of the border. The Lebanese refused to depart the
area and instead opened fire on the Israelis.
In the Lebanese version of events, it was Lebanese soldiers who were
operating in the area, and the Israelis who refused to leave. The Lebanese
said they fired warning shots to scare off the Israelis, but were instead
met by Israeli tank fire.
Whatever version of events is correct, the clash quickly turned into a short
-lived artillery exchange that saw several shells fired by both sides.
Residents across northern Israel were told to enter their bomb shelters.
There were no casualties on the Israeli side. Lebanon reported two of its
soldiers were wounded.
It is unusual for the Lebanese army itself to engage in armed conflict with
the Israeli army. Usually, the Lebanese prefer to attack Israeli through
terrorist militias such as Hizballah.
Syria tries to turn Russia against Israel and America
Thursday, August 21, 2008 | Israel Today Staff
Syrian President Bashar Assad traveled to Moscow on Thursday to try to drive
a wedge between Russia and Israel amid on ongoing crisis in Georgia and in
light of Jerusalem's military aid to the small Caucasus nation.
An Assad aide told Russian media as the Syrians arrived in Moscow that they
would seek to purchase advanced air defense systems, medium-range missiles
and military aircraft, among other military hardware, from their hosts. If
acquired, those weapons would help to tip the regional balance of power in
favor of Israel's neighbors.
Israel stopped selling military hardware and providing military training to
Georgia earlier this year as experts correctly predicted an armed conflict
with Russia. Jerusalem feared that if it was viewed as helping Georgia fight
Russia, the latter would increase arms sales to Israel's Arab enemies.
Statements by Russian leaders as the Georgian war raged that they
appreciated Israel's "balanced" approach calmed those fears, at least
temporarily.
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters that
Moscow's current policy is to sell only defense weapons to Syria, but that
it would also entertain any new requests by Assad.
Assad also told Russian media that he is ready to host Russian ballistic
missiles in Syria to help Moscow respond to America's intention to deploy an
advanced missile shield system in Poland.
The Syrian leader's efforts to further damage ties between Russia and the
West comes in the wake of major European powers courting Assad by inviting
him to major national events.
Report: Israel and Iran met over nuclear crisis
Thursday, October 22, 2009 | Israel Today Staff
It may sound impossible, but according to reports Thursday morning, Israeli
and Iranian nuclear officials met in Cairo last month to discuss the Iranian
nuclear crisis.
That according to a member of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission who said
the meeting was arranged by Australia. She refused to give any details of
the talks between the two bitter enemies.
The news broke just hours after reports flooded mainstream media regarding a
possible compromise deal between Iran and the international community that
would delay the Islamic Republic's ability to build nuclear weapons.
According to the deal, Iran will send all of its known enriched uranium to
Russia for processing. Considering Tehran's past tendency to lie about
aspects of its nuclear program, some observers fear that what it sends to
Russia won't be all of its enriched uranium, and that enough will be kept
behind to build and test and atomic bomb.
Syria will defend Iran if Israel attacks
Monday, December 14, 2009 | Israel Today Staff
If Israel does attack Iran's nuclear facilities, it will undoubtedly result
in a regional war after Iran and Syria signed a mutual defense agreement on
Sunday.
Kuwaiti media reported that the agreement was signed at the weekend while
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi was visiting Damascus.
Speaking to Syrian media, Vahidi said the agreement was a strong deterrent
to an Israeli strike on his country's nuclear facilities. Vahidi said that
in addition to a Syrian response, Iran would retaliate for any strike on its
nuclear facilities by firing ballistic missiles at Israel's nuclear
facilities.
Europe locked out of Middle East peace talks?
Sunday, August 29, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner at the weekend highlighted the fact
that there will be no European presence when the Israelis and Palestinians
restart direct peace negotiations in Washington Thursday.
Kouchner said it was "too bad" that Europe had apparently been locked out of
the renewed peace talks, considering how actively his and other European
nations had been involved in the process up until now.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton responded via a
spokesperson that her office was less concerned about who is sitting at the
table with the Israelis and Palestinians than it is with a successful
outcome.
For many observers, Ashton's response seemed to be an effort to save face,
as it is odd and breaking with recent tradition for Europe to not be
represented at the talks.
Israelis, however, are likely to be pleased with that development. Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear that he was entering the talks
without preconditions, and would not accept any preconditions for continuing
the negotiations.
Washington has more or less lined up with Netanyahu's position. But the
Middle East Quartet comprised of the US, EU, UN and Russia has lined up with
the Palestinians in insisting that Israel formally extend its Jewish
building freeze in Judea and Samaria as a precondition for the talks
continuing.
If Europe had been invited to the talks, it could be interpreted by the
Palestinians as an endorsement of their Quartet-backed preconditions.
US lawmakers warn Turkey to back off Israel
Thursday, June 17, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
US lawmakers are getting fed up with Turkey's continuing antagonism toward
Israel, which escalated in the wake of Israel's raid on a Gaza blockade-
busting flotilla this month, during which nine Turkish citizens with ties to
terrorist organizations were killed.
Turkey led the international community in condemning Israel for the raid,
and has set up its own commission of inquiry into the incident. Ankara has
also threatened to downgrade ties with Israel and may not return its
ambassador to Tel Aviv.
A number of members of the US House of Representatives warned in interviews
this week that Turkey will suffer consequences if it continues down this
path.
In March of this year, a bill recognizing Turkey's genocide against the
Armenians during and after World War I passed a House committee by a single
vote. But many congressmen who previously opposed calling Turkey out
publicly for that past sin now say they may support the bill when it comes
before the full House of Representatives in the near future.
The lawmakers said that Turkey is clearly moving closer to Iran and its
terrorist proxies and adopting a more Islamic position. That being the case,
they are less concerned about damaging US-Turkish relations by officially
recognizing a holocaust only slightly less severe than that carried out
against the Jews of Europe during the second world war.
Turkey has conducted a charm offensive in Washington since the bill was
first introduced. But several lawmakers suggested it was hypocritical for
Turkey to insist that the US treat it with kid gloves, while being so
exaggeratedly harsh with Israel.
Iran: Tel Aviv will be ruins
Tuesday, July 08, 2008 | Israel Today Staff
A senior Iranian official on Tuesday told state-run media that Tel Aviv will
be obliterated if either Israel or the US dare to launch a military strike
against Iran's nuclear facilities.
"The Zionist regime is pressuring the White House to attack Iran. If such a
stupid act were undertaken, Tel Aviv and the American ships in the Persian
Gulf would be our first targets and would be burnt to ruins," warned Ali
Shirazi, an assistant to supreme Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Over the past month, both the US and Israeli militaries have conducted
massive exercises believed to have simulated strikes on Iranian nuclear
facilities and maneuvers to defend against any Iranian retaliation.
Despite those preparations, Israeli officials have acknowledged that Israel
would be unable to actually launch an attack on Iran without a green light
from Washington, as Israeli planes would have to fly through Iraqi airspace
controlled by the US military.
According to a former Pentagon official and leading US military analyst, the
White House recently made very clear to Israel that that green light has
not been given, and likely won't be given during the final months of the
Bush Administration.
Speaking to gathered Israeli defense analysts at Israel's Institute of
National Security Studies on Monday, Prof. Anthony Cordesman said that
reining in Israel was the primary purpose behind the recent visit by
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen.
Cordesman, who is today the top defense analyst for the ABC television
network, said that Mullen was sent by the White House to make it clear to
Israel that the US is sticking to a policy of diplomacy vis-a-vis Iran, and
that is not expected to change before the next US president takes office.
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton believes that puts
Israel in an impossible situation.
Jerusalem is increasingly convinced that Iran will acquire nuclear weapons
in the absence of military intervention by Israel or the US. But Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama has indicated that if he is elected, he
will take the military option for dealing with Iran off the table.
If Obama wins the presidential election in November, Israel will know that
it has less than two months to hit Iran, or have its greatest existential
nightmare come true, Bolton told a leading British newspaper last month.
Israel's first female Arab combat soldier
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 | Israel Today Staff
Cpl. Elinor Joseph, a young Christian Arab woman from northern Israel, has
won herself a place in a respected infantry unit, making her Israel's first
ever female Arab combat soldier.
Joseph will serve as a combat medic in the Karakal Battalion, after more
than a year of battling misconceptions that she was too weak for such a
position.
Joseph originally did not plan to enlist in the IDF. Arab citizens of Israel
are not required to enlist due to the societal difficulties that serving in
the Jewish state's army can cause. But some choose to enlist anyway. Joseph
's father was one of them, and she remembered the great sense of pride and
accomplishment that his years as an Israeli paratrooper had given him and
the whole family.
So, despite the fierce objections of her friends and many others in her
local community, Joseph decided to enlist. "I believe in what I am doing,"
she told the IDF Spokesman's Unit. "My parents also are very proud of me,
maybe a little bit too much."
Although she had always intended to be a combat soldier, the recruitment
officer she first met with told Joseph she was too small and frail to be in
such a unit. Upset, but not discouraged, Joseph aced a medic's course and
was then deployed to one of the many checkpoints between Samaria (the so-
called "West Bank") and Israel proper.
While there, Joseph earned the respect of her Jewish comrades. She also
rebuffed international accusations that Palestinian Arabs are routinely
abused at such checkpoints, noting that the treatment of Palestinians by the
soldiers she was stationed with was "always full of respect."
After a year of proving herself at the checkpoint, Joseph applied to join
Karakal and was accepted.
She said it can be surreal serving in such an intense position as an Arab in
the army of the Jewish state, especially during training and briefings that
so heavily emphasize Jewish morals and methods.
"I know I am part of the Jewish State's army, and therefore, when we speak
about that, I listen and learn. I got used to it and I respect it, although
I do not delve too much into the country’s identity. I have my own identity
and I will respect that of the country."
That attitude has been mutual. Despite being "different" than most of the
soldiers around her, Joseph says she has "always been respected - not just
me, but also my customs and my religion." |
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