Middle East
Publisher: NYTimes
18 Mar 2015
Palestinian Leaders See Validation of Their Statehood Effort
Under most circumstances, an Israeli leader s frank admission that he would never agree to a Palestinian state would be a disaster for the Palestinian leadership. But when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said precisely that in the heat of the recent election campaign, it seemed to have the opposite effect, validating the unilateral approach the Palestinians have decided to follow.
Publisher: NYTimes
16 Mar 2015
Netanyahu Says No to Statehood for Palestinians
Under pressure on the eve of a surprisingly close election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday doubled down on his appeal to right-wing voters, declaring definitively that if he was returned to office he would never establish a Palestinian state. The statement reversed Mr. Netanyahu s endorsement of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a 2009 speech at Bar Ilan University, and fulfilled many world leaders suspicions that he was never really serious about peace negotiations.
Publisher: NYTimes
2 Mar 2015
Netanyahu’s Speech Opens Political Divisions in Israel, Too
Adir Ben-Nahum, 28, a medical student who said he was generally liberal and left-leaning, described Mr. Netanyahu as brilliant, but unfortunately only at politics. The speech to Congress, he said, was a dangerous political exercise intended to bolster Mr. Netanyahu s standing in the Israeli elections. Continue reading the main story That popular criticism has now been bolstered by prominent voices from Israel s security establishment. A group of nearly 200 former military and intelligence officials called on Mr. Netanyahu to cancel the speech, an unusually public challenge.
Publisher: NYTimes
28 Feb 2015
White House Offers Rebuttal Before Netanyahu’s Speech
Just four days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s speech to a joint meeting of Congress, the Obama administration sought on Friday to refute the Israeli leader s expected critique, arguing that he has failed to present a feasible alternative to American proposals for constraining Iran s nuclear program.
Publisher: NYTimes
26 Feb 2015
Talk Toughens as U.S.-Israel Relations Fray
When President Obama s national security adviser sat down with her Israeli counterpart at the White House last week, she upbraided him over leaks in Jerusalem that the Americans interpreted as an attempt to undermine nuclear negotiations with Iran. The meeting, shielded from the public but fraught with tension, brought home the depth of the frustration between Mr. Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Publisher: NYTimes
25 Feb 2015
Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Man in West Bank Clashes
Israeli forces shot and killed a 19-year-old Palestinian man when clashes broke out during a military raid on a refugee camp in the Bethlehem area of the West Bank early on Tuesday, the military and local Palestinians said. Palestinian officials identified the dead man as Jihad Jaafari, a resident of the Deheishe refugee camp.
Publisher: NYTimes
24 Feb 2015
Jury Awards $218.5 Million in Terrorism Case Against Palestinian Groups
The Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization were found liable on Monday by a jury in Manhattan for their role in knowingly supporting six terrorist attacks in Israel between 2002 and 2004 in which Americans were killed and injured. The jury in Federal District Court in Manhattan awarded $218.5 million in damages, a number that is automatically tripled to $655.5 million under the special terrorism law under which the case was brought.
Publisher: NYTimes
18 Feb 2015
Fear of Israeli Leaks Fuels Distrust Over U.S. Talks With Iran
With the Obama administration racing to negotiate the outlines of a nuclear deal with Iran by the end of March, aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel have charged in recent days that they are being deliberately left in the dark about the details of the talks. The Americans have said that is untrue, but even one of Washington's closest negotiating partners reports being warned about being too open with the Israelis, "because whatever we say may be used in a selective way."
Publisher: NYTimes
16 Feb 2015
Netanyahu Urges ‘Mass Immigration’ of Jews From Europe
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Sunday that his government was encouraging a "mass immigration" of Jews from Europe, reopening a contentious debate about Israel s role at a challenging time for European Jews and a month before Israel s national elections. Speaking the morning after a Jewish guard was fatally shot outside a synagogue in Copenhagen in one of two attacks there, the remarks echoed a similar call by the prime minister inviting France's Jews to move to Israel after last month s attacks in Paris. Critics said then that the expression of such sentiments so soon after the Paris shootings was insensitive and divisive.
Publisher: NYTimes
12 Feb 2015
Former Head of Inquiry Into Gaza War Says He Faced Pressure and Threats
The Canadian law professor who resigned this month as head of a United Nations inquiry into last summer s Gaza conflict said his appointment had been troubled from the outset by intense pressure from Israel s government, which accused him of a pro-Palestinian bias. The professor, William Schabas, also said in an interview in Paris last Thursday that he had been subjected to a stream of vulgar and violent emails and several death threats that appeared to have emanated from a range of locations, including from Canada and the United States.
Publisher: NYTimes
31 Jan 2015
Israel Takes New Step to Expand West Bank Housing
Israel on Friday published bids for the construction of 450 new housing units in West Bank settlements, a move denounced by the Palestinians and by Israeli critics who described it as a political gesture by the rightist government ahead of elections in March. The current housing minister is Uri Ariel of the pro-settlement Jewish Home party. Most of the world considers the settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to be a violation of international law. The Palestinians intend to establish a state on the lands that Israel seized from Jordan in the 1967 war. The Obama administration has described the settlements as "illegitimate."
Publisher: NYTimes
22 Jan 2015
Palestinian Man Stabs Israelis on Bus in Tel Aviv, Police Say
A Palestinian man stabbed and wounded up to a dozen Israelis on Wednesday as he rampaged through a bus in central Tel Aviv during the morning rush, the police said. He then fled on foot, but was shot and wounded by security forces. At least three of the victims were reportedly hospitalized in serious condition. The assailant, a man in his early 20s from the West Bank city of Tulkarm, was arrested, the police said.
Publisher: NYTimes
10 Jan 2015
Storm Adds to Misery of Gaza’s Most Vulnerable
As a winter storm continued to pound the Middle East, thousands of Gaza residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged in last summer s war with Israel struggled with the harsh weather for a third day, and a 4-month-old baby from the southern part of the territory died on Friday from complications caused by the bitter cold, Palestinian health officials and relatives said.
Publisher: Palinfo
14 Jan 2015
Spanish FM: We are working on lifting the siege on gaza
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo affirmed his country s commitment to supporting reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, lifting the siege and accelerating the rebuilding process. The Spanish top diplomat told a press conference held on Tuesday in Gaza City, "We are working on lifting the siege on the Strip to enable its people to live in dignity.
Publisher: PBS
21 Aug 2015
Expecting Iran to cheat is why we need this deal, says former Mossad chief
Efraim Halevy, former director of Israel's intelligence and special operations agency Mossad, is breaking with his country's government and public opinion to support the Iran nuclear agreement. He says: I believe this agreement closes the roads and blocks the road to Iranian nuclear military capabilities for at least a decade. And I believe that the arrangements that have been agreed between the parties are such that give us a credible answer to the Iranian military threat, at least for a decade, if not longer.
Publisher: Politics USA
11 Feb 2015
Netanyahu Lied About Iraq’s WMDs, Now He’s Saying the Same Things About Iran
Netanyahu has been saying the same things about Iran that he incorrectly said about Iraq in 2002 as he sold the Iraq war to the U.S. Congress. Republicans are trying to place Netanyahu in charge of U.S. foreign policy with Iran, which is the foreign policy equivalent of making Bush the president again. In 2012, Juan Cole went back to 2002 to point out that Netanyahu was saying the same inaccurate fear-mongering stuff about Iran that he said about Iraq.
Publisher: Russia Today
12 Nov 2015
Netanyahu urges Obama to ‘think different’ on Golan Heights annexation
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly seeking US recognition of Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights due to the Syrian conflict. Netanyahu allegedly wanted a "different thinking" regarding the issue during talks with Barack Obama. Trends Syria unrest The possibility of the Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights in 1981 being recognized was raised during Netanyahu's meeting with US President Obama, according to Haaretz sources close to the discussions.
Publisher: Slate
7 Jan 2015
Ninety Percent of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Campaign Money Comes From the United States
Publisher: Spiegel
31 Jan 2016
Israeli Justice Minister Shaked: ‘We Will Not Commit Suicide’
Ayelet Shaked, 39 is a member of his cabinet as his justice minister. She achieved that ascent by taking over the reins together with Naftali Bennett of the national religious party Jewish Home, which has become the third-strongest party in Israel, attracting the votes of young Tel Aviv residents as well as radical settlers. She's smart, secular and radical and doesn't shy away from making razor-sharp -- some would even say racist -- comments.
Publisher: Spiegel
19 Feb 2015
Interview with Israeli Prime Minister Candidate Isaac Herzog
Publisher: Sputnik News
7 Jul 2015
Israel Not Answering When US Calls to Update on Iran Nuke Talks
Publisher: The Guardian
18 Jul 2016
Ambassadors protest at Israel’s confiscation of West Bank shelters
Eight ambassadors to Israel have written to the Israeli military accusing it of breaking international humanitarian law by confiscating shelters for Bedouins in the occupied West Bank that were paid for by European governments. The first incident took place on 16 May when the Israeli civil administration dismantled and confiscated "materials for 10 residential caravans in the community of Jabal al Baba, displacing 49 people" from what the letter describes as a "vulnerable" Bedouin community.
Publisher: The Guardian
19 Apr 2016
US feels ‘overwhelming frustration’ with Israeli government, says Biden
The US vice-president, Joe Biden, has delivered an unusually sharp critique of the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, saying the Israeli prime minister is leading Israel in the wrong direction through his policies, including settlement building. Biden described the Obama administration's "overwhelming frustration" with Israel, adding that "profound questions" existed about how the country could remain both Jewish and democratic.
Publisher: The Guardian
29 Dec 2015
Israel warns Brazil faces diplomatic downgrade unless it accepts settler as ambassador
Brazil s reluctance to accept an Israeli ambassador who is a West Bank settler has led to a standoff with Israel now warning it could downgrade diplomatic relations. The appointment four months ago of Dani Dayan, a former head of the Jewish settlement movement, did not go down well with Brazil s left-leaning government, which has supported Palestinian statehood in recent years.
Publisher: The Guardian
30 Nov 2015
Israel suspends contact with EU bodies over labelling of West Bank produce
Israel has said it is suspending contacts with European Union bodies involved in peace efforts with the Palestinians after the bloc started requiring exports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be labelled. After the EU announcement, Netanyahu called it "hypocritical and a double standard", saying the EU was not taking similar steps in hundreds of territorial conflicts elsewhere in the world.
Publisher: The Guardian
27 Nov 2015
Israel tests new Barak 8 missile to defend offshore gas rigs
Israel's military says it has successfully tested an advanced surface-to-air missile that analysts believe could play a key role in securing the country's offshore gas fields. Russian TV stations broadcast secret nuclear torpedo plans Read more A military official said that the Barak 8 was tested from a ship for the first time and intercepted a small drone simulating an enemy craft. The system, being developed with India, extended the range of Israel s aerial defence and should be operational in about two years.
Publisher: The Guardian
9 Oct 2015
Hamas leader in Gaza declares intifada as deadly attacks continue
Hamas s leader in Gaza has declared the current unrest in Jerusalem and the West Bank an intifada, as six Palestinians were shot dead protesting at the border fence, further raising the stakes after a week of escalating violence. The comments by Ismail Haniyeh contradicted recent remarks by Fatah s leadership, including the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. There has been increasingly widespread use of the hashtag #intifada on Palestinian social media.
Publisher: The Guardian
30 Sep 2015
Mahmoud Abbas: Palestinians “no longer bound” by Oslo accords with Israel
Mahmoud Abbas has said Palestinians will "no longer continue to be bound" by the Oslo accords unless they receive "international protection" from Israel. Watched stony-faced by the Israeli delegation led by ambassador Ron Prosor, Abbas on Wednesday called for the international community to recognise Palestine as a state under occupation in the same way that countries were occupied in the second world war.
Publisher: The Guardian
3 Sep 2015
Does Obama’s Iran deal victory mark a turning point in US-Israeli relations?
Iran deal victory proves a setback for Aipac lobbying group as American Jewish community remains divided in public debate. "There was a substantial effort from the moment this deal was announced to kill it in Congress," says J-Street political director Dylan Williams. "Tens of millions of dollars - some people have estimated upwards of a hundred million dollars - were used to fund ads and lobbying." Both lobby groups describe themselves equally as pro-Israel, but the flurry of previously hawkish Democratic senators who switched sides away from Aipac in recent days has led to growing speculation that the days of reliable bipartisan support for the Israeli government - as distinct from Israel as a whole - on Capitol Hill may be over.
Publisher: The Guardian
2 Sep 2015
Netanyahu hints at easing rules on firing at Palestinian stone-throwers
Israel s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has ordered his security officials to examine changing the rules governing when soldiers can shoot young Palestinian stone-throwers. A statement issued by his office on Wednesday revealed Netanyahu was considering giving security forces a freer hand to open fire with live ammunition after meeting with his cabinet to discuss a recent increase in the number of incidents involving firebombs and stone-throwing in Jerusalem and on the West Bank.
Publisher: The Guardian
13 Jul 2015
Video appears to contradict account of Israeli officer who killed Palestinian
Video footage has emerged that appears to show the moments leading up to the fatal shooting of a teenage stone thrower by a senior Israeli army officer, seemingly contradicting the soldier s account of the killing. They suggested that 17-year-old Mohammed Kasbeh was shot in the upper body by Shomer as the youth was fleeing, not in the midst of a life-threatening attack.
Publisher: The Guardian
13 Jun 2015
University of Illinois censured for pulling Steven Salaita job over anti-Israel tweets
A leading academic group voted on Saturday to censure the University of Illinois flagship campus over its decision not to hire a professor following his anti-Israel Twitter messages, a vote the university's chancellor said would have repercussions. The university rescinded Salaita s job offer after some donors complained his tweets were anti-Semitic. He has since sued the school. The censure vote came one day after a judge ordered the university to turn over thousands of pages of documents sought by Salaita.
Publisher: The Guardian
22 May 2015
Israel’s new deputy foreign minister: ‘This land is ours. All of it is ours’
Publisher: The Guardian
20 May 2015
Israel scraps scheme to ban Palestinians from buses
Israel s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has cancelled a pilot scheme banning Palestinian workers from Israeli buses in the occupied territories denounced as tantamount to apartheid only hours after it was announced. The plan had been approved by Netanyahu s defence minister, Moshe Ya alon, but was cancelled amid fierce criticism from Israeli opposition figures, human rights groups and a former minister in Netanyahu s own party, who said it was a "stain on the face of Israel" that would damage its international image.
Publisher: The Guardian
27 Mar 2015
Israel killed more Palestinians in 2014 than in any other year since 1967
More than 2,300 Palestinians killed and more than 17,000 injured, according to annual report by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs The conflict in Gaza in July and August was largely responsible for the dramatic increase in fatalities, claiming the lives of 2,220 Gazans. The number of Palestinians held in administrative detention by Israeli authorities increased by 24% in 2014, but decreased when it came to children.
Publisher: The Guardian
23 Mar 2015
White House insists Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories must end
The White House issued a passionate call for eventual Palestinian statehood on Monday as it stepped up criticism of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, for appearing to question a two-state solution to Middle East peace. "An occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end," Barack Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, told a conference of liberal activists in Washington. "Israel cannot maintain military control of another people indefinitely," he added.
Publisher: The Guardian
8 Mar 2015
Israeli mass rally calls for replacement of Binyamin Netanyahu
Tens of thousands of Israelis attended a rally in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square on Saturday evening to call for the prime minster, Binyamin Netanyahu, to be replaced in elections later this month. Organised under the banner, "Israel wants change" and dubbed an "anti-Netanyahu" event, the rally was headlined by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, who told the crowd Israel is facing the worst leadership crisis in its history.
Publisher: The Guardian
4 Mar 2015
Netanyahu tells Congress Iran nuclear deal ‘will be a farewell to arms control’
Israeli prime minister received loud applause in Congress and Barack Obama issued a stinging rebuttal saying Netanyahu had said 'nothing new'. Despite a boycott by up to a quarter of House Democrats and eight senators, the Israeli prime minister received loud applause from both sides of the joint meeting of Congress when he pleaded with them to block any lifting of economic sanctions in return.
Publisher: The Guardian
28 Feb 2015
Former Mossad head urges Israeli voters to oust Binyamin Netanyahu
A former head of Israel's foreign intelligence service Mossad is urging voters to oust Binyamin Netanyahu in the next general election, accusing the prime minister of endangering the country s security with his stance on the Iranian nuclear programme. Meir Dagan, a vocal critic of Netanyahu's Iran policy since stepping down as Mossad chief four years ago, is to be a keynote speaker at a rally in Tel Aviv next weekend, calling on the public to turf the prime minister out of office on 17 March.
Publisher: The Guardian
24 Feb 2015
Leaked cables show Netanyahu’s Iran bomb claim contradicted by Mossad
Binyamin Netanyahu's dramatic declaration to world leaders in 2012 that Iran was about a year away from making a nuclear bomb was contradicted by his own secret service, according to a top-secret Mossad document. It is part of a cache of hundreds of dossiers, files and cables from the world's major intelligence services - one of the biggest spy leaks in recent times. Brandishing a cartoon of a bomb with a red line to illustrate his point, the Israeli prime minister warned the UN in New York that Iran would be able to build nuclear weapons the following year and called for action to halt the process.
Publisher: The Guardian
15 Feb 2015
Netanyahu trip to Congress provokes harsh reaction from US Jewish leaders
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the leader of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest and most liberal Jewish denomination in North America, said the speech was "ill-advised", and called on the prime minister to back out. He was joined by two more centrist voices: Seymour Reich, former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, who said the planned speech had become "a circus". At the same time, rightwing groups like the Republican Jewish Coalition (backed by billionaire Sheldon Adelson) and the Emergency Committee for Israel said Democratic lawmakers thinking about boycotting the speech were handing a victory to Israel's enemies and promised to "educate voters" about their disloyalty.
Publisher: The Guardian
7 Feb 2015
Israelis have a chance to dump Netanyahu. I fear they won’t seize it
One of the few things most world leaders, and doubtless much of world opinion, can agree on is that they'd like to see the back of Binyamin Netanyahu. The iciness of the relationship between Israel's prime minister and Barack Obama turned to permafrost long ago, but even Bibi's fellow rightists find him unbearable. Israel has gone from one of the world's most equal societies to one of the most unequal in a generation, the gap between the super-rich and the rest widening each year. I met professional couples in excellent jobs who can t afford to buy a home without parental help. The end of the Bibi era would be a clear boost for those desperate for change in the apparently never-ending Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Publisher: The Guardian
28 Jan 2015
Israel expels 43 intelligence veterans who refused to spy in Palestinian territories
The commander of Unit 8200, named as Brigadier-General "A", barred the 43 reserve soldiers who wrote to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top army chiefs in September, saying they could no longer serve in the unit, the radio said. Coming a few weeks after Israel's 50-day war against Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip, the letter was seen as an unprecedented rebuke of Netanyahu s security policies but the military dismissed it as a publicity stunt by a small fringe.
Publisher: The Guardian
23 Jan 2015
Obama to keep Netanyahu at arm’s length during controversial US trip
Relations between Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu neared a new low on Thursday as the White House revealed the president would not meet the Israeli prime minister when he visits Republican leaders of Congress in March. The White House decision arrived as strains with the Israeli government burst into the open following an invitation from Republican House speaker John Boehner, who asked Netanyahu to discuss their shared concerns over Obama s nuclear talks with Iran before a combined session of Congress.
Publisher: The Guardian
16 Jan 2015
The truth about Israel’s secret nuclear arsenal
Publisher: The Intercept
28 Jul 2016
Critics Fear Crackdown on Palestinian Free Speech as Israel Takes Aim at Facebook
Israeli officials have been railing against Facebook since October 2015, when cases emerged of Palestinians stabbing Israelis as part of what some call the "knife intifada.". Shaked, the justice minister, has met with Facebook officials to pressure them to take action against incitement. In 2015, Facebook took down 431 pieces of content that it said violated harassment laws or denied the Holocaust, which is against the law in Israel. Some of those requests pertain to Palestinians swept up in Israel s dragnet targeting social media users who post messages against Israeli wars and occupation
Publisher: The Intercept
28 Mar 2016
Most Israelis Say Army Medic Who Killed Wounded Suspect Is Not a Murderer
WHILE HUMAN RIGHTS activists and defense officials in Israel were quick to condemn an army medic caught on video last week shooting a wounded Palestinian suspect in the head, the soldier was defended over the weekend, and even celebrated, by many on the far-right of the country s political spectrum.
Publisher: The Intercept
25 Mar 2015
Netanyahu’s Spying Denials Contradicted by Secret NSA Documents
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday vehemently denied a Wall Street Journal report, leaked by the Obama White House, that Israel spied on U.S. negotiations with Iran and then fed the intelligence to Congressional Republicans. His office's denial was categorical and absolute, extending beyond this specific story to U.S.-targeted spying generally, claiming: "The state of Israel does not conduct espionage against the United States or Israel's other allies." Israel's claim is not only incredible on its face. It is also squarely contradicted by top-secret NSA documents, which state that Israel targets the U.S. government for invasive electronic surveillance, and does so more aggressively and threateningly than almost any other country in the world.
Publisher: The Nation
1 Jul 2015
On the Cusp of an Iran Deal, Israel Facilely Beats the War Drums
What was Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel s prime minister, thinking when he had his office release a video on the occasion of the original deadline that portrayed the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, morphing into Iran? And then portraying the Islamic State of Iran instead of Iran s actual name, the Islamic Republic getting nuclear weapons? The 30-second cartoon makes a mockery of the Iran nuclear negotiations, which are intended to prevent Iran from being able use its nuclear program to get those weapons. Instead of raising substantive concerns with the emerging accord, Netanyahu s opted for ham-handed war propaganda, making light of the talks. Any reasonable viewer won t be laughing with Netanyahu, they ll be laughing at him.
Publisher: The New Yorker
4 Jun 2015
Benjamin Netanyahu Media Manipulator
Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved his government last November to remove two obstacles. The first, much reported beyond Israel, was opposition by centrists within his government, including Yair Lapid and Tzipi Livni, to the "Jewish nation" bill, which would have constrained the Supreme Court s ability to protect Arab citizens rights. The second-less noticed but perhaps more consequential was a bill advanced in the Knesset to prohibit any major newspaper from being distributed for free. The obvious target of the legislation was Sheldon Adelson s Israel Hayom, a free tabloid that s become Israel s most widely circulated newspaper. Adelson was reported to have lost as much as three million dollars a month on it-simply, it seems, to boost Netanyahu and his Likud Party.
Publisher: The Times of Israel
24 Feb 2015
Now we know who to believe on Iran
After anonymous sources in Jerusalem leaked to Israeli reporters in recent weeks the ostensible terms of the deal being hammered out, various spokespeople for the Obama administration contended that the Netanyahu government was misrepresenting the specifics for narrow political ends. They sneered that Israel didn't actually know what the terms were. And they made the acknowledgement - the astounding acknowledgement for a United States whose key regional ally is directly and relentlessly threatened with destruction by Iran - that the Obama administration is consequently no longer sharing with Jerusalem all sensitive details of the Iran talks.
Publisher: The Times of Israel
16 Jan 2015
UN calls on Israel to unfreeze Palestinian taxes
The United Nations on Thursday called on Israel to unlock millions of dollars in taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority that were withheld after it decided to join the International Criminal Court. A senior UN official told the UN Security Council that the freeze of about $127 million imposed on January 3 was in violation of the Oslo peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Publisher: The Ugly Truth
24 Feb 2015
Historic US terror verdict charges Palestinian Authority with $654m. in damages
The wrongful death civil damages trial could have massive diplomatic and financial implications for the PA, as it teeters, according to some dangerously, near collapse and as it tries to rally international support for its push for the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israeli soldiers and officials for alleged war crimes related to the summer Gaza war.
Publisher: Times of Israel
26 Feb 2016
Netanyahu: World must condemn Iran for paying terrorists’ families
Iran s ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Fateh Ali, said Wednesday that Tehran would give $7,000 to the families of each Palestinian terrorist killed while attacking Israelis. Iran will also give $30,000 to Palestinian families whose homes have been destroyed by Israel because a family member carried out a terror attack, he told a news conference in Beirut.
Publisher: Times of Israel
5 Oct 2015
5-man Hamas cell that killed Naama and Eitam Henkin arrested
Israeli security forces have arrested the Palestinian terror cell that carried out the murders of Naama and Eitam Henkin in the West Bank on Thursday, the Shin Bet security service said Monday evening. The Israeli couple, both in their 30s, were driving in their car with their four children when they came under attack from Palestinian gunmen. The two were shot dead in front of their children; the children were unharmed.
Publisher: Times of Israel
21 Sep 2015
Boosted by nuke deal, Iran ups funding to Hezbollah, Hamas
Since the deal was signed, Iran has significantly increased its financial support for two of the largest terror groups in the region that have become political players, Hamas and Hezbollah. In the years before the deal was signed, the crippling sanctions limited this support, which had significantly diminished along with Iran s economy. But Tehran s belief that tens, or hundreds, of billions of dollars will flow into the country in the coming years as a result of sanctions relief has led to a decision to boost the cash flow to these terror organizations.
Publisher: Times of Israel
30 Apr 2015
Ethiopian-Israeli protest against police brutality turns violent, over a dozen hurt
Publisher: Washington Post
22 Dec 2015
Why is the U.S. subsidizing Israeli settlements?
An investigation into tax-exempt donations helping to finance West Bank settlements found that almost 50 nonprofit organizations raise money in the United States for the settlements. Within five years, from 2009 to 2013, more than $220?million was sent across the ocean and into schools, synagogues and playgrounds dotting the hills of Judea and Samaria. Millions of tax-subsidized dollars have gone to Jewish settlements in Hebron, helping to sustain a grim reality in the segregated part of the city, where Palestinian movement is sharply restricted and their economic life has been suffocated.
Publisher: Washington Post
8 Oct 2015
New Israeli-Palestinian violence poses dilemma for Netanyahu
Seeking to tamp down Palestinian anger over perceived Israeli moves to expand Jewish influence at one of Islam s holiest sites, Netanyahu on Thursday barred cabinet ministers and lawmakers from visiting the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem. But hard-liners within his governing coalition have been pressuring him to crack down on the Palestinians and step up settlement activity in response to the unrest.
Publisher: Washington Post
5 Oct 2015
Two Palestinian youths killed as violence in West Bank spikes
Two Palestinians youths were killed by Israeli soldiers in the last 24 hours in the tense West Bank, one day after security forces barred Palestinians from entering Jerusalem s Old City as violent protests and harsh countermeasures spiked sharply. Four Israeli civilians have been killed over the past few days in an escalation of violence that prompted the Israeli government to effectively shut the Old City to Palestinians for two days during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which ends Monday night.
Publisher: Washington Post
7 Sep 2015
4-year-old Palestinian is sole survivor of arson attack after mother dies
More than a month after Palestinian toddler Ali Saad Dawabsha was killed in an arson attack on his home in the West Bank village of Duma, his mother, Riham, succumbed to her wounds overnight Sunday. The July 31 attack, allegedly carried out by Jewish extremists, also killed Ali's father, Saad. Only his brother, 4-year-old Ahmed, survived. He remains in an Israeli hospital with burns on more than 60 percent of his body. Israel has not caught those responsible for the attack, which drew international condemnation.
Publisher: Washington Post
21 Jul 2015
How the Iran deal is good for Israel, according to Israelis who know what they’re talking about
In the aftermath of the deal over Iran's nuclear program announced in Vienna last week, attention immediately centered on the reaction in one country that was never a direct party to the talks: Israel.. Prominent members of the country's security establishment have come out at various stages of the negotiations in support of the Obama administration's efforts. Some of these men have been consistently vocal in their opposition to Netanyahu's hard-line rhetoric, which included a controversial speech to the U.S. Congress earlier this year.
Publisher: Washington Post
19 Feb 2015
U.S. officials, in blunt language, say Israel is distorting reality of Iran talks
The Obama administration on Wednesday accused the Israeli government of misleading the public over the Iran nuclear negotiations, using unusually blunt and terse language that once again highlighted the rift between the two sides. In briefings with reporters, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki and White House spokesman Josh Earnest suggested Israeli officials were not being truthful about how the United States is handling the secretive talks
Publisher: Washington Post
18 Feb 2015
Israel’s Netanyahu spent $24,000 on takeout, and it’s causing a scandal
After three terms and nine years with him as their prime minister, Israelis know a lot about Benjamin Netanyahu and his first lady, Sara. Now they also know how much the couple spend on hair and makeup, maid service and swimming pool water. The Israeli state comptroller released an eagerly awaited report condemning the Netanyahus for "excessive spending" at both the prime minister's official residence at 2 Balfour St. in Jerusalem and the couple s private beachfront villa in Caesarea.
Publisher: Washington Post
9 Feb 2015
Israel will try to halt ‘dangerous’ nuclear deal with Iran
Publisher: Washington Post
31 Jan 2015
CIA and Mossad killed senior Hezbollah figure in car bombing
On Feb. 12, 2008, Imad Mughniyah, Hezbollah s international operations chief, walked on a quiet nighttime street in Damascus after dinner at a nearby restaurant. Not far away, a team of CIA spotters in the Syrian capital was tracking his movements. As Mughniyah approached a parked SUV, a bomb planted in a spare tire on the back of the vehicle exploded, sending a burst of shrapnel across a tight radius. He was killed instantly.
Publisher: Yahoo News
23 Feb 2015
Iran forming ‘third front’ against Israel on Golan Netanyahu
Iran is seeking to open a "third front" against Israel using Hezbollah fighters on the Syrian Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. Netanyahu said Tehran's attempts to entrench itself along Israel's borders was one of the biggest emerging security threats facing the Jewish state.
Publisher: YNet News
11 Dec 2015
We are being deceived on Iran
Following the signing of the nuclear deal in July, the sanctions against Iran will be lifted within the next seven days, on December 15. But Iran is not meeting its obligations to dismantle its nuclear capability as per its agreement with six world powers. According to the agreement, the Iranians have until December 15 to dismantle two-thirds of its active centrifuges, so that they will not have more than 6,000 old-generation centrifuges in their possession. None of these clauses have been fulfilled.
Publisher: Ynet News
22 Feb 2015
US fears Palestinian Authority collapse without more cash
Publisher: Your News Wire
29 Nov 2015
Israel Caught Receiving Stolen Oil From ISIS Militants
Several sources have confirmed rumours that Israel have purchased most of its oil supplies from ISIS militants who stole it from Syria via tanker truck convoys. In a carefully detailed article, Al-Araby lays out the entire process from start to finish, showing how ISIS supposedly steals the oil from Conoco oil fields in Syria and then transports them down to Iraqi Kurdistan where the oil is purchased illegally and refined to some small degree so they can get around import regulations in Turkey. The oil is put in tanker trucks labeled as legitimate oil from the Iraqi Kurdistan region and sold to black market buyers in Turkey. The article explains how one of the biggest buyers of that stolen oil just happens to be an Israeli-Greek duel citizen named Uncle Farid.