Syria to UN: Israel violated our territory

The last thing Bashir al-Assad should be worrying about is some Israeli jets knocking out Iranian missiles crossing Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon but being the good little servant to the Ayatollah, Assad is bitching to the UN.  Lord knows the Israelis are going to fear the UN....hahaha

The story comes from Israel National News.

Syria to UN: Israel violated our territory

Syria on Friday sent two letters to the UN in which it said that Israel’s airstrikes on the country violated international law, the UN Charter, and “the sovereignty and the sanctity of Syrian territory,” the Syrian news agency SANA reported.

In letters sent to the UN Secretary General and the President of the Security Council, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that “in flagrant defiance of the international legitimacy and UN resolutions and the sovereignty and the inviolability of the Syrian territory,” four Israeli warplanes violated Syrian airspace and targeted a military site in the eastern countryside of Homs province.

“As part of its right to defend the sanctity of its territory, the Syrian air defense responded to this aggression and shot down one of the planes while the rest of them were forced to flee,” the Ministry wrote, according to SANA.

“The Israeli aggression this morning comes as a new Israeli attempt to boost the collapsed morale of terrorist groups after they were defeated recently by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies in many areas,” the Ministry said in the letters.

“Syria calls on the UN Secretary General and the President of the UNSC to condemn this blatant Israeli aggression, to force Israel to stop supporting terrorism in Syria, to implement all UNSC resolutions on counter-terrorism, including resolution No. 2253, to withdraw from the whole occupied Syrian Golan to the line of June 4th, 1967, and to implement resolution No. 497 for 1981,” it wrote.

Syria launched several anti-aircraft missiles towards the Israeli aircraft that carried out Thursday night’s airstrike.

One missile was intercepted by Israel's Arrow air defense system, one of the first times the system has been used.

While Syria claimed that it shot down one of the Israeli aircraft, the IDF denied that any planes had been struck and stressed that Israeli troops and citizens had not been in danger at any point during the incident.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel would continue to act to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah.

“Our policy is very consistent: when we identify attempts to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah, and we have the intelligence and operational feasibility - we work to prevent this," the Prime Minister said.

"That's how it’s been and that’s how it will be, we have determination, and the proof is that we are acting, and everyone has to take this into account," he added.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry’s complaint to the UN was filed after the Syrian army reacted angrily to the Israeli airstrike on Friday and threatened to respond harshly.

"This flagrant attack is part of the Zionist enemy's persistent efforts to support the terrorist gangs of ISIS," the army said, adding, “It will be responded to directly with all possible means.”

IDF official: Hamas has replenished its missile capability since 2014 war

When you are Israel, your enemies who surround you never sleep, they never quit in their efforts to see you destroyed.

The story comes from The Jerusalem Post.

IDF official: Hamas has replenished its missile capability since 2014 war

An IDF senior military official on Wednesday told Channel 2 that Hamas has fully replenished its military capability it had lost following 2014's Operation Protective Edge.

During an interview with the Israeli broadcaster, the official said that the terror organization had used the proceeding years since the 2014 offensive to work on its tunnels and shore-up its missile programs.

A large part of Hamas's missile stockpile are self-made weapons from inside the Gaza Strip. The official said the material for making of the weapons came through the Egyptian controlled Rafah border crossing following peace talks between Hamas and Cairo.

The military assumption, the official noted, is that Hamas is not looking for a confrontation with Israel in the near future.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Hamas's military wing said Tuesday that Israel's concern with the organization's network of clandestine terror tunnels was proof of Hamas's success during the 2014 war.

The Hamas spokesperson sighted an anticipated report on Operation Protective Edge that is expected to contain scathing criticism of Israel's military and political leadership.

"In the near future, there will be even larger forces that will fall," the Hamas spokesperson said.

The Knesset State Control’s classified subcommittee announced on Sunday that it had approved publishing of the State Comptroller’s Report on the 2014 Gaza war.

According to pundits, the report is expected to be a political bombshell for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in terms of his reputation as “Mr. Security,” with consequences ranging from eventually bringing down the government to being another shot against his standing as rivals wait for a moment to strike.

Hamas military operatives were also in full force Tuesday participating in a ceremony honoring one of its members, who was allegedly killed in a Mossad operation in Tunisia late last year.

Mohhamed Zawari, known to Israel's security echelon as "The Engineer," was found shot to death inside his vehicle in the city of Sfax, local media reported.

Zawari, an aviation engineer and scientist, was shot three to seven times by unknown assailants in his car near his home.

Netanyahu hopeful world's attitudes toward Iran will change because of Trump

I truly hope this partnership between Trump and Israel blossoms - it's way past time that the so-called palestinians were relegated to oblivion.

The story comes from The Jerusalem Post.

Netanyahu hopeful world's attitudes toward Iran will change because of Trump

In a speech made at Yad Vashem a day prior to International Holocaust Memorial Day, Netanyahu addressed the Iranian threat and pointed to the new American president as a strong ally.

The world's attitude toward Iran is likely to change with US President Donald Trump in the White House, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated on Thursday during a speech at Yad Vashem to the diplomatic corps in Israel.

The prime minister, during an address marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day which is commemorated around the world on January 27, said that even as antisemitism is on the rise in Europe, the greatest hatred of the Jewish people and the Jewish state comes from the East.

“It comes from Iran,” he said. “It comes from the ayatollah regime that is fanning these flames and calling outright for the destruction of the Jewish state. ”

This is the second time in a week that Netanyahu has made public comments regarding the Iranian threat, after an extended period when this was not at the center of his public remarks.

On Saturday night, just a day after Trump's inauguration and in what appeared to be an effort to put the issue back on the international agenda just as Trump took office, Netanyahu posted a video on social media saying he planned to speak with the new president “about how to counter the threat of the Iranian regime, which calls for Israel's destruction.”

He picked up on this theme at Yad Vashem.

“I want you to think about a regime that openly declared its intention to eliminate every black person, every gay person, every European. I think the entire world would be outraged, and rightly so,” he said.

“But when a regime [Iran] merely calls to wipe out every Israeli – which is what they say day in day out, their most prominent leaders, they say it – what do we encounter? A deafening silence.”

Now, he said, this may change.

“I hope it will change. I believe it will change,” he said. “Because I spoke a few days ago to President Trump and he spoke about the Iranian aggression. He spoke about Iran's commitment to destroy Israel. He spoke about the nature of this nuclear agreement and the danger it poses. We spoke about it together.”

Netanyahu and former president Barack Obama were at loggerheads for years over the Iranian issue.

Netanyahu said that he will not be silent in the face of those saying they want to destroy the Jewish people or Jewish state.

“I haven't been silent, and we don't intend to be inactive either,” he said. “We don't merely intend to speak out but we will take all the measures we need to defend ourselves, and we will take all the measures necessary to prevent Iran from getting the means of mass murder to carry out their horrible plans. ”

Netanyahu noted that “the regime that spawned the Holocaust ended up in the dustbin of history,” saying that this is a lesson for Iran and all enemies of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, the United Nations will hold a special ceremony in the General Assembly on Friday to mark the day. The ceremony will include speeches by the new Secretary General of the UN António Guterres; the President of the GA Peter Thomson; Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon; and the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN Michele Sison.

The keynote speech of the event will be delivered by Auschwitz camp survivor Noah Klieger, who has dedicated his life to educating the next generations about the horrors of the Holocaust.

"The UN must take a leading role in combating antisemitism and preserving the memory of the Holocaust," Danon said. "The members of the UN must all pledge to speak out against hate and never allow the parliament of nations to become a platform for the promotion of intolerance.”

Last week, Guterres spoke at an annual Saturday morning service in memory of the victims of the Holocaust at Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue and told worshipers he would be on the front lines of denouncing antisemitism and condemning all forms of expressions of it. He also pledged to work so “the Holocaust will never be forgotten.”

“Antisemitism is not a quest about religion, but a manifestation of racism,” the secretary-general stated.

He added that he is troubled by the “new forms and expressions” of hatred against Jews, which shows that “antisemitism is alive and well.”

Sister of Israel truck terrorist who killed four people ‘thank Allah for his saintly death’

A video has emerged which is said to show al-Qanbar's family watching a news report of the terrorist carrying out the attack

These are the animals, the pigs that the Israelis have to put up with every single day of their lives.

The story comes from the Daily Mail.

Sister of Israel truck terrorist who killed four people ‘thank Allah for his saintly death’ as his victims are laid to rest

The sister of the Israel truck terrorist who killed four soldiers have thanked Allah for his 'saintly death' as the victims are laid to rest.

Fadi al-Qanbar, 28, drove a truck into a crowd of troops in Jerusalem, killing IDF Lieutenant Yael Yekutiel, 20, of Givatayim, Cadet Shir Hajaj, 22, of Maaleh Adumim, Cadet Shira Tzur, 20, from Haifa, and Cadet Erez Orbach, 20, from Alon Shvut.

The terrorist's sister, who said he acted as a lone wolf, seemingly supported her brother by thanking God for choosing him to become a martyr.

Shadia, 28, told Ynet: 'Praise be to Allah that he became a martyr.

'It is the most beautiful kind of saintly death.

'Allah chose him for this martyrdom. Thank God.

'We are patient and we thank Allah for this.'

The father-of-four was shot dead inside the cabin and his victims' families have been mourning the deaths of their loved ones at funerals today.

A video has emerged which is said to show al-Qanbar's family watching a news report of the terrorist carrying out the attack.

The people in the video appear unresponsive in the short clip.

The attack came after months of relative calm which prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to spark debate by suggesting it was inspired by Islamic State.

In an outpouring of grief, the victims' relatives have spoken glowingly of the ambitious soldiers killed in the massacre.

Cadet Hajaj had three younger sisters and was said to be at the top of her class.

Her father told Ynet: 'These are our children, we send them to the army knowing they may not come back.

'Did I ever think this would happen to me? Never.'

More Muslim Terror In Israel - 4 Dead In Truck Attack

Was it ISIS or Hamas or Islamic Jihad or just a run-of-the-mill so-called palestinian?  Doesn't matter.  Make the vengeance swift, complete and shocking.

The story comes from Haaretz.

Jerusalem Attack: 4 Soldiers Killed After Truck Rams Into Pedestrians

Four soldiers were killed and 13 people were wounded in Jerusalem on Sunday when a truck rammed into pedestrians near the Armon Hanatziv Promenade.

Police chief Roni Alsheich described the truck-ramming as a terror attack. The assailant, a resident of East Jerusalem, was shot and killed, the police chief said, adding that there was no advance warning for the attack.

Speaking at the scene of the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We know the identity of the attacker. All signs point to the attacker being a supporter of the Islamic State."

Referring to similar vehicle ramming attacks in Europe, in Nice in July and in Germany last month, Netanyahu minister said there may be a link between them and Sunday's attack, "from France and Berlin and now Jerusalem."

The prime minister said a number of steps were being taken that he would not specify in detail "to ensure that such incidents are not repeated."

According to the police, the truck veered from its course along the promenade and rammed into a group of soldiers getting off a bus.

"You don't need more than two to three seconds to find a terrorist target," the police commissioner said. "The soldiers at the scene reacted immediately and killed the attacker."

Israel urges Egypt to ‘fight terrorism together’

From Al Arabiya.

Israel urges Egypt to ‘fight terrorism together’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on Egypt to “fight terrorism together” after a bombing killed 25 people in a Coptic Christian church in Cairo.

“Israel condemns the reprehensible terrorist attack at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo,” a statement from the premier’s office said.

“Israel shares in the grief of the families of the victims and of the Egyptian people. We must unite forces and fight terrorism together.”

Sunday’s was the deadliest attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt since 2011, when more than 20 were killed outside a church in the northern coastal city of Alexandria.

Media in Israel say the Jewish state and Cairo cooperate in the struggle against jihadists fighting Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

Israel gave its green light for the Egyptian army to use tanks, aircraft and infantry against jihadists in the Sinai, which was demilitarized under the peace treaty the two countries signed in 1979.

Palestinian tries to stab Israeli guard, shot dead: Police

 
Just another reason to say thanks on Thursday - there's one less Palestinian in the world.

The story comes from DAWN.

Palestinian tries to stab Israeli guard, shot dead: Police

An Israeli security guard shot and killed a Palestinian who tried to stab him at a busy checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israeli police said.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the Palestinian was brandishing a knife and approached the guard on foot in the vehicle lane of the Qalandiya checkpoint. The guard was not hurt, she said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the man was dead.

At least 228 Palestinians have been killed in violence in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip since October 2015. Israel says at least 154 of them were assailants in a wave of lone attacks often targeting security forces and using rudimentary weapons including kitchen knives. Others died during clashes and protests.

The street assaults killed at least 33 Israelis and two visiting Americans over the same period.

Israel says one of the main causes of the violence is incitement by the Palestinian leadership, with young men encouraged to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Families say assailants acted out of desperation, frustrated by the lack of progress towards peace and Israel's continued building of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want for their own state.

Palestinians accused Israeli police and soldiers of using excessive force in many cases, saying many assailants could have been stopped or detained without being killed. In several cases, Israel has opened investigations.

Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem for nearly 50 years, since the 1967 Middle East war, and maintains tight restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in some areas, especially checkpoints that border Israel.

Hamas Terror Attack In Jerusalem Kills Israeli Civilian and Police Officer

 Israeli riot policemen secure the area following a shooting incident in what an Israeli police spokesperson described as a terrorist attack, in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem October 9, 2016. (Reuters)

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

Several wounded in Jerusalem shooting attack

A Palestinian who was due to begin a prison term in Israel next week went on a shooting spree on Sunday, killing a pedestrian and a police officer in Jerusalem before being shot dead by police, medical and law enforcement officials said.

The incident, near Israel’s national police headquarters, began when shots were fired from a vehicle at people waiting at a tram stop, a police spokeswoman said.

The assailant, who the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said was a member of its organization, then drove off and was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police, she said.

Medical officials said six people were wounded in the attack, and that two of them, a woman and a police officer, died in hospital. Police identified the assailant as a 39-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem.

A spokeswoman for the Israel Prisons Service said the attacker had been ordered by a court to start a four-month jail sentence next week after being convicted of assaulting a police officer.

In the past year, Palestinians, many acting alone and often with rudimentary weapons, have killed at least 35 Israelis and two visiting Americans in attacks.

During that period, at least 220 Palestinians have died in violent incidents in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Of those, 149 were identified by authorities as assailants while others were killed during clashes and protests.

Israel says anti-Israeli incitement by Palestinian officials and on social media networks is stoking attacks.

Palestinian leaders say assailants are acting out of desperation over the collapse in 2014 of peace talks and the expansion of Israeli settlements on occupied land that Palestinians seek for an independent state.

Did Anyone Even Notice Obama Claiming Israel Occupies "Palestinian land" ???

The end of the reign of Muslim champion Barack Hussein Obama cannot come soon enough for those of us who support Israel.  Someday, Mr. Obama, you will be standing at the pearly gates and that pass card ain't gonna work to get you in - remember this day when you blasphemed the covenant between G_d and the children of Israel while you bang away on the gates to be let in.

The story comes from Israel National News.

Presidential error at the UN

Despite Barak Obama's speech last week at the UN being endlessly analyzed, there has been no meaningful reference to the way in which the president referred to Judea and Samaria. The president remarked parenthetically that Judea and Samaria are "Palestinian lands". Only the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has responded and protested the inaccuracy in Obama's words.

Obama said that "Surely, Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, but Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land”

The ZOA remarked that the use of the term Palestinian land "prejudges the issue of sovereignty and borders and is not accordance with international law, which designates Judea/Samaria as unallocated territory, without a recognized sovereign."

Moreover, they added that "the President’s use of this term is political in nature, as it automatically and unjustly designates the biblical, religious, and historical heartland of the Jewish people for millennia, before the Arab conquest of the region in the seventh century, as belonging to Palestinian Arabs.

“It is well-known that there are conflicting claims to the land, but it is also important to note that Israel has a better claim in law than any other party.

“The territory of the West Bank was earmarked for Jewish settlement in 1920 at the San Remo Conference. This decision, enshrined in the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine entrusted to Britain that shortly followed, has never been superseded by an internationally binding agreement. To the contrary, it was reaffirmed by Article 80 of the UN Charter.

“The Arab states rejected the 1947 UN General Assembly partition resolution that called for an Arab and a Jewish state to be established in the territory of the British Mandate. As a result, no agreement on statehood and borders was ever reached. Jordan, which illegally invaded and annexed the territory from 1948 to 1967, formally relinquished its claim to the territory in 1988.

“In the absence of a peace settlement, Judea/Samaria is unallocated territory under international law, not the sovereign territory of another state that Israel ‘occupies.’

“As a result, Israel is not ‘occupying and settling Palestinian lands’; Israel permits Israelis to live, and build homes and communities in this territory to which it has a strong legal claim, having captured the territory from Jordan in 1967 in a war of self-defense."

Over the course of the past 100 years, Judea and Samaria have been ruled by Ottomans, the British mandate, Jordan and Israel but has never been under Palestinian control.

The ZOA added that the Palestinian authority was founded in 1993 but did not gain control over the areas with Jewish communities and "the Oslo agreements do not prohibit Israeli residence and construction in these territories; to the contrary, the Oslo agreements provide for Israeli and Palestinian building in zones under their respective controls.

"Oslo also lists this as a final status issue, to be negotiated by the parties themselves, and Israel is entitled to assert its right for its citizens to live and build in these territories until such time as a peace settlement is reached."

Two Terror Attacks Foiled In Israel

The report comes from Israel National News.

Car terror attempt near Kiryat Arba

Two terrorists, a male and female, tried this afternoon, Friday, to commit a terror attack by running people over with their car at the Elias Junction near Kiryat Arba.

The two terrorists were shot by IDF forces, while no victims were injured.

The attack comes just after another terror attempt at Damascus Gate at the Old City of Jerusalem, where a terrorist, a Jordanian resident in his twenties, arrived near Damascus Gate, and advanced quickly towards border police at the scene, a knife in his hand.

The fighters saw the terrorist as he approached and shot him, killing him.

The attack comes after a recent decline in stabbing attacks, though Arab terror in general has, by no means, declined.

IDF attacks Syrian mortar launchers

The story comes from Israel National News.

IDF attacks Syrian mortar launchers

The Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes overnight Wednesday against mortar launchers belonging to the Syrian regime on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, the IDF Spokesperson stated.

According to the statement, the attacks were in retaliation for the firing of a projectile towards the northern Golan Heights earlier in the day.

No injuries were reported in that incident. It is believed the projectile “leaked” into Israel as part of the fighting between the Syrian regime and the rebels.

"The IDF holds the Syrian regime responsible for what happens in its territory and will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israel's sovereignty and the security of its citizens," the IDF statement said.

This marks the second time this week that the IDF attacked in Syria. On Sunday night, IDF forces attacked artillery launchers belonging to the Syrian regime in the Golan Heights in response to the firing of a mortar shell which exploded on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.

Military sources said at the time that the mortar shell likely exploded in Israel accidentally and was the result of internal fighting in Syria.

Attacker stabs female soldier in Northern W. Bank

Every damn day, in Israel.

The story comes from The Jerusalem Post.

Attacker stabs female soldier in Northern W. Bank

The attack comes just days after a stabbing in Jerusalem.

A female attacker stabbed a female soldier in the Northern West Bank near the Shaked settlement Sunday evening.

Initial reports from the IDF indicated that the female terrorist arrived at the scene by car, emerged from her vehicle with a knife and attempted to kill the security officer at a checkpoint, but only succeeded in lightly wounding her.

Israeli warplanes strike Gaza after rocket attack in Sderot

This is what I like to see - an Israeli response IMMEDIATELY after a rocket attack.  Now, granted, I'd long for these retaliatory raids to go on for a week but I'll take this.

The story comes from Times of India.

Israeli warplanes strike Gaza after rocket attack in Sderot

GAZA CITY: The Israeli military struck a series of militant sites in Gaza early on Saturday in response to a rocket attack that hit a kindergarten in the Israeli border town of Sderot.

No injuries were reported on either side but damage was caused to buildings. The exchange comes amid an escalation of violence in the West Bank following a pair of fatal attacks against Jewish settlers that has sparked Israel's largest military surge in two years.

The military said its warplanes targeted four training sites belonging to Gaza's militant Hamas rulers. On late Friday, a rocket from Gaza struck an empty kindergarten, marking a rare successful hit of a civilian target in Israel. Rocket attacks have been sporadic since Israel and Hamas waged a deadly 50-day war in the summer of 2014.

Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said the rocket attack was "a horrific reminder of the intentions of terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip to target communities, people, men, women and children."

"Over the past two days Israeli civilians have witnessed and experienced the devastating effects of incitement-fueled terrorism based on hatred and radical beliefs," he said. "In our efforts to ensure stability, we continue to defend against those who put innocent lives in harm's way."


On Friday, a Palestinian gunman ambushed a family traveling in a car in the southern West Bank, killing an Israeli man and wounding his wife and two teenage children. The previous day a Palestinian teen stabbed a 13-year-old Israeli-American girl to death as she slept in her bedroom.


The attacks prompted Israel's military to send hundreds of troops to the area and impose a closure on the Hebron district, a flashpoint area where many of the recent attacks have stemmed from. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will reduce the amount of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians each month, saying that some of the money was being given to families of attackers. His cabinet will convene late Saturday to discuss further measures.

It's the latest development in nine months of violence in which Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbings, shootings and attacks using cars against civilians and security forces, killing 34 Israelis and two American tourists. Israeli troops as well as some armed civilians have killed about 200 Palestinians during this period, most said by Israel to be attackers.


Israel says the violence is fueled by a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement, compounded on social media sites that glorify and encourage attacks. Palestinians say it stems from frustration at nearly five decades of Israeli rule in territory they claim for a state.

Israel and Turkey Restore Ties

Binali Yildirim

If you read the article here from DAWN, about the Israeli-Turkish restoration of relations, please note how Turkey's Erdogan went out of his way to reach out to the PLO and to Hamas after this deal was done - you know DAMN WELL that Erdogan was against it but I'm guessing the pressure from inside of his country and government was too great or ISIS is scaring the shit out of them.

Anyway, I wouldn't trust Erdogan as far as he could throw a Qur'an.

Israeli, Turkish leaders laud deal to restore ties

JERUSALEM: Israeli and Turkish leaders on Monday lauded a deal reached at the weekend to restore ties after six years of acrimony over a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Israel's maritime blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip would remain after the agreement, though Turkey obtained aid concessions for the Palestinian enclave.

His Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim said that “to this end, our first ship loaded with over 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid will leave for Israel's Ashdod port on Friday.” Yildirim also noted Israel's commitment to pay $20 million in compensation over the 2010 raid that killed 10 Turkish activists, in exchange for all claims against Israeli soldiers being dropped.

Netanyahu pointed to the economic benefits for Israel, with his country in search of regional customers for gas exports and talk of a potential pipeline to Turkey.

Speaking in Rome after meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry, Netanyahu described the agreement as having “immense implications for the Israeli economy”.

“I mean positive, immense implications,” he said.

Kerry also hailed the deal as a “positive step”, while UN chief Ban Ki-moon, on a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, called it a “hopeful signal for the stability of the region”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas spoke by phone overnight, with the Turkish leader explaining the agreement's main points, a statement from the Palestinian presidency said.

Erdogan also met with Doha-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Friday in anticipation of the agreement.

After the deal is signed on Tuesday, the approval process will start in both countries, and the Turkish premier said Ankara would appoint an ambassador to Tel Aviv within weeks.

Trump advisor: We'll give Israel more aid than Obama

I'd be satisfied if it was also thrown in that we'd send troops and bombers in to assist with the extermination of Hamas and Hezbollah.

The story comes from Israel National News.

Trump advisor: We'll give Israel more aid than Obama

Israel need not rush to negotiate a new Memorandum of Understanding with the current administration, a senior aide to Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump told Channel 2 on Wednesday.

The Memorandum of Understanding, which sets the terms and quantity of US military aid to Israel is set to expire in 2018. President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu have conducted negotiations for months regarding a replacement agreement, yet have failed to finalize any deal.

Conflicting reports have emerged from the Obama administration, with some suggesting the White House was looking to cut aid to the Jewish state, though Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed the US was preparing “the largest single pledge of military assistance from the United States to any country in our history”.

Some reports also indicated the stalemate revolved around Obama administration demands that a higher portion of the aid be spent in the US. Currently roughly three quarters of US aid to the Israeli military must be spent on US military hardware.

While Trump suggested in March that he would expect allies like Israel to pay back aid they had received over the years “big league”, on Wednesday David Friedman, an advisor to the GOP’s likely nominee, said a Trump White House would significantly increase aid to Israel.

“Our view is that the aid package to Israel will certainly not go down, and in all likelihood it will go up in a material amount, because Israel must maintain a technological and military superiority in the region.”

Friedman also hinted that Israel would find the terms of negotiation with a Trump presidency far more favorable than with the current administration.

“I can’t give advice on how Israel should bargain and how it should develop its own strategy. But the Trump administration is not looking to cut back on foreign aid and in all likelihood will increase it significantly.”

3 dead, 6 wounded in Tel Aviv shooting attack

Prayers going out to Israel this afternoon as the Islamists of the world remind us once again of their ideology of death and destruction.

The story comes from Israel National News.

Video of Israeli Security Guard "neutralizing" one of the Islamic terrorists:

3 dead, 6 wounded in Tel Aviv shooting attack

Terrorists open fire in Tel Aviv's Sarona market, killing 3, wounding at least 6. Two terrorists neutralized.

Terrorists opened fire at the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv Wednesday evening, killing three and wounding 6.

One victim is reportedly in critical condition, while two are in serious condition, MDA has reported.

The venue of the attack, Sarona, an old Templar village incorporated into Tel Aviv, is a popular tourist destination.

MDA officials report that the shootings occurred around Kaplan, HaArba, and Carlebach streets.

Witnesses say shots were fired at two different locations within the market.

It has been reported that the terrorists were disguised as haredi Jews.

One terrorist involved in the the attack was shot by a security guard and neutralized shortly after the attack. A second terrorist was later found and captured.

Security forces at the scene are searching the area for any possible additional terrorists.

Police have closed off nearby roads and have requested the public to avoid Sarona and the surrounding area.

Victims of the attack are being evacuated to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.

Officials at Ichilov reported that 10 people wounded by gunfire were transported to the hospital, including one of the two terrorists. The wounded terrorist is in serious condition.

United Hatzalah volunteer Yechiel Miller described the scene shortly after the attack:

“When I arrived at the scene I saw a woman who was unconscious and not breathing and in critical condition. We began resuscitation efforts. We also treated numerous other individuals who suffered gunshot wounds and wounds from shrapnel."

A second United Hatzalah medic, Davidi Dahan said emergency responders were looking for additional victims who may have fled the scene of the shooting.

"When I arrived at the scene I saw two young people who were suffering from gunshot wounds outside of a restaurant at the Sarona center. We treated them as well as numerous other individuals who were suffering from shock. While we were treating them, other volunteers form the ambu-cycle unit of United Hatzalah reported that they were treating an unconscious woman behind the Sarona center and that she was in critical condition. We are currently searching for and treating other people who are suffering from shock and who have fled to nearby streets due to the incident."

Trump endorses Jewish settlement expansion in West Bank

Good for Donald Trump.  I love a guy who will take this kind of stand.  The RIGHT stand.  Screw the Muslims.  Screw the sympathizing media.  Screw the anti-Semitics of Europe. 

The story comes from The Jerusalem Post.

Trump endorses Jewish settlement expansion in West Bank

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump advocated for the continued building of settlements in the West Bank on Wednesday, The Daily Mail reported.

In an interview with the online news purveyor, Trump refuted the notion that halted expansion of Jewish settlements is a prerequisite for peace negotiations.

Contrary to the building magnate's previous indication of neutrality on the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump rejected the proposal of a halt in new construction.


He asserted that Israel must continue to move forward with building projects, a position that directly contradicts that of both the Obama administration as well as the Palestinian peace-negotiating apparatus.

"Thousands of missiles [are] being launched into Israel. Who would put up with that? Who would stand for it?" Trump said. "I'd love to negotiate peace. But I mean a lasting peace, not a peace that lasts for two weeks and they start launching missiles again."

In the past, Trump had maintained a position of neutrality on the conflict that he argued would afford him the ability to close the "deal of all deals" -- a peace deal that would culminate in a two-state solution.

Trump's new stance on settlement construction comes after former Secretary of State and Democratic Presidential contender Hillary Clinton accused him of neutrality at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual policy conference in March.

"American can't ever be neutral when it comes to Israel's security or survival," Clinton said. "Some things aren't negotiable."

Netanyahu Vows Revenge For Jerusalem Bus Bombing By Islamic Terrorists

 Photo of scene of possible bus explosion in Jerusalem, April 18, 2016 . (photo credit:MEDABRIM TIKSHORET)

The likes of Hamas and the PA will feel the effects of coordinating a bus bombing in Jerusalem, they will feel the wrath of Israel.  Netanyahu promised it today.

The story comes from The Jerusalem Post.

Netanyhau after Jerusalem bus explosion: We will settle accounts with terrorists

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed a stunned crowd of the suspected Jerusalem bus bombing during a speech he delivered in Binyamina on Monday evening marking 85 years to the founding of the Irgun.

“We will find whoever prepared and dispatched the explosives, as well as those who helped them,” he said. “We will settle accounts with those terrorists.”

Police confirmed that a bus explosion in the industrial area of Jerusalem’s Talpiot neighborhood early Monday evening that wounded 21 people, including one critically, was the result of a bomb, but still stopped short of declaring it a terrorist attack.


President Reuven Rivlin offered his prayers for those wounded in the incident. He referred to the IDF's uncovering in the morning of a tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory.

"On a day like this when in the morning, our dedicated security forces uncover a tunnel of destruction in the South and then in the evening shocked civilians are taken to the hospital at the end of a routine day, it is clear to everyone that our fight against terror will not end. We will chase and catch any person that seeks to do us harm until quiet is achieved," Rivlin said.

Head of the Joint List Ayman Odeh condemned the attack as well but he also attacked Netanyahu.

"I forcefully condemn the explosion today in Jerusalem in which many civilians were wounded. Harming civilians is unacceptable and it also harms the just Palestinian struggle to end the occupation," Odeh said.

"The Netanyahu government feeds the cycle of violence, and is fed by it. Desperation is the fertile ground for terror and only a diplomatic settlement will bring security to the two nations," he added.

UK military expert: Israel must strike Iran - on its own

The story comes from Israel National News.

UK military expert: Israel must strike Iran - on its own

Israel ought to go rogue on Iran, suggested a prominent British military expert on Tuesday, saying that the Jewish state was “an outpost of strength” that should target Iran’s nuclear program.

In an address to the Gatestone Institute on Tuesday, Colonel (ret.) Richard Kemp presented some of the most serious security challenges facing the West, praising Israel as an example of “unique morality” in a difficult geopolitical situation.

Kemp, who retired from the British military in 2006, now serves as a member of the High Level Military Group, a group of international military experts and advisers.

Praising Israel’s resolve and high ethical standards, Kemp lamented what he described as Europe’s “spiral downward to being obliterated.”

Despite much of the bad press Israel has received in the course of combating terrorism, Kemp argued that much of the criticism directed at Israel was the result of simple ignorance.

Kemp illustrated the point with his experiences at a recent Israel Apartheid Week event at New York University.

“I asked the students how many believed it was illegal to kill innocents in times of war. And I was surprised to discover their level of ignorance on that score, because all of them answered in the affirmative. In fact, it is not illegal to kill innocent civilians in times of war. It may not be nice; it may not be desirable; but it is not illegal.”

“Though killing innocent civilians is obviously something we must avoid doing as much as we possibly can, our enemies hide among the civilian population, and sometimes we must risk the lives of civilians in order to destroy the enemy. Fear of doing this means that we will always lose.”

Kemp was skeptical about the prospects of a negotiated peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

“I don’t believe there can be a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel wants to live in peace, but what the Arabs want is its annihilation.”

Among the top security threats Kemp mentioned was Iran’s nuclear program. Despite last year’s deal to freeze Iran’s nuclear program, Kemp worried over the Islamic regime’s future nuclear capacity, calling upon Israel to “initiate an offensive strike on Iran."

UN expert decries Israeli soldier’s killing of Palestinian attacker

You know, I scoured the internet for many, many hours and could not find ONE criticism of the slaughter of the Fogel family by Palestinian terrorists in 2011 from United Nations expert Christof Heyns.  Mr. Heyns is all over Israel and the recent shooting of a Palestinian but when the Fogel family home resembled a meat slaughterhouse at the hands of a Palestinian, the only UN noise was crickets.

The story comes from Al Arabiya.

UN expert decries Israeli soldier’s killing of Palestinian attacker

A UN expert on human rights on Wednesday condemned the killing by an Israeli soldier of a wounded Palestinian assailant last week as he lay on the ground, saying it appeared to be an extrajudicial execution.

Video taken by Israel’s B’Tselem human rights group last Thursday shows an infantryman firing into the head of a Palestinian as he lay on the ground in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Minutes earlier, the Palestinian had stabbed and wounded another soldier.

The soldier has been arrested, though not yet charged, by Israeli authorities. The military initially said it was a murder investigation, but on Tuesday prosecutors told a court they were looking into possible manslaughter charges.

The incident brought to a boil a debate in Israel over whether excessive force has been used against Palestinian assailants.

“The images shown carry all the signs of a clear case of an extrajudicial execution,” said Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, of the Hebron shooting. “Whatever legal regime one applies to the case, shooting someone who is no longer a threat is murder.”

On Thursday, an autopsy will be carried out on the Palestinian’s body, with a Palestinian doctor present, and the findings could be key in determining the severity of charges to be brought against the soldier.

There is still a gag order regarding the soldier’s identity.

Israel’s military chief on Wednesday sent out a letter to troops in which he said the army will support any soldier that makes a mistake in the heat of the battle, but at the same time it will hold accountable soldiers or commanders who do not adhere to the military’s moral code.

The past six months has seen the worst period of sustained violence in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Israeli interior since a Palestinian uprising ended a decade ago.

A campaign of Palestinian knife, car-ramming or gun assaults have killed 28 Israelis and two US citizens. At least 190 Palestinians, 129 of whom Israel says were assailants, have been killed by security forces and many others were shot during clashes and protests.