ISRAELI FRONTLINE

Rioting Arabs Wounded By IDF Fire

2013-05-18T07:35:00.001+03:00

IDF soldiers opened fire at rioting Palestinian Authority Arabs on Friday, after they failed to break up a protest in which rocks had been thrown at them.

The incident took place at Jelazoun, near the Binyamin region town of Beit El. Kol Yisrael radio reported that five Arabs were wounded, while PA security officials told AFP that nine Arabs were hurt.

The officials told the news agency that the Arabs were throwing rocks at Israelis near Beit El and came under fire from soldiers sent to disperse them.

They said that six of the injured were sent home after receiving first aid at a PA-based hospital and three were kept in hospital, although none of them was in life-threatening condition. All were hit in the legs, according to AFP. Read more...

Video: Jewish Girl Gets In The Face Of "Nakba" Protesters

2013-05-18T07:35:00.000+03:00

Respect for this patriotic young woman! - Michelle

Source: Arutz Sheva

A young Jewish woman, Dovrat Malul, was driving through Yafo (Jaffa) Wednesday when she encountered a protest against Israel's establishment, on what Arabs call "Nakba Day."

Her response was to put a new song by Eyal Golan – simply called "Israel" – on her car stereo, and pump up the volume.

She uploaded the video to her Facebook page and has received numerous well-wishes by Jews who felt that she had saved the nation's pride with a small act of defiance.

"Today is Nakba Day," she wrote, "I drove through the streets of Yafo and passed Clock Square. Read more...

How 'Nakba' Proves There's No Palestinian Nation

2013-05-18T07:32:00.001+03:00

Source: Terrorism Awareness Project

Over the past few years, the term nakba (also spelled naqba) has become the favorite nonsense word of the Anti-Israel Lobby. Meaning “catastrophe” in Arabic, it has been embraced by anti-Semites all over the planet to refer to Israel’s creation, which supposedly imposed a “catastrophe” upon the “disenfranchised Palestinian Arabs.”

Of course, the real catastrophe that befell the Arabs in 1948-49 was that they failed in their attempt to annihilate Israel and exterminate its population, and for that they paid a price.

Meanwhile, Nakba Nonsense has been spreading. Google finds over 85,000 web pages referring to Israel’s creation as a “nakba,” and a Yahoo search finds even more than that. The anti-Israel web magazine Counterpunch cannot mention Israel without using the term. Even Israel’s leftist minister of education, Yuli Tamir, has ordered that the nakba be taught as part of the curriculum in Israeli schools, where Israel’s schoolchildren can be taught to mourn their own country’s existence. Read more...

VIDEO: Russia Raises Stakes In Syria

2013-05-18T07:31:00.001+03:00

Source: The Wall Street Journal
Submitted by Dan Friedman

Russia has sent a dozen or more warships to patrol waters near its naval base in Syria, a buildup that U.S. and European officials see as a newly aggressive stance meant partly to warn the West and Israel not to intervene in Syria's bloody civil war.

Russia's expanded presence in the eastern Mediterranean, which began attracting U.S. officials' notice three months ago, represents one of its largest sustained naval deployments since the Cold War. While Western officials say they don't fear an impending conflict with Russia's aged fleet, the presence adds a new source of potential danger for miscalculation in an increasingly combustible region.

"It is a show of force. It's muscle flexing," a senior U.S. defense official said of the Russian deployments. "It is about demonstrating their commitment to their interests." Read more...
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Former IDF Military Intelligence Head, Major General Amos Yadlin: Syria's Assad Al-Bashar Will Be 'Finished' If He Starts A War

2013-05-18T07:30:00.001+03:00

Source: Arutz Sheva

If Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will start a war with Israel, he will be “finished”, former Military Intelligence head, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, said on Friday.

"There is pressure on Assad to respond [to recent Israeli airstrikes in Syria], but he will be finished if he starts a war," Yadlin, who now heads the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), told Channel 10 News.

“We must not think that what worked several times will always work,” he added, referring to alleged Israeli airstrikes in Damascus targeting weapons meant for Hizbullah. “Pressure is building up on the other side to respond. We should think carefully if we are ready for an escalation which can develop.” Read more...

We Should Have Heeded The Warning Signs Of Islamist Antisemitism

2013-05-18T07:30:00.000+03:00

Source: The Jewish Press

With the rise of Islamist regimes following the Arab Awakening, we are seeing an increase in religious repression across the Middle East. That repression was predictable had we only read the tea leaves of Islamist antisemitism.

Islamism is an all-encompassing political, religious, societal, and cultural philosophy which believes that all citizens derive their rights not individually from God but from their national leader’s interpretation of Islam enacted on behalf of God. Islamists, in effect, reject the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and instead enact the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrines, among other supremacist Islamist doctrines, blasphemy and apostasy laws. Egypt’s ruling party, the Muslim Brotherhood, put this on full display during their recent public rejection of the UN Charter on Women as being “anti-Islam.” Read more...

One More Reason Why Peace Won’t Happen

2013-05-18T07:28:00.001+03:00

Source: The Commentator

Anyone who regularly follows the translations of the Palestinian media available on Palestinian Media Watch (www.palwatch.org) or www.Memri.org understands that the blithe talk about the possibility of Middle East peace that is heard on the left is utterly unrealistic. But keeping one’s finger on the pulse of a Palestinian culture that continues to foment hatred of Jews and Israel isn’t the only indicator of just how deep this animus runs in Arab culture. Just as informative is a look at the cultures of the two Arab countries that have already made peace with Israel: Egypt and Jordan. The potent anti-Semitism of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as the prejudice that runs throughout the culture of the largest Arab nation is well documented. But the situation in Jordan is less well known. Read more...

From Al Jazeera To Columbia University: Joseph Massad’s Obsession With Israel

2013-05-18T07:28:00.000+03:00

Source: The Jerusalem Post

Columbia University professor Joseph Massad has been at it for years, but for some reason, his latest op-ed for Al Jazeera finally made many people sit up and pay attention to Massad’s relentless efforts to taint Israel and Zionism with preposterous Nazi-comparisons and claims of Nazi-collaboration.

Popular columnist Jeffrey Goldberg tweeted sarcastically: “Congratulations, al Jazeera: You've just posted one of the most anti-Jewish screeds in recent memory.” Read more...

Sinai Bedouins Hint: We Were Better Off Under Israel

2013-05-18T07:27:00.001+03:00

Source: Arutz Sheva

Bedouin tribes in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula implied on Thursday that they were better off living under Israeli rule and that they have been suffering since Israel withdrew from the region as part of the peace agreement with Egypt.

The residents of the Sinai spoke to the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, after local tribesmen kidnapped seven Egyptian security personnel near the city of El-Arish.

The seven were kidnapped by an unknown group in north Sinai while en route to Cairo. Local residents said the kidnapping was "retaliation" by Bedouin tribesmen for heavy-handed security policies adopted by the Egyptian interior ministry. Read more...

Beit El: Protest Against Lack Of Security

2013-05-17T08:03:00.002+03:00

Source: Arutz Sheva

Residents of Beit El in the Binyamin region demonstrated Thursday against the continued rock terrorism against them by Arabs from the adjacent village.

Last week, a woman from the community was injured when an Arab boy stood near the perimeter fence and threw rocks into the community.

"We really don't understand where the sovereign power is," a resident said. "Enough with this disgrace. We are being discriminated against in order to please Obama." Read more...

The United Nations Says That The Golan Heights Peacekeepers Were Briefly Held By Syria Armed Group

2013-05-17T08:03:00.001+03:00

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Several U.N. military observers were briefly taken hostage by an unknown armed group in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights just three days after Syrian rebels released four U.N. peacekeepers, a U.N. official said on Thursday.

Early on Wednesday morning a group of men broke into a U.N. observation post and took three unarmed military observers, who were deployed by the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization to support the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as UNDOF, he said.

CIA Chief, John Brennan, Pays Surprise Visit To Israel

2013-05-17T08:02:00.002+03:00

Source: The Times Of Israel

CIA director John Brennan arrived in Israel Thursday evening and held consultations on the situation in Syria, amid fears that Israel could get drawn into the fighting there.

Upon landing in the country, Brennan, whose visit was not announced ahead of time, went directly to the army’s headquarters in Tel Aviv for a meeting with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Channel 10 reported. During the meeting, the two shared intelligence assessments, and Ya’alon reiterated Israel’s refusal to let advanced weapons make their way from Syria to Hezbollah, vowing to continue carrying out strikes against arms shipments. Read more...

Unmoved By Israel, Russia Will Send Top Air-Defense System To Assad Al-Bashar In Syria

2013-05-17T08:02:00.000+03:00

Source: The Times Of Israel

Undeterred by pleas and warnings from Israel, Russia made clear on Thursday that it will go ahead with its planned delivery of a highly sophisticated air-defense system to Syria’s President Bashar Assad.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in an emergency face-to-face meeting on Tuesday that Moscow’s sale of the S-300 missile defense system to Assad could push the Middle East into war. Read more...

Should Israel Be Worried About New ‘Marmara’ Probe?

2013-05-17T08:01:00.001+03:00

Source: The Jerusalem Post

International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced on Tuesday that she was opening a preliminary examination based on the Comoros Islands’ complaint against Israel regarding the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla incident.

Who? That’s right – not the Palestinians and not Turkey, but the Comoros Islands. Or at least the Turkish law firm Elmadag (it’s unclear whether it is acting independently, or secretly in conjunction with the Turkish government), filing “on behalf” of Comoros (also unclear how much of the impetus for the filing came from Comoros and how much from the law firm.) Read more...

Sabotaging John Kerry In Advance

2013-05-17T08:00:00.002+03:00

Source: Israel Hayom

Next week, yet again, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Israel. His energy and determination to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process are admirable, but it is difficult to know just how much Kerry actually believes he can succeed where his predecessors failed -- to bring the sides to the negotiating table.

What drives him and what plays in his favor, at least in his view, is that he considers his current post as the pinnacle of his public service career, and that he has no ambitions to run again for the presidency (along with his hope that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement will solidify his place in the history books). Read more...

Into The Fray: Deciphering Delegitimization

2013-05-17T07:59:00.000+03:00

Jibril Rajoub

Source: The Jerusalem Post

How is it that after all the wrenching concessions it has made, Israel is far more reviled today than during the rigid “rejectionism” of Yitzhak Shamir? I believe we have to talk to each other and to listen to each other. I think bilateral engagement... is the only way. But confidence, trust, is not existing. – Jibril Rajoub, Fatah Central Committee, at the annual conference of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv, April 23.

We the Palestinians are the enemies of Israel. There is no going back to negotiations. Listen. We as yet don’t have a nuke, but I swear that if we had a nuke, we’d have used it this very morning. – Jibril Rajoub, on the Lebanese-based TV station Al Mayadeen, April 30

I have been sitting in front of my computer screen with waves of despair and disbelief flowing over me, unable to write a sentence for hours. Read more...

Israel Threatens More Strikes In Syria Over Arms To Hezb'Allah

2013-05-17T00:19:00.002+03:00

Source: Israel Hayom

The fog of uncertainty surrounding the airstrike on the international airport in Damascus on May 3, attributed in foreign reports to Israel, is becoming somewhat clearer with the publication of up-to-date satellite photographs showing the precise targets and the damage they sustained.

A senior Israeli official, meanwhile, told The New York Times in a story published on Wednesday that if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad retaliates against Israeli attempts to stem the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah, "he would risk forfeiting his regime." Read more...

Israel ‘Will Bring Down Assad’ If He Retaliates For Future Airstrikes

2013-05-17T00:19:00.001+03:00

Source: The Times Of Israel
Submitted by Dan Friedman

Israel has warned Damascus that if President Assad chooses to hit back at Israel for any further Israeli military strikes, Israel will bring down his regime.

An Israeli official confirmed Wednesday night that a dramatic and unprecedented message to this effect had been conveyed to Damascus, Channel 2 news reported. Read more...

Despite US Objection, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan Will Travel To Gaza And PA Occupied Judea And Samaria

2013-05-17T00:18:00.000+03:00

Source: YNet News

US President Barack Obama hosted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House Thursday and noted that US and Turkey had a "shared interest in peace," stressing the two nations' desire to "normalize ties with Israel."

The US president added that he and the Turkish prime minister were to "keep working for a Syria that is free from Assad tyranny." In regards to "ending this bloody process in Syria," Erdogan noted that Turkey and the US were in "full agreement." Read more...

Scales And Yardsticks

2013-05-17T00:17:00.001+03:00

Source: The Jerusalem Post

As I listen to Iranian and Hezbollah leaders deliver their dark and dismal speeches, I often wonder: Do “bad guys” know they are bad? In our value system, terrorism is immoral and despicable. But we face enemies who seem to adhere to no moral scale or code.

Different peoples and cultures possess different scales by which they conduct various aspects of their lives. If you try to evaluate a situation with the wrong yardstick, you are bound to make mistakes.

An example of this is the Western assumption that all humans desire “peace and prosperity,” when in fact most Middle Easterners follow a very different calling. Read more...

Israel Police Ban Jews From Jerusalem Holy Site

2013-05-17T00:17:00.000+03:00

Source: Cortez Journal

Israeli police have temporarily barred Israeli Jews and tourists from entering a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem after Palestinian demonstrations.

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the ban, announced Thursday, is a precaution.

On Wednesday, violence erupted as the Palestinians held an annual day of mourning and protests over the displacement over millions of Palestinians following Israel's creation in 1948. Police say Jewish worshippers inside the Old City were attacked during the unrest. Read more...

The State Of Israel Gives Peace Now A 'Slap In The Face'

2013-05-17T00:16:00.000+03:00

Source: Arutz Sheva

The state on Thursday filed an update with the High Court that said it was considering conferring legal status on four new communities (known as “outposts”) in Judea and Samaria. The update was filed in response to a petition by Peace Now demanding the dismantling of six communities and on which the four appear.

The four communities which the state said it was considering “upgrading” to legal status were Givat Assaf, Givat Haroeh, Maale Rekhavam, and Mitzpe Lakhish. Read more...

Seaport Battle Looms As Israel Plans New Competition

2013-05-17T00:15:00.001+03:00

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Israel is betting its economic future on high-tech exports but faces a low-tech bottleneck in state-owned seaports subject to work stoppages and slowdowns because of the enormous strength of their unions.

All that may be about to change.

The government, for years unwilling to risk a confrontation that could paralyze trade given that 99 percent of exports and imports are transported by ship, last month pledged to end the monopolies of the two main ports of Ashdod and Haifa.

By introducing private piers to compete with the two ports, service would improve and prices would drop across the board, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Read more...

Israeli 'Birds' An Effective Tool In Convicting Terrorists

2013-05-16T09:01:00.000+03:00

Arab terrorists in Israeli prison

Source: Arutz Sheva

Arab terrorists who in the past served terms in Israeli prisons warned prisoners currently being held for terrorism to watch out for a group of undercover informers seeking to trip them up, who are known as “birds.” The network apparently stretches far and wide, with these "birds" tasked with wheedling out confessions that lead to convictions through a mixture of

charm, camaraderie and favors. The “birds” usually pose as terrorists themselves, the Arabs said. Read more...

Hezb'Allah To Open ‘New Front’ In The Golan Heights

2013-05-16T09:00:00.002+03:00

Source: The Times Of Israel

Iran has convinced Syria to allow Hezbollah to open a “new front” against Israel in the Golan Heights, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported Wednesday.

Tehran, seeking to prevent the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, asked Damascus if Hezbollah could set up a new military front against Israel in the Golan.