ISRAELI FRONTLINE

PA Terror Rocket Attack Explodes in Gaza

2013-06-19T09:37:00.002+03:00

Arutz Sheva

An early morning attack intended for southern Israel following President Shimon Peres’s birthday bash fizzled with at least one – and possibly two -- of the rockets intended to kill Jewish civilians exploding instead inside Gaza. A total of three rockets were fired overnight, security officials said.

The third rocket reportedly landed on the Israeli side of the border in an open area, but no property damage was reported, and no one was physically injured, according to Israel state radio. Read more

Terrorists Fire 3 Rockets at Ashkelon

2013-06-19T09:37:00.001+03:00

Arutz Sheva

Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza fired three rockets at southern Israel early Wednesday morning.

At least one rocket exploded in an open region of the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, causing no physical injuries or damages. Two other rockets may have exploded in Gaza.

The rocket attacks come after a period of relative quiet in the region. The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said recently that May 2013 saw a decline in the number of terror attacks carried out against Israelis by Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists. Read more

Hamas: 100,000 children to enroll in summer camps

2013-06-19T09:36:00.001+03:00

YNet News

As has become customary in recent years, this summer will see hundreds of thousands of small children in Gaza enroll in summer camps organized by terrorist groups. Social activities, religious studies and sport competitions aside, the children will engage in what is the undisputed crowning centerpiece of those camps: the semi-military training that includes use of live ammunition and simulated kidnappings of IDF soldiers. Read more

'Jewish plot' behind Turkish protests

2013-06-19T09:36:00.000+03:00

Point of no return

It was only a matter of time before Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan would blame the 'Joos' for his domestic troubles. David Harris of The American Jewish Committee has expressed his concern:

For several weeks, Turkish citizens have demonstrated against the government, which has responded with force and arrests. Erdogan has called the demonstrators "terrorists."
Read more

Preconditions have no basis in law or fact

2013-06-19T09:35:00.000+03:00

The Jerusalem Post

The recent statements by Nabil Shaath, senior member of the Palestinian Authority negotiating team, and others, promising a return to negotiations if Israel agrees to Palestinian preconditions and commits to “negotiate on the basis of the 1967 borders,” and to freeze settlement-building, constitute a typical example of Palestinian political manipulation, duplicity and sheer falsehood.

Nowhere in the history of the peace process negotiations is there any commitment to the “1967 borders.” Read more

Terra Incongnita: Rewarding IDF service is not discrimination

2013-06-19T09:34:00.000+03:00

The Jerusalem Post

A new bill that passed the Knesset’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation would allow for preferential treatment of those who complete compulsory military or national service, and is being criticized for discriminating against Arabs and haredim (ultra-Orthodox). Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On noted that those who serve “are in no need of affirmative action,” while the Mossawa Center for Arab Citizens complained that the bill was “racist and discriminatory.” Read more

Who Will Buy Israel's Military Hardware?

2013-06-19T09:33:00.000+03:00

The Daily Beast

The widespread interest is not new. Over the past decade, Israel has established itself as one of the world’s leading arms exporters with sales circling the $7 billion mark annually. This is an impressive achievement for a country just 65 years old. In 2000, exports barely reached $2.5 billion. The sharp climb started around 2005 and sales have skyrocketed since.

But the 2013 show in Paris comes at a time of increasing concern for Israel as economic and regional changes raise the stakes for maintaining what has turned into a major engine of employment and innovation for the Israeli economy. Read more

Michel Platini praises Israel as Spain take spoils once again

2013-06-19T09:32:00.000+03:00

Reuters

Israel came in for warm praise from European football's supremo Michel Platini as the Euro Under-21 football championships ended with Spain thrashing Italy 4-2 to retain the title.

"The stadiums were wonderful and well organised, the pitches excellent and the atmosphere in the stadiums was great with many families with young children attending. That is exactly the type of tournament that I like to see," Platini told a news conference. Read more

Women Plan March to Arab Town, ‘Enough Rock Terror’

2013-06-18T19:19:00.000+03:00

Arutz Sheva

Israeli women living in Samaria (Shomron) are planning a march Tuesday evening to protest rock attacks on Israeli drivers in the region.

The march will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Israeli town of Maaleh Shomron, and will head for the Palestinian Authority Arab town of Azoun, which has been the site of many rock attacks. Read more

Gaza 12-Year-Old: I Want to Capture a Soldier

2013-06-18T19:18:00.001+03:00

Arutz Sheva

As the hot weather arrives in Gaza, children head to the town of Rafah for summer camp -- not to play sports but to join war games organized by the Islamic Jihad terrorist group, the AFPnews agency reports.

Youngsters wearing military fatigues and the movement's black insignia capture a fellow camper posing as an Israeli soldier and drag him away -- all part of being trained to "resist" the enemy. Read more

Terrorist Earns Hebrew U. Doctorate, Refuses to Shake Hands

2013-06-18T19:18:00.000+03:00

Arutz Sheva

A terrorist who served two prison terms for involvement in terrorism, including a plot to carry out a suicide bombing, has been awarded his doctorate in chemistry from Hebrew University, Maariv reports.

The terrorist is an Israeli citizen and a resident of eastern Jerusalem.

During the graduation ceremony in Hebrew University’s Har Hatzofim campus he refused to shake hands with Hebrew University President Professor Menachem Ben-Sasson. His name was read aloud at the ceremony and he was applauded by the crowd. Read more

And the Winner is... Iran's Nuclear Program

2013-06-18T19:17:00.001+03:00

Gatestone Institute

The Iranians are the best strategists in the Middle East, better than those in the West, and the reason the Iranians constantly succeed in out-maneuvering the West.

In the West, we constantly look for ways not to engage in military conflict; the Iranians are more than willing to offer us those ways. We will almost assuredly give the new president Hasan Rouhani time to "consolidate" his position, thereby granting Iran even more time to develop its nuclear weapons capability. That is the meaning of this Iranian presidential "election." Read more

New Iran Prez: Our Economic Problems All Israel's Fault

2013-06-18T19:16:00.001+03:00

Arutz Sheva

Hassan Rohani, Iran's new President, is being termed a “moderate” in Western media, but it appears that his moderation stops when it comes to Israel. In his first speech as Iran's new leader, Rohani quickly launched into a diatribe against Israel, blaming the Jewish state for Iran's economic problems.

Those problems largely have their roots in the sanctions imposed by the West on Iran, the result of the previous government's refusal to allow international inspectors into some of its nuclear facilities, and its insistence at enriching uranium at a level that would allow Tehran to build nuclear weapons. Western countries several times tried to work out arrangements with Iran to allow the country to continue nuclear enrichment at a level that would be used for civilian nuclear development programs in exchange for the removal of sanctions – but Tehran refused. Read more

Who Is Hassan Rouhani?

2013-06-18T19:16:00.000+03:00

Gatestone Institute

The eleventh Iranian elections are over but were not really open and fair. No election can be fair when the candidates have been handpicked and propped up by one man: the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. The entire event, mostly a show for international consumption, was orchestrated within a police state. "I recently heard," Khamenei said, "that someone at the U.S. National Security Council said, 'We do not accept this election in Iran.' We do not give a damn."

Khamenei has often said, "Any vote that is cast for the candidates who have been picked, is a vote for the Islamic Republic. In fact all voting is a vote of trust and support for the regime." Iranians who voted were not electing a president but validating the Velayat'eh Faqih (the absolute mandate of jurists). Read more

USA Today Runs BDS Press Release as a Story

2013-06-18T19:14:00.002+03:00

Honest Reporting

On June 12, USA Today published a story concerning efforts by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to force Alicia Keys to cancel a concert in Israel.

It included some particularly nasty language such as a reference to “reports from rights organizations documenting Israel’s violation of Palestinian children rights” and the following paragraphs:

Andrew Kadi of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation who delivered the petition explained, “We assume Alicia Keys wasn’t familiar with Israel’s abuses of Palestinian human rights, when scheduling, because her performance is legitimizing a country that systematically undermines her non-profit’s mission, that ‘every person has the right to health care and that all children deserve a future.’ “

In response to Israel’s large-scale abuses of Palestinian rights, Palestinian Civil Society launched a call for a global campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel in 2005, modeled on the call by black South Africans for a boycott of apartheid South Africa that helped bring an end to the racist system. Read more

Today's Altneuland: Jerusalem's "beauty and wisdom" season

2013-06-18T19:13:00.000+03:00

The Jerusalem Post

It is symposium season in Jerusalem these days – and hero season in Israel. Every June I am overwhelmed by conferences, often balancing two per week, as academics and activists visit Israel before the summer – and summer heat – really begin. As my daily schedule fills up, I enjoy reading about the annual conferring by Israel’s universities of honorary doctorates to intellectual and activist heroes who are worthy role models to the graduating students. All this activity fulfills Theodor Herzl’s vision in his 1902 utopian novel Altneuland, Old-New Land, of a Jewish state that would be a center of enlightenment, insisting “we are duty bound to increase beauty and wisdom upon the earth until our last breath.” Herzl’s characters appreciated “the things that have made us great … liberality, tolerance, love of humanity,” announcing “Only then is Zion truly Zion.” Alas, today, pursuing wisdom and beauty, in the Jewish world and beyond, is often a bold, countercultural act. Read more

No Holds Barred: Peter Beinart’s attack on myself and Cory Booker

2013-06-18T18:49:00.003+03:00

The Jerusalem Post

Last week Peter Beinart wrote a column in The Daily Beastcalled “Cory Booker’s Rabbis,” in which he opined that my 20-year friendship with the Democratic Senate Candidate in New Jersey, and my having brought him to the Jewish community, might be pushing him toward too much of a pro-Israel posture. Beinart, whom I also know from Oxford where he was a Rhodes scholar and who I like and respect amid our considerable differences on Israel, offered up many myths about my relationship with Cory, who served as president of my student organization at Oxford University. I responded at length to his attack. Read more

Fiji Troops Replace Austria in Golan Heights UN Force

2013-06-18T09:05:00.001+03:00

Arutz Sheva

A force of 170 soldiers from Fiji will replace Austrian troops in the United Nations peacekeeping force monitoring the Golan Heights buffer zone.

The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) has been stationed on the Israel-Syrian border since the ceasefire declared following the 1973 war.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council last week to expand the force to 1,250 troops. He also recommended that equipment for UNDOF be upgraded in order to enable the force to improve its ability to protect itself. Read more

A Judeo-Christian party in Israel's Knesset?

2013-06-18T09:05:00.000+03:00

Israel Today

For years, Israel Today commentator Victor Mordechai has been working to establish a Judeo-Christian political party under the title "The Bible Bloc." He now has some competition, or rather, some assistance from Israel-loving Arab residents of the town of Nazareth.

A leading Arab Christian family from Nazareth, one of whom is a senior officer in the Israeli army, is working to create its own Judeo-Christian party, and has asked Mordechai to lead the Jewish component.

"These Arabs have come to the realization that their future is with Israel and the Jews, and not with the Muslims who are trying to push the ancient Christian community out of Nazareth," said Mordechai. Read more

Germany adopts anti-Semitism resolution

2013-06-18T09:03:00.002+03:00

Haaretz

With overwhelming support from the country’s main political parties, the German parliament has passed a resolution committing itself to renewed action against anti-Semitism.

Thursday’s resolution committed Germany to producing a report on “all the issues surrounding the theme of anti-Semitism in Germany, as a special form of group-oriented xenophobia, setting specific priorities.” The resolution also emphasized the special relationship between Germany and Israel and stressed the fact that solidarity with Israel is essential to the German state. It also condemned Israel-related anti-Semitism and terrorist organizations like Hezbollah. Read more

Barbra Streisand Slams Treatment Of Women By Ultra Orthodox Jews In Israel, Receives Hebrew University Honorary Doctorate

2013-06-18T09:03:00.001+03:00

Huffington Post

JERUSALEM — Entertainer Barbra Streisand waded into one of Israel's touchiest issues Monday on the first major stop of her tour of the country – Jewish religious practices that separate men and women.

Speaking at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Monday, where she received an honorary doctorate, she took aim at cases of ultra-Orthodox Jews targeting women, even as she warmly praised the country.

"I realize it's not easy to fully grasp the dynamics of what happens in a foreign land," she said. Read more

Israel's Make-a-Wish kids meet Shimon Peres, get Barbra Streisand as a bonus

2013-06-18T09:03:00.000+03:00

Haaretz

The kids in this room could move you to tears – and that they did for Barbra Streisand on Monday, who came to visit President Shimon Peres as a prelude to the start of his 90th birthday bash on Tuesday night.

The children and teenagers, all of them coping with life-threatening diseases, had arrived as special guests at the president’s house by way of Make-A-Wish Israel, which contacted Peres because some of the kids wanted to meet Israel’s most famous optimist. It just so happened that around the time the children were due to meet Peres, a slightly more famous songstress was due in town. Read more

Pet Shop Boys: Israel not apartheid state

2013-06-18T09:02:00.000+03:00

YNet News

As international concert season begins, calls for cultural boycott of Israel resume: British pop duo The Pet Shop Boys is facing pressure in Britain to call off its planned performance in Tel Aviv next Sunday.

Pro-Palestinian are planning to protest outside an event the band members will be participating in later this week. Read more

Israel, Christian aid group save Syrian girl's heart

2013-06-18T09:01:00.002+03:00

Israel Today

For several months now Israel has been treating Syrian civilians wounded in their country's ongoing civil war. The situation has also given Israel an opportunity to add Syrian children to the list of those from around the Middle East who are receiving life-saving heart treatment in the Jewish state.

The Times of Israel has an absolutely moving story in which a reporter spends the day with a Syrian mother, her afflicted daughter, and a staff member of Shevet Achim, an Israel-based Christian organization that arranges to bring Arab, Kurdish and Turkish children from across the region to Israel for treatment. Read more

The Rich Legacy of the Sephardic Jews of Muslim Spain

2013-06-18T09:01:00.001+03:00

United With Israel

The Sephardic Jews of Muslim Spain produced some of the world’s best intellectuals and thinkers throughout Jewish history.

After the Jewish people were exiled from Israel in 70CE, their journey took them all over the world, including Spain. The Sephardic Jews of Muslim Spain, otherwise known as Al Andalus, experienced a golden age from the second half of the eighth century until the end of the eleventh century. This golden age produced some of the greatest Jewish philosophers, writers, poets, scientists, and doctors. Additionally, during that period of time, Jews thrived in the political sphere, reaching to the heights of power in the Spanish Muslim courts during an era when Jews living under Christian rule were being systematically persecuted. The contributions to world civilization produced by the Jews of Al Andalus were so significant that they influence us to this date. Read more