hz, Author at Netzach Yisrael

Ex-Islamist Extremist: UK’s Jewish Students ‘Bullied Under Guise of Criticism of Israel’

hzJanuary 24, 2017News

Algemeiner

Maajid Nawaz

Jews at UK universities are “bullied [and] stigmatized…under the guise that criticism of Israel is not antisemitism,” a reformed Islamist said on his popular British radio program Sunday.

Speaking on LBC talk radio, Maajid Nawaz — who now works to counter Islamic extremism through the Quilliam Foundation — slammed student activists who are supposedly pro-Palestinian for becoming “nasty” and “picking on minorities that have a history in Europe that we should be learning from,” a reference to the Jews’ long history of persecution on the continent.

hzJanuary 23, 2017Articles

Bloomberg

U.S. Embassy building in Israel

Donald Trump is already looming large over some of the most contentious issues dividing Israelis and Palestinians, emboldening some Israeli officials to take moves that threaten to reignite violence and make the prospect of reviving peace efforts ever more dim.

Two days after his inauguration, the Jerusalem municipality approved delayed plans to build hundreds of apartments in the eastern sector of the city that Palestinians claim for a future capital. Mayor Nir Barkat, echoing the relief of many Israeli officials, declared the dawn of a “new era” following eight years of “pressure from the Obama administration” to freeze settlement building it saw as hindering Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

hzJanuary 23, 2017News

Algemeiner

Barack Obama with Benjamin Netanyahu at Shimon Peres’ funeral

A former top Israeli diplomatic official revealed a never-before told story that shed further light on the fraught personal relationship between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US President Barack Obama, in an interview published Friday.

Dore Gold — who was until recently the director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry — told the Hebrew newspaper Makor Rishon that after the September funeral of the late Israeli statesman Shimon Peres, someone from Air Force One — on which Obama, then-Secretary of State John Kerry and former President Bill Clinton were aboard — called Netanyahu’s chief of staff Yoav Horowitz and told him, “Tell your boss if he wants a funeral like Peres’, he should begin to move, to go forward,” the implication being that Netanyahu should be more flexible when it comes to the peace process with the Palestinians.

hzJanuary 23, 2017News

Times of Israel

US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address

Egypt’s presidency said Monday that US President Donald Trump spoke with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who expressed hope for a “new push” in bilateral relations under Trump’s administration.

The statement said that the newly-inaugurated Trump called el-Sissi on Monday and “expressed his appreciation for the difficulties Egypt bears in its war against terrorism.”

hzJanuary 23, 2017News

JTA

President Barack Obama meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, Sept. 24, 2014

The Obama administration reportedly sent $221 million to the Palestinian Authority on the morning of Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The administration told Congress that it would send the funds hours before Trump was sworn in Friday, an anonymous State Department official and several congressional aides said, according to The Associated Press.

hzJanuary 22, 2017January 24, 2017News

YouTube

Rabbi Marvin Hier

Rabbi Marvin Hier speaks to Zev Brenner about his Inauguration Benediction. Listen to the full interview.

hzJanuary 22, 2017News

Times of Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, September 25, 2016

In his first phone conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday evening, new US President Donald Trump pledged close consultation in “addressing the threats posed by Iran,” unprecedented support for Israel’s security, and a determination to help Israel achieve peace with the Palestinians.

Trump also invited Netanyahu to the White House “in early February.”

The White House account of the call made no mention of plans by Trump to move the US embassy to Jerusalem; shortly earlier, Trump’s spokesman had said the administration was “at the beginning stages of even discussing” the controversial move.

hzJanuary 22, 2017News

Times of Israel

Construction site next to Ramat Shlomo

The Jerusalem Municipality approved the construction of 566 new homes in East Jerusalem on Sunday, in a vote that had been pushed back from December in order to avoid angering the outgoing administration of former US president Barack Obama. The Palestinians condemned the decision as an explicit violation of a recent anti-settlement resolution at the United Nations.

The homes — which are slated to be built in the neighborhoods of Ramot, Ramat Shlomo and Pisgat Ze’ev — were set to be approved for construction in December, but the measure was pulled from the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee’s agenda at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Army Radio reported at the time.

hzJanuary 22, 2017News

JTA

Donald Trump giving his inauguration speech

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated President Donald Trump on his inauguration as 45th president of the United States.

“Congratulations to my friend President Trump. I look forward to working closely with you to make the alliance between Israel and America stronger than ever,” Netanyahu posted to Facebook and Twitter shortly before Donald Trump took the oath of office, and just minutes before the start of the Jewish Sabbath in Israel.

hzJanuary 21, 2017News

Times of Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached out to the Iranian people on Saturday evening, slamming the regime that he said oppresses them and vowing that aggression by Tehran would top his list of priorities during his first contacts with US President Donald Trump.

In a clip posted on Facebook minutes after Shabbat ended, the prime minister stresses that Israel does not consider the Iranian people to be the enemy, but only the regime that rules them. While stopping short of calling on the Iranians to revolt, he described a brutal dictatorship preventing them from living the Western lives they ostensibly seek.

Ex-Islamist Extremist: UK’s Jewish Students ‘Bullied Under Guise of Criticism of Israel’

Trump Already Looms Large Over Some of the Hottest Israeli-Palestinian Issues

Ex-Israeli Official Reveals Never Before Told Story Highlighting Fraught Obama-Netanyahu Relationship

Trump Calls Egypt’s el-Sissi, Offers Support

Obama Administration Reportedly Gave $221M to Palestinians Hours Before Trump Inauguration

Rabbi Marvin Hier Speaks About His Inauguration Benediction

In Call with Netanyahu, Trump Vows to ‘Closely Consult’ on Tackling Iran Threat, Help Israel Make Peace

566 New Jewish East Jerusalem Homes Green-Lighted

Israeli Officials Congratulate Trump on Inauguration

PM Reaches Out to Iranians, Says he’ll Discuss Regime Threat with Trump