News Archives - Page 45 of 48

Obama, in Final National Security Address, Says Critical to Sustain Diplomacy on Israeli-Palestinian Front

hzDecember 8, 2016News

JTA

President Barack Obama in his final speech on national security said diplomatic engagement is “required” to resolve Middle Eastern conflicts, including between Israel and the Palestinians.

The remarks came as top officials in the outgoing administration hope to influence President-elect Donald Trump to maintain its diplomatic initiatives, particularly regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iran nuclear deal.

“Just think about what we’ve done these last eight years without firing a shot,” Obama said Tuesday, addressing troops at an Air Force base in Tampa. “We’ve rolled back Iran’s nuclear program. That’s not just my assessment, that’s the assessment of Israeli intelligence, even though they were opposed to the deal.”

Obama said diplomacy helps keep Americans safe. “Sustained diplomatic efforts, no matter how frustrating or difficult they sometimes appear, are going to be required to resolve the conflicts roiling in the Middle East, from Yemen, to Syria, to Israel and Palestine,” he said. “And if we don’t have strong efforts there, the more you will be called upon to clean up after the failure of diplomacy.”

hzDecember 7, 2016News

JTA

The U.S. State Department said it was “profoundly concerned” about a controversial bill that would help legalize West Bank outposts built on Palestinian land.

Asked about the measure, known as the Regulation Bill, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday that the enactment of such a law is “profoundly damaging to the prospects for a two-state solution.”

“And we’ve also been troubled by comments that we’ve heard by some political figures in Israel that this would be the first step in annexing parts of the West Bank,” Toner said.

Toner added that passage of the bill “would be a dramatic advancement of the settlement enterprise, which is already, as we’ve said, greatly endangering the prospects for a two-state solution. But I also – as you note, it’s changing the reality on the ground, and we’re deeply concerned about it. We’re conveying those concerns. The legislation’s not yet passed into law. We hope that it does not become law, but we certainly hope that changes or modifications can be made to it.”

hzDecember 7, 2016December 8, 2016News

Forward

Leaders of the Skver Hasidim have an unusual message to their devoted followers: We may have backed the losing ticket for president, but it was all part of our plan.

“We gave our endorsement to [Hillary] Clinton … only after we spoke it over with the Trump campaign,” Sholom Moshe Spitzer said on a recorded message that was distributed to to Hasidic Jews in the insular community of New Square, according to a translation on the website ThinkingYid.com.

In the message, Spitzer appears to be speaking on behalf of spiritual leaders who want to bolster their authority after Trump’s win cast doubt on their ability to pick a winning candidate.

In the days before November’s election, Hasidic leaders of the Skver Hasidim, based in Rockland County, New York, urged followers to cast their votes for Clinton. Though ultra-Orthodox Jews regularly vote Republican in national elections, Clinton has long enjoyed the support of the Skver Hasidim since her time as a senator in New York. As president, Bill Clinton pardoned four men from the community who had been convicted of fraud.

hzDecember 7, 2016December 7, 2016News

Times of Israel

Israeli airstrikes hit an important Syrian regime military airport in Damascus, the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese news network Al Mayadeen claimed Wednesday.

According to the report, the planes struck the Mezzeh Military Airport, located in a suburb of Damascus, around 4 a.m..

Other Arabic media, including al Jazeera and al Arabiya, confirmed that a large explosion had occurred at the airport. Some reports say the fire was caused because a weapons depot exploded.

The Al Mayadeen report noted there had been no official confirmation from the Syrian regime that Israel was responsible, but added “it was almost certain” the explosion was due to IAF airstrikes carried out from Lebanese air space.

hzDecember 6, 2016December 7, 2016News

NY Times

To loud applause, Chancellor Angela Merkel told her party members on Tuesday that Germany should ban full-face veils “wherever legally possible” and that it would not tolerate any application of Shariah law over German justice.

hzDecember 5, 2016December 8, 2016News

Palestinian Media Watch

PA TV chose to honor Fatah during the Seventh Fatah Conference, held from Nov. 29 – Dec. 4, by broadcasting 11 times in six days a song celebrating Fatah’s terror and murder of Israelis. The Fatah movement is headed by Mahmoud Abbas, who is also chairman of the Palestinian Authority.

The Fatah song emphasizes that Fatah’s “oath” is to destroy Israel, saying “free the state from the hands of the Zionists,” and that this will be done through violence, terror and killing:

“Slice open the enemy’s chest, slice it”
“Shoot the Dashka (machine gun) and the cannon”
“The Fatah man… fires the mortar and the machine gun”
“Strike, mortar, strike!”

hzDecember 5, 2016News

NY Post

It was billed as a rally for students to demand free tuition from public institutions of higher education and lodge a cornucopia of grievances.

Instead, some giddy demonstrators devolved into a pack of rabid haters.

“Death to Jews! Death to Jews!” members of the crowd shrieked.

This didn’t happen in Germany in the 1930s, nor was it a modern-day ISIS extravaganza. The hatefest occurred last year at the Million Student March at Manhattan’s Hunter College, part of the City University of New York.

hzDecember 5, 2016News

Froward

New York state has released a blacklist of 13 foreign companies that support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement against Israel.

The list on stationary from the Office of General Services is dated Dec. 2. It was first reported by the New York Post.

Among the companies on the list are Danske Bank, FreedomCall UK and Vitens NV.

None of the businesses are American, the Post reported, citing state officials, who also told the newspaper they do not believe any state agency has financial dealings with them.

hzDecember 5, 2016News

Times of Israel

Israel’s new ambassador to Turkey on Monday handed his letter of credence to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, hailing a “new phase” in bilateral ties.

Eitan Na’eh is Israel’s first ambassador in Ankara in half a decade. Before he was greeted by Erdoğan in the Presidential Palace for a short ceremony, a military band played Israel’s national anthem, Hatikva.

hzDecember 5, 2016December 5, 2016News

Times of Israel

In a sign of growing ties between Israel and Africa, Jerusalem is hosting seven ministers and many other top officials from over a dozen Western African countries for agricultural conference in Israel this week.

The three-day conference starting Monday, entitled “Enhancing Sustainable Agricultural Productivity in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions,” is co-organized by Mashav, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, and the Economic Community of West African States, a union known as ECOWAS.

Obama, in Final National Security Address, Says Critical to Sustain Diplomacy on Israeli-Palestinian Front

State Department: Outpost Bill ‘Profoundly Damaging’ to Peace Prospects

Hasidic Leaders Who Backed Clinton Now Claim They Were With Trump All Along

Israeli Jets Said to Strike Syrian Army, Hezbollah Sites

Angela Merkel Calls for Ban on Full-Face Veils in Germany

“Slice Open the Enemy’s Chest – Slice It!” – Fatah Song on PA TV

Colleges Aren’t Just Politically Correct — They’re Anti-Semitic

New York State Blacklists 13 Foreign Companies Over BDS

After Five Frosty Years, Israeli Ambassador Returns to Turkey

African Ministers in Israel for First-Ever Agricultural Summit