Image 01 Image 03
Sign In or RegisterLogout

Israel Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 11, 2017 5 Comments
On May 13, 2016, we reported on the death of Mustafa Badreddine at an airport in Syria, Another top Hezbollah commander killed – but who dunnit?
There have been a series of assinations of top Hezbollah commanders in the recent past, including Imad Mughniyeh (mastermind of almost all attacks on Israel and the U.S.), his son Imad Mughniyeh (who was killed along with several high level operatives and an Iranian general), Hassan Laqqis (key Hezbollah link to Iranian weapons procurement) and Samir Kuntar (who killed an Israeli girl by smashing her head against the rocks on a beach).

Posted by Miriam Elman on April 09, 2017 11 Comments
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a non-Jewish organization that undermines the fight against, and enables, antisemitism by legitimizing and mainstreaming the anti-Israel movement’s assault on Jewish identity. JVP presents itself as a social justice organization committed to non-violence and peace. But as we’ve documented in dozens of posts, its tactics and affiliations tell a different story. JVP masquerades as merely devoted to ending Israel’s ‘occupation’ of Judea and Samaria/the West Bank when what it really wants is to end Israel. Its leadership and activists frequently promote and partner with extremist individuals and groups that demonize the Jewish state and delegitimize Zionism, while trafficking in negative stereotypes of Jews.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 07, 2017 4 Comments
In what is being described as the largest single defense deal in Israel’s history, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has secured a defense contract worth almost $2 billion from India. Under the contract, IAI will equip the Indian Armed Forces with long and medium-range missile defense systems that have been developed through a joint Israeli-Indian partnership. IAI has been supportive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to strengthen the Indian manufacturing base, also known as ‘Make in India’ initiative. "The current contracts represent an enormous expression of confidence by the Government of India in IAI's capabilities and advanced technologies which are being developed with our local partners as part of the Indian Government's 'Make in India' policy." IAI's CEO Yossi Weiss said.

Posted by David Gerstman on March 27, 2017 12 Comments
New United Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley wowed the audience at AIPAC this evening, saying "The days of Israel-bashing are over," in a conversation with former Defense Department official Dan Senor. Haley told Senor that while she had heard that there was anti-Israel bias at the UN "you can’t comprehend how ridiculous it is.”

Posted by Miriam Elman on March 26, 2017 9 Comments
Mazen Faqha was a Hamas official responsible for organizing a 2002 suicide bombing attack in Israel. Found guilty and given a life sentence for the crime that killed nine people and injured scores more, he was among the over 1000 terrorists—many of them also with blood on their hands and serving life sentences—released in 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange to free hostage IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Faqha was deported to Gaza. From there, according to Israeli officials, he became a “key planner” in setting up Hamas terror cells in the West Bank, directing them as they organized and launched deadly terror attacks against Israelis.

Posted by David Gerstman on March 19, 2017 14 Comments
Last week the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), a group comprised entirely of Arab countries, issued a report accusing Israel of practicing apartheid against the Palestinians. Having a U.N. group make such an accusation was considered a major propaganda win for the anti-Israel movement. As discussed below, the report was authored by people with longstanding anti-Israel records. The report was so disgraceful in content and so obviously political in motive that by Friday the Secretary General of the UN had first disassociated himself from the report and then asked that it removed from the ESCWA's website. Also on Friday, Rima Khalaf, the Jordanian head of ESCWA resigned. Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., is credited by many as working to negate this anti-Israel move. This may be a sign of a new U.S. assertiveness at the U.N.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 18, 2017 9 Comments
Big Bang Star Mayim Bialik has a strong response to Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour's claims that a Zionist cannot be a feminist. Sarsour's attack on Zionist feminists took place in a column in the far-left The Nation magazine, Can You Be a Zionist Feminist? Linda Sarsour Says No. Sarsour has generated much controversy because while she claims to be a progressive, she endorses Sharia law and has viciously attacked people like Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Sarsour tweeted that Ali should not even be allowed to have a vagina; that was a particularly malicious accusation given that Ali underwent female genital mutilation as a child.

Posted by Miriam Elman on March 09, 2017 8 Comments
On Monday night (March 6), Israel’s parliament (the Knesset) passed in its second and final reading a law barring the entry of foreign nationals who have “knowingly and publicly” called for boycotting Israel or who “represent an organization” that calls for such a boycott. The law extends the ban to those foreign visitors (excluding permanent residents) who back the anti-Israel BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) movement and to those who support the boycott of settlement goods in Judea and Samaria/the West Bank. The legislation, which passed with 46 votes in favor and 28 against, was sponsored by center-right political parties and had been in the works for over a year, as discussed in detail in my prior post, Will Israel Bar Entry of Foreign BDS Activists?

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 06, 2017 5 Comments
What is being seen as a sharp departure from India's longstanding Middle East policy, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be visiting the Palestinian Authority during his historic visit to Israel, the first ever by a sitting Prime Minister of the country.  "Contrary to expectations that Modi would include Palestine in his itinerary like many ministers did in the past, he will be travelling only to Israel", the leading Indian newspaper Time of India wrote. Prime Minister Modi is expected to visit Israel in July to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic ties between the two countries. According to the Times of India, the Palestinian Authority's (PA) envoy to India was 'shocked' at Modi government's decision to skip the customary visit to the Palestinian Territories. "Mr. Modi is not visiting Palestine on this occasion. Inshallah [By Allah's will], our President [Mahmoud Abbas] will be here this year," PA-envoy Adnan Abu Alhaija told the Indian newspaper.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 06, 2017 21 Comments
The so-called "Day Without A Woman" strike scheduled for March 8 was first conceived by a group of extremists under the banner of the International Women's Strike, through a call to action posted in The Guardian newspaper, Women of America: we're going on strike. Join us so Trump will see our power:
As a first step, we propose to help build an international strike against male violence and in defense of reproductive rights on 8 March. In this, we join with feminist groups from around 30 countries who have called for such a strike.... The women’s marches of 21 January have shown that in the United States, too, a new feminist movement may be in the making. It is important not to lose momentum.

Posted by David Gerstman on March 05, 2017 4 Comments
Last week Gen. (ret.) Michael Herzog (brother of Israel's opposition leader Isaac Herzog) wrote a remarkable article (.pdf) in The American Interest. Herzog, who has been involved in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations since 1993 didn't write his article to place blame (though he does) for the failure of the 2013-2014 talks overseen by then-Secretary of State John Kerry but "it is my sincere hope that this analysis will inform a meaningful policy debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." But if you Google Herzog's name for the past week, precisely one news organization covered the article: The Times of Israel. Some blogs such as The Tower and Yaacov Lozowick have written about it too. One would think that an insider's view of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians would draw a lot of attention, but it didn't. Presumably that is because Herzog didn't blame Bibi first.

Posted by Miriam Elman on February 27, 2017 4 Comments
Breaking the Silence (BtS)—Shovrim Shtika in Hebrew—is a group of Israeli veterans who collect and disseminate ‘testimonies’ of alleged breaches of military ethics which they claim were witnessed and perpetrated by soldiers while they were serving in the West Bank and Gaza. BtS activists present themselves as patriotic Zionists who love their country. They also defend their organization as a whistleblower that works to keep the state moral by speaking out against IDF atrocities committed against Palestinians. But the reality is that BtS has long been discredited as a fringe group that acts to “fuel BDS.” The group once garnered a fair share of admirers during its formative years. Today it’s rejected by most of the Israeli mainstream public.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 23, 2017 2 Comments
CPAC 2017 has shown its support for Israel in numerous ways, but the panel on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) provided excellent points to defeat the movement. "BDS isn't about taking Israel out of business," said Lisa Daftari from Foreign Desk News. "It's about taking Israel off the map."

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 23, 2017 15 Comments
An Iranian commander with the Revolutionary Guard has threatened America with a "slap in the face" should she underestimate's the regime's military. From Reuters:
"The enemy should not be mistaken in its assessments, and it will receive a strong slap in the face if it does make such a mistake," said General Mohammad Pakpour, head of the Guards’ ground forces, quoted by the Guards' website Sepahnews.
Accessibility by WAH