Posts

Rockets Land in Israel, Egypt’s ISIS Affiliate Claims Responsibility

/1 Comment/in , /by

Militants in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula fired rockets into southern Israel on Friday in an incident that caused no casualties but appeared to be linked to fighting between Islamist insurgents and Egyptian security forces.

Islamic State’s Egypt affiliate, Sinai Province, said in a statement posted on Twitter by supporters that it had launched three Grad rockets toward “occupied Palestine”. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the statement.

An Israeli military source earlier said the rockets had been fired from Sinai, which borders Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal.

Israeli police said they had so far found remnants of two rockets in an open area. No damage or casualties were reported.

It was possible the launch was linked to the fighting in Sinai, the military source said, where militants of the Sinai Province group launched their biggest assault in years against Egyptian security forces on Wednesday. (Read more from “Rockets Land in Israel, Egypt’s IS Affiliate Claims Responsibility” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Mother of Israeli-Arab Zionist on Master Chef Has This to Say About Her Religion

/1 Comment/in , /by

The mother of Israeli-Arab Israel supporter Muhammad Zoabi expressed pride in being a Zionist as she appeared as a contestant on the latest season of the popular cooking show MasterChef Israel.

Sarah Zoabi introduced herself to viewers as an “Arab, Muslim, Israeli, proud Zionist” from the northern city of Nazareth. When one of the show’s judges asked her to elaborate on her nationality and beliefs, she said, “I believe in the right of the Jewish people to have their own country, which is the state of Israel, the holy land.

“I’m sure that the people who hear me will say: ‘what, have you lost your mind? How can you say you are a Zionist?’ I want to say to all the Arab [citizens] of Israel to wake up,” she continued. “We live in paradise. Compared to other countries, to Arab countries – we live in paradise.”

The contestant also elaborated on her loyalty to Israel, saying she doesn’t have “another state” or “another flag” with which she identifies. She added, “With all due respect to [the Arab] nation, this doesn’t imply treason. I never harmed anyone.”

Praising the Jewish state, she said there is no other country where she could receive the same freedoms as in Israel. She asserted that 100 percent of Israeli Arabs would prefer living in Israel over Palestinian rule, if given the choice. (Read more from “Mother of Israeli-Arab Zionist on Master Chef Has This to Say About Her Religion” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Israel Decidedly Unhappy With Vatican-Palestine Treaty

/5 Comments/in , /by

Pope Francis has decided to make the Catholic Church’s feelings about Palestine official.

On Friday, the Vatican signed a comprehensive treaty with Palestinian authorities, formalizing a basic agreement between the Catholic Church and the PLO back in 2000. In essence, it is a formal declaration of the Holy See’s support for the creation of a Palestinian state and the peace process with Israel. “[I]t is my hope that the present agreement may, in some way, be a stimulus to bringing a definitive end to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which continues to cause suffering for both Parties,” wrote Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

The agreement follows on the Vatican’s decision in May to change the status of its diplomatic relationship with Ramallah, and officially forgo the recognition of the PLO to make way for the State of Palestine. The Catholic Church has referred to a Palestinian state since at least 2012, but the new agreement solidifies the Holy See’s support.

For the Vatican, the decision represents another unabashed and controversial move into the foreign policy arena. It follows efforts to broker Washington’s watershed decision to re-establish relations with Cuba late last year, and the recent release of Pope Francis’ landmark environment-focused encyclical. But it is also a matter of looking after Catholics everywhere. The new agreement specifically notes that it is also meant to deal with “the life and activity of the Church in Palestine.” It also mentions that “Catholics do not seek any privilege other than continued cooperation with their fellow-citizens for the good of society.” As Reuters reported, some 100,000 Catholics live in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and most of them identify as Palestinians. For the Church, assertively backing the Palestinian cause and the cause of peace, then, is about protecting its own.

The news is not going over well in Tel Aviv. “This hasty step damages the prospects for advancing a peace agreement, and harms the international effort to convince the Palestinian Authority to return to direct negotiations with Israel,” said Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon. (Read more from “Israel Decidedly Unhappy With Vatican-Palestine Treaty” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Israel Conducts Air Strike Over the Border in Lebanon to Destroy This

/1 Comment/in , /by

Israel launched an airstrike strike in Lebanon in order to destroy its own drone which had crashed, according to reports . . .

An unnamed security source told the AFP news agency that the strike was launched to destroy one of Israel’s drones “that crashed in the mountains outside Saghbine”.

However, the photos of the reported drone published by Lebanese media show Cyrillic script on a piece of the wreckage, “indicating that the drone may have been manufactured either in Russia or Eastern Europe”.

“I think the whole issue is not about Israel at all”, said Tal Inbar, Head of Space and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles at the Fisher Brothers Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies in Israel.

“Look at the pictures of Israeli-made UAVs”, he said, implying that the photos disseminated in the Lebanese media did not appear to resemble Israeli-made UAVs. (Read more from “Israel Conducts Air Strike Over the Border in Lebanon to Destroy This” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Anti-Israel Obama Staffers ‘Cheered’ Private Scolding of Israeli Ambassador

/3 Comments/in , /by

Obama administration staffers listened in on and “cheered” the private scolding of a former Israeli ambassador by senior a State Department official, according to new disclosures by that ambassador, Michael Oren.

The incident took place in 2010, when the Obama administration stoked tensions with Israel over its decision to continue building homes in Jerusalem neighborhoods, according to Oren, who recounts the episode in his new memoir, Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide.

At the time, the Obama administration was upset Israel had announced the construction of 1,600 new homes for Jewish people in neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. The announcement coincided with a trip to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden. . .

Oren recounted that when he landed back in Washington, D.C., following the trip, he landed “to learn that [then] Secretary of State Clinton has excoriated Netanyahu for 45 minutes over the phone, rebuking him for humiliating the president and undermining America’s ability to deal with pressing Middle East issues.”

[It was Oren’s turn next:] “There, waiting in his not-nice American mode, was Deputy Secretary Jim Steinberg, who proceeded to read me the text of Hillary’s conversation with Netanyahu,” Oren writes. “This contained a list of demands, including a total building freeze in East Jerusalem as well as the West Bank, most of which would be unacceptable to any Israeli prime minister” . . . Steinberg went on to lecture Oren in a “furious” manner. (Read more from “Obama Admin ‘Cheered’ Private Scolding of Israeli Ambassador” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Residents Near Gaza Border Say They Hear “Continual” Underground Tunnel-Digging

/1 Comment/in , /by

Local government officials in towns near the Gaza border reported on Sunday receiving complaints from residents who say they hear digging underground.

“We have relayed these complaints to security officials who are looking into it,” one source told The Jerusalem Post’s Hebrew-language sister publication Ma’ariv. “According to the complaints, the digging hasn’t stopped for a moment.”

The complaints come less than a day after Israeli warplanes launched reprisal raids against targets in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Islamists in Gaza fired a rocket into Israeli territory earlier on Saturday. Earlier last week, at least two rockets were fired at Gaza frontier towns . . .

“We knew this would repeat itself, this trickle of missiles,” said Eran Zomer, a 27-year-old resident of the moshav of Amioz. “Very simply, the IDF didn’t do the job the last time.”

“I’ve also heard of many residents in the area complaining about hearing digging, so we weren’t surprised that a senior Hamas official said their people continue to prepare offensive tunnels,” he said. “I hope that next time [the army] will properly deal with the tunnels in a timely fashion instead of waiting until 14 terrorists pop out from underground.” (Read more from “Residents Near Gaza Border Say They Hear Underground Tunnel-Digging” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

US Billionaire Political Foes Unite to Fight Israel Boycotts

/2 Comments/in , /by

One donated more than $100 million to the Republicans, the other has been the Clintons’ biggest backer. Now billionaires Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban, split on U.S. politics, have united to fight boycott threats against Israel.

Adelson and Saban hosted a conference of pro-Israel business executives and activists over the weekend in Las Vegas, to begin an initiative aimed at countering the growing threat of international sanctions against Israel.

“That he’s a Democrat and I’m a Republican has really very little to do with it,” said Las Vegas Sands Corp. founder Adelson, who holds the 25th slot on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, in a joint interview with Saban on Israel’s Channel 2 on Saturday. While you can “rest assured” the two men will not be supporting the same person in the 2016 presidential election, Saban said, “when it comes to Israel, we are absolutely on the same page.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has identified the global trend to boycott, divest and sanction Israel over its policy toward the Palestinians, known as the BDS movement, as a major threat.

The boycott issue gained new prominence after Stephane Richard, chief executive officer of Orange SA, said on Wednesday that the Paris-based telecom company would end its licensing deal with Israel’s Partner Communications Co. “tomorrow” if he wasn’t concerned about legal repercussions. Richard later apologized for his comments, made in response to a question over a threatened boycott of Orange’s Egyptian subsidy, Mobinil, and said they weren’t motivated by political concerns. (Read more from “US Billionaire Political Foes Unite to Fight Israel Boycotts” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Qatar Buying Votes to Suspend Israel From FIFA, Says Diplomats; FIFA Execs Indicted

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Eliezer Sherman. Qatar could be buying votes to suspend Israel from FIFA, Israeli diplomatic sources said on Thursday.

“We suspect that Qatar, about whom claims are circulating that it paid in order to host the 2022 World Cup, is now paying countries to vote in favor of the Palestinians,” diplomatic sources told Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

Israeli diplomats have been working globally behind the scenes to ensure that a vote at the FIFA congress on Friday to suspend Israel from the world soccer federation, spearheaded by the Palestinian Football Association, does not pass.

Although FIFA was racked this week by an explosive corruption scandal instigated by the U.S. indictment of nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives over financial conspiracies, Friday’s congress and the vote to suspend the Israeli Soccer Association were set to move forward. (Read more from “Qatar Might Be Buying Votes to Suspend Israel From FIFA, Israeli Diplomats Say” HERE)
________________________________________________

FIFA Execs Indicted

By Christopher Ingraham. In the end, it only took a $150 million scandal to make Americans care about soccer.

FIFA, the notoriously corrupt and yet seemingly invincible governing body of world soccer, has finally landed itself an indictment that some would say is worthy of its reputation. The charges against a handful of senior FIFA officials include money laundering, racketeering, bribery and fraud. In short, the federal lawsuit alleges what millions of soccer fans have suspected all along: that FIFA officials have been using the organization’s massive influence to line their pocketbooks.

On the surface, it’s just another white collar crime story: rich, powerful men making themselves richer and more powerful. But a closer look suggests that there is a lot of real-world suffering happening as a direct result of FIFA’s decisions.

For the most obvious example of this, look to Qatar. The decision to award the 2022 World Cup to the rich Gulf state with a terrible human rights record was a controversial one right out of the gate. There have been extensive allegations of bribery: why else, some figured, award the Cup to a tiny country with sweltering summer heat and no soccer culture to speak of?

Human rights advocates’ worst fears about Qatar seemed to be confirmed as Qatar began building the infrastructure to host the Cup, and reports of migrant worker deaths started to pile up. The numbers, to the extent that we know them, appear startling: A Guardian investigation last year revealed that Nepalese migrant workers were dying at a rate of one every two days. In sum, the Guardian put the total Qatar death toll of workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh at 964 in 2012 and 2013. (Read more from this story HERE)
________________________________________________

Corrupt FIFA Donated Tens of Thousands of Dollars to Clinton Foundation, and that’s Not the Only Tie

By Jackie Kucinich. Both Bill Clinton and his family’s charity have been tied to soccer’s governing body, as well as Qatar’s disastrous World Cup bid.

And just like that, another Clinton Foundation donor is in the news.

The Clinton global charity has received between $50,000 and $100,000 from soccer’s governing body and has partnered with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association on several occasions, according to donor listings on the foundation’s website.

Several top FIFA executives were arrested Wednesday in Zurich and face corruption charges stretching back two decades, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Involvement with the embattled body extends beyond the foundation to Bill Clinton himself. The former president was an honorary chairman of the bid committee put together to promote the United States as a possible host nation for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. (Read more from this story HERE).

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Anti-Israel Protests Reverse Course, Starting to Fail in the US

/5 Comments/in , /by

images (3)By David Daoud. The anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement suffered two resounding blows this week, in college campuses across the U.S.

Bowdoin College in Maine defeated on Wednesday a student-wide referendum, sponsored by the institution’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which called for a complete academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

The referendum, in which 1,619 students (85% of Bowdoin’s student body) voted on the issue, ran from May 2 until May 6, and was defeated with a vote of 228 in favor (14% of the student body), 1,444 opposed (71% ) and 247 abstaining (15%).

The referendum was held after the anti-Israel group managed to get 20% of the student body to sign a petition calling for a boycott of Israel. (Read more from “Anti-Israel Protests Failing in the US” HERE)

_____________________________________________________

Celebrated Singer Dionne Warwick Says Roger Waters’ Political Views on Israel ‘of No Concern’

By Eliezer Sherman. Legendary American singer Dionne Warwick said on Wednesday that her decision to perform in Israel this month would not be swayed by the “hard pressures” of prominent anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions activists in the music industry.

A statement released by the singer and U.N. global ambassador said Warwick “would never fall victim to the hard pressures of Roger Waters, from Pink Floyd, or other political people who have their views on politics in Israel.”

“Waters’ political views are of no concern,” the statement read.

Unlike singer-songwriter Lauryn Hill, who decided to cancel her Tel Aviv show just a few days before her performance this week, Warwick said that if she had “had an objection to performing in Israel, no offer would have been entertained and no contract would have been signed.”

“Art has no boundaries. Ms. Warwick will always honor her contracts,” the statement read. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Clinton Angles for the Pro-Israel Vote, Declares Need to Bring US-Israel Ties Back to ‘Constructive’ Footing

/3 Comments/in , /by

clBy Lazar Berman. As the relationship between US President Barack Obama and Prime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu becomes even more frayed, prospective Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appeared to emphasize that her approach to Israel would be different than that of the current administration.

In a telephone conversation Sunday with Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Clinton said that “we need to all work together to return the special US-Israel relationship to constructive footing, to get back to basic shared concerns and interests.”

“We must ensure that Israel never becomes a partisan issue,” she added.

Clinton also called for “a two-state solution pursued through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Hoenlein initiated the conversation, according to the Conference of Presidents. (Read more from “Clinton: Bring US-Israel Ties Back to ‘Constructive’ Footing” HERE)

______________________________________________________________

Obama-Netanyahu Feud a Problem for Hillary and Dems

By Fredric U. Dicker. A top GOP strategist and pollster for newly re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that New York Democrats, including Hillary Rodham Clinton, “will pay a heavy price” at the polls next year if they don’t break with President Obama’s policies on Israel and reject any deal he makes with Iran.

“Hillary Clinton, [Sen.] Chuck Schumer, [Reps.] Nita Lowey, Steve Israel, Jerry Nadler, Eliot Engel and others are about to get a whole new wave of pressure from Republicans on whether they agree or not with Obama on Israel,’’ New York-based national GOP pollster and strategist John McLaughlin told The Post.

“You’re going to have Republicans running for president, the Senate, for Congress next year supporting Israel and pledging to abrogate any deal Obama makes with Iran and challenging the Democrats to do the same,’’ said McLaughlin, who runs McLaughlin and Associates with his brother.

McLaughlin, who was with Netanyahu at the Israeli leader’s Jerusalem home the night of his victory earlier this month, said the GOP push would be especially powerful in heavily Jewish voting areas in the city, Westchester and Long Island.

“A lot of New York Democrats are going to have to decide if they back Israel, our strongest ally in the world, or a White House that has made a mess of the Middle East and threatens to do to Israel what they’ve just done to Yemen,’’ contended McLaughlin. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.