Israel 2005
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www.watchmanbiblestudy.com Last Updated: 07/25/2008 02:06

Israeli News [ 2005 | 2006 | 2007 ]

Here are some stories from or about Israel that I feel may have prophetic significance. It is for each of you to read and pray about these things. Learn more about Israel here.

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• Mossad chief: Failing urgent outside intervention, Iran will in 3-6 months have all it needs to make a nuclear bomb (December 28, 2005) - Mossad director Meir Dagan joined the list of Israeli officials sounding the alarm on the imminence of Iran’s nuclear threat. In his briefing to the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee, Dagan stressed Tehran will not be satisfied with a single nuclear weapon but plans a stockpile. This is Israel’s working assumption. This week too, pro-Israeli Washington lobbying group AIPAC warned that Bush administration’s Iran policies are dangerous, disturbing and actually helping Tehran acquire nuclear weapons. In its first open criticism of the Bush White House, AIPAC rapped its recent decision to delay the referral of Iran’s nuclear case to the UN Security Council and instead endorse Moscow’s offer to enrich uranium in Russia. This disturbing shift in administration policy, said AIPAC, “poses a danger to the US and our allies.”

• Daily Palestinian Qassam missile attacks on surrounding Israeli locations (December 28, 2005) - From 6 p.m. local time, Wednesday, Dec. 28, any person entering the buffer zone of northern Gaza will be a target. Israeli’s armed forces has formally conveyed this notice to the Palestinian Authority. It follows daily Palestinian Qassam missile attacks on surrounding Israeli locations and the failure of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas to stop the shooting. Jihad Islami Wednesday rejected his appeal to cease the missile fire. Washington justifies Israel’s response to the Palestinian attacks but regrets the decision to enforce a security zone in northern Gaza.

• IAF strikes militant base in Lebanon after rockets hit north (December 28, 2005) - The Israel Air Forces struck a Palestinian militant training base in southern Lebanon early Wednesday, hours after Katyusha rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into houses in the northern Israel town of Kiryat Shmona. Three residents of Kiryat Shmona were treated for shock in the Tuesday night Katyusha attack. One of the three houses hit was severely damaged. A dog was seriously injured. The Israeli air strike targeted a training base operated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a small, Syrian-backed group that has been waging a decades long fight against Israel. The strike was the deepest in Lebanon since June 2004. more...

• 65% of Palestinians Applaud Terror Attacks on US and Europe (December 27, 2005) - A poll carried out in the Palestinian Authority shows 65% support for Al Qaeda terror attacks on the United States and European countries - the biggest donors to the PA. The poll comes at a time when US and European funding of the Palestinian Authority is at an all-time high. With elections due to be held next month and the Hamas terror group gaining significantly in municipal elections and polls, the survey further illustrates the desire of a majority of PA Arabs to establish an Islamic state, similar to Iran. A whopping 79.9% of Palestinians would like the PA to follow Shari'a - Islamic religious law. Included in the figure are 11.3% of the respondents, who would like to see Shari'a supplemented by the laws of a PA Legislature. more...

• Netanyahu: Sharon Plans to Withdraw From 90% of W. Bank (December 27, 2005) - "The real election is between our policies and policies ... that encourage terror," Netanyahu said of Kadima. Netanyahu said this in his address to the Central Committee on Monday in its first formal meeting since his election to chairman of the party. As was widely expected, the Central Committee members voted to give Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom the number two spot on the party's Knesset list. The committee members also voted to postpone the Likud internal elections until January 12, due to changes in the party constitution that are supposed to prevent Moshe Feiglin, leader of the Jewish Movement within the Likud, from competing for a spot on the list. Netanyahu also criticized the Palestinians, saying "We gave [them] everything, down to the last crumb, and they respond by firing Qassam rockets on Ashkelon," Netanyahu said. Two Qassam rockets landed in Israeli territory on Monday afternoon and evening. He said sources in the Palestinian Authority are trying to convince Hamas to abstain from initiating terror attacks until after Israel's general elections on March 28 in order to increase the chances that Sharon will win. more...

• Full-scale terrorist attacks against Israel will resume Jan. 1 (December 26, 2005) - Unless Abbas surrenders to terms laid down by Jihad Islami, the Popular Resistance Committees and Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has refused to withdraw the 200 Palestinian security personnel posted in the northern Gaza Strip, so frustrating the Sharon government’s no-go tactic in this region and efforts to curb Qassam attacks. This Palestinian force therefore provides the Qassam missile crews with a protective umbrella against Israeli artillery, which is forced to confine its shelling to vacant land. Taking part in the Qassam offensive now are the Jihad Islami and factions of the Al Aqsa Brigades backed and paid by the Fatah old guard, led by prime minister Ahmed Qureia, which is now at war with Mahmoud Abbas. If Abbas refuses to postpone the January 25 election - in obedience to their diktat - these groups plus the PRC will re-ignite full-scale attacks on Israel. This is designed to prompt large-scale Israeli retaliation and generate a crisis that precludes voting - and so deprive Hamas of its predicted victory. Their deadline for this ultimatum is Jan. 1. Israel has thus become a hostage to the Palestinian factional war. Earlier Monday, a Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades spokesman revealed the acquisition of new missiles of 25km range, the first able to reach to points north of Ashkelon. He spoke of creating a Palestinian buffer belt on Israeli territory north of the Gaza Strip.

• Sharon orders Gaza security zone (December 26, 2005) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the army to enforce a no-go zone for Palestinians in northern Gaza to try to end rocket attacks on Israel. It is part of a series of new measures Israel says it will take to stop Palestinians firing missiles. Palestinians have launched scores of rockets at Israel since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip this summer. A Palestinian official rejected the plan, saying security forces in Gaza had been told not to leave their posts. Interior ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu-Khusah said the Palestinian Authority (PA) would "not yield to Israeli dictates and attempts to impose the zone by fire and bombardment", Palestinian radio reported. Mr. Sharon returned to work on Sunday after spending most of the week recovering from his stroke. He gave the order at a meeting with cabinet colleagues and security officials. "We must make sure that [Palestinian militants] won't act against us, this is my policy and my instructions," Israeli media quoted him as saying. The move followed talks on Thursday in which the prime minister told the army to do everything possible to stop rocket fire from the territory. more...

• Terrorists Threaten to Upgrade Missiles (December 26, 2005) - Three armed Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip on Monday threatened to continue their attacks on Israel and said they have long-range missiles capable of reaching more Israeli towns and cities. One of the groups belongs to Fatah, the ruling party headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The two others are the Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of various armed groups, and al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad. PA officials in Ramallah expressed deep concern over the threats and said Israel was responsible for the latest cycle of violence. "Israel must stop its military offensive before the situation gets out of control," a senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "Israel's decision to set up a security zone [in the northern Gaza Strip] will only complicate matters." Asked about the new long-range missiles, the official said he did not rule out the possibility that such weapons had been smuggled from Egypt in recent weeks. more...

• Ailing hearts boosted by Israeli stem cell treatment (December 22, 2005) - Ever since she gave birth two years ago, Jeanine Lewis' heart had grown increasingly weak and enlarged, due to a condition called cardiomyopathy. She was diagnosed with the condition at age 17, but childbirth significantly worsened her health. With each pump, her heart moved only about half the blood that a healthy heart should be circulating throughout her body. The 29-year-old Pennsylvania resident was on the verge of despair when she found an Internet site that described revolutionary stem cell treatments for conditions like hers, and she decided to fill out the questionnaire to see if she qualified. Two months later, she received a phone call from a representative from the company TheraVitae, who told her that the company could offer a possible solution to her problems. In May, a team of cardiac surgeons led by Dr. Kit Arom, a renowned cardiac surgeon worldwide at Bangkok's Heart Hospital, and Dr. Amit Patel of the University of Pittsburgh operated on Lewis in Thailand, and she became the first patient in the world to have stem cells that had been harvested using TheraVitae's Israeli-developed VesCell therapy implanted directly into her heart. "I'm not ready to run a marathon," she recently wrote on her website. "But I feel like I did before I was pregnant. That they could take something from your own body and use it to heal you, there's nothing more natural than that." Lewis's miraculous recovery was a result of TheraVitae's novel technology which offers treatment for heart disease with stem cells taken from the patient's own blood. more...

• Norwegian county boycott of Israel ires Jewish groups (December 22, 2005) - A Norwegian county's decision to boycott Israeli products because of its occupation of Palestinian territories has outraged Jewish groups. Soer-Trondelag became the first province in Norway to bar the purchase of Israeli goods when the provincial board voted on December 16 to impose the boycott. Torill Skaerseth, a board representative from the far-left Red Electoral Alliance, said she hopes the boycott will spread to other Norwegian provinces. "We see Israel as an occupying force that could be compared with the apartheid regime in South Africa," she told the regional newspaper Adresseavisen. "We also want to campaign for the people of Soer Trondelag to also boycott." Although the economic impact would be insignificant, the political signal angered Jewish groups. more...

• Israel Increasingly Likely to Attack Iran (December 21, 2005) - Israel is sending increasingly clear signs that it is gearing up for a major military confrontation with the soon-to-be nuclear power of Iran.
  Consider that in recent weeks:
  
  • Israeli military intelligence chief Aharon Zeevi Farkash said Israel will have to admit the failure of diplomatic efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear weapons program if Iran is not referred to the U.N. Security Council before the end of March.
  • Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz declared that Israel must get ready for actions “other than diplomatic” to solve the Iranian problem.
  • And citing Iran as an “existential threat,” Likud Party Chairman candidate Benjamin Netanyahu was even more blunt, making an attack on Iran an explicit campaign promise.
    
  These signals were amplified by a December 11 report in Britain’s Sunday Times claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has already ordered the Israeli military to prepare to attack Iran with both ground troops and air strikes at the end of March. Israel’s response to the report was coy, with its Defense Ministry declaring that there were no intentions to attack Iran “at the moment,” whatever that may mean. more...
• Iran’s Fanatical Regime Threatens London as Well as Israel (December 21, 2005) - Deep-cover Mossad agents in Iran have discovered the regime is rushing to complete the development of a giant missile. It has a range of 2,200 miles that would bring London and other European cities in range and a 1.2 ton nuclear payload that would leave any city a wasteland. The missile is an updated version of the North Korean Taepodong-1 rocket. Based on Russian technology and sold to North Korea in 2003 in a secret arms deal that MI6 uncovered last month, the rocket’s ballistic technology is among the most sophisticated in the world.
  Nuclear proliferation expert Al Venter said: “This confirms why Tony Blair issued his blunt warning of possible military action. The stakes are growing in the confrontation between Iran’s Islamic regime and the West. Britain and Europe are now in the firing line”. Last week the Mossad agents discovered that only days before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel “must be wiped off the map”, a fleet of giant flying tankers from North Korea arrived in Iran carrying liquid propellant to drive its 8 Shahab-3 missiles. The fuel came from North Korea’s state-owned Chongchengong Arms Corporation. Each rocket has a range of 800 miles, capable of hitting Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities. The Mossad agents have obtained an Iranian target-selection map that shows the prime target would be Dimona, Israel’s own nuclear arsenal in the Negev desert. It stores over 200 nuclear weapons. The target map, along with details of the sites where the long range Taepodong rocket is being rushed into operation, was passed to MI6. They will form a briefing paper by John Scarlett for Tony Blair this week. Until now the Iranian sites have remained secret. But the threat they pose to Britain and Europe is so serious that Mossad has revealed the details. more...

• Israel and Europe must nurture detente  (December 20, 2005) - Almost overnight and unnoticed, relations between the European Union and Israel have gone through a major transformation. A few weeks ago, the odds of that happening seemed remote. Centuries of persecution, expulsions, blood libel and, finally, the Holocaust are the core of the Israeli (and Jewish) attitude towards Europe. The sense of betrayal at two existential junctures - by France in the 1967 war and by Great Britain in the 1973 war - and the perception of Europe as pro-Arab have amplified Israel’s suspicion of Europe. European attitudes towards Israel are no less complex. There is recognition of a moral debt and of Israel’s achievements and its democracy, but also criticism of Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories and of the means deployed by Israel to protect itself (the security fence, combating terror and its impact on the Palestinian population). The close co-operation between Washington and Jerusalem irked the Europeans while Europe’s infatuation with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, dismayed Israel. All of these things prevented a meaningful political dialogue, let alone co-operation, on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the diplomatic language it translates into "correct" relations, meaning cold and remote. The death of Arafat, the EU positions on Lebanon and Iran, the improved EU-US dialogue on the Middle East and, above all, Israel’s acceptance of the road map for peace and its disengagement from Gaza and settlements in the West Bank, have created a new environment between Europe and Israel. The first harbinger was the European Neighborhood Policy agreement between the EU and Israel, which included a wide-ranging political dialogue on the peace process, methods of combating terror, anti-Semitism, human rights abuses and weapons of mass destruction. The Gaza disengagement and the manner in which it was implemented transformed Europe’s view of Ariel Sharon, Israel’s prime minister. It also created a new agenda enabling Europe to find for the first time a role in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict beyond just being a financial donor. In a matter of weeks, the EU has found itself engaged in three different missions - the opening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the upgrading of the Palestinian internal security forces and the facilitation of trade relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. more...

• Netanyahu sweeps to victory in Israel's Likud contest (December 20, 2005) - Former premier and arch hawk Benjamin Netanyahu swept to victory in the contest to succeed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as leader of Israel's beleaguered right-wing Likud party. His closest challenger, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, conceded defeat in a speech to activists at his campaign headquarters in Tel Aviv, pledging to help take the party to victory at the country's general election on March 28. Although official results were still to be declared, an exit poll had given Netanyahu 47 percent of the votes against 32 percent for Shalom. Ultra-nationalist candidate Moshe Feiglin won 15 percent while Agriculture Minister Israel Katz trailed in fourth place with six percent, the poll for public television showed. Candidates needed to secure more than 40 percent of the vote to avoid the contest going into a second round. "I congratulate Netanyahu on his victory and I stand ready to serve the party," Shalom told supporters after phoning the victor. Party officials put the turnout at around 40 percent of the 130,000 members who were entitled to cast ballots. The vote was held a day after Sharon, who dramatically resigned from Likud a month ago, was admitted to hospital suffering from a mild stroke, although doctors expect the 77-year-old to be released and resume his duties on Tuesday. more...

• Official Egyptian Paper Denies Holocaust (December 20, 2005) - An official Egyptian government newspaper defended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust, asserting, in a column, there was no massacres of the Jews during World War II, and the gas chambers were intended for disinfecting clothing. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, wrote columnist Hisham Abd Al-Rauf in the newspaper Al-Masaa, was not against Jews and had allowed Jews to immigrate to the Holy Land during his first years in power. The column, titled "Israel's Lies," was translated into English by the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Media Institute, or MEMRI. "The world is truly discriminative and oppressing. Israel spreads whatever lies it wants, and the so-called 'cultural' world congratulates it and views these lies as absolute indisputable facts," Al-Rauf wrote. Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust a "myth," and stepped up his rhetoric over the weekend, calling on the world's Muslims to be on guard against the Jewish state. "The Zionist regime is today a threat to the whole Middle East region and therefore Muslims should increase their vigilance against this regime," he said. more... 

• Sharon to divide Jerusalem? (December 19, 2005) - Just days after a principle adviser to Ariel Sharon told the media the Israeli prime minister will divide Jerusalem if he wins in upcoming elections, a senior minister and close Sharon ally today refused to answer whether she would support relinquishing parts of the holy city to the Palestinians. The statements follow the lauding by several senior dovish Israeli lawmakers and Palestinian leaders of Kadima, Sharon's newly formed political party, as Israel's "best chance" at creating a Palestinian state in Gaza, Judea and Samaria and the eastern sections of Jerusalem. "My parents' friends demand that I promise to say there won't be a Palestinian state and that I promise to fight and prevent its establishment, but I'm not saying it," said Justice Minister Tzipi Livni at a community gathering earlier today. Livni then refused to respond to a question posed to her by a reporter for Israel's Haaretz daily about whether she would support splitting Jerusalem to create a Palestinian state. Livni was one of the first politicians to join Sharon's Kadima party after the Israeli leader announced he is leaving the ruling Likud Party he helped found to start his own "centrist" party, prompting new elections that will be held in March. Since Sharon's move, multiple Kadima members have stated the new party is looking to change Israel's borders. more... 

• Ariel Sharon has a stroke (December 19, 2005) - Ariel Sharon undergoes further tests Monday after his admission the night before to Hadassah hospital with a stroke. He underwent a second MRI at noon. Czech PM cancels Israel visit His staff say he received his usual daily briefing after a quiet night. DEBKAfile’s political analysts: As the prime minister bids for a third four-year term at the head of a new party, Kadima, in the March 28 general election, politicians are focusing for the first time on his age, 78 next February, and state of health. This consideration will impact Monday’s Likud primary and the integrity of Kadima as a one-man show. Sharon’s aides are bending over backwards to play down the stroke as minor, release a minimum of medical data and present the prime minister as raring to go back to work. At the same time the hospital is keeping him in under scrutiny and his staff plans to set up a small provisional bureau at his bedside. Any suggestion of Sharon’s ill health drastically impacts the Kadima party he established a month ago, basically a one-man show like the government, and the general election he called for March 28. more... 

• Putin Calls Russia Defender of Islamic World (December 13, 2005) - Russia is the most reliable partner of the Islamic world and most faithful defender of its interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Chechnya’s capital Grozny. Putin unexpectedly visited the war-ravaged republic to speak in the local parliament that opened for its first sitting on Monday. “Russia has always been the most faithful, reliable and consistent defender of the interests of the Islamic world. Russia has always been the best and most reliable partner and ally. By destroying Russia, these people (terrorists) destroy one of the main pillars of the Islamic world in the struggle for rights (of Islamic states) in the international arena, the struggle for their legitimate rights,” Putin was quoted by Itar —Tass as saying, drawing applause from Chechen parliamentarians. “Those who are trying to defend these false (extremist) ideals, those who are used as cannon fodder, who plant a mine for ten dollars or shoot with automatic weapons either do not know or have forgotten this,” the president said. “Those who organize such activity certainly do this deliberately, understanding what goals they want to achieve,” Putin went on to say. The leaders of the main Islamic states understand this, he added. “For this reason their representatives were present at the general voting in the referendum on the Constitution of the Chechen Republic, they were at the presidential elections; both the Organization of Islamic Conference and the League of Arab States, our colleagues and friends were present at the elections to the parliament.” more...

• EU won't publish east Jerusalem report (December 13, 2005) - The European Union on Monday chose not to endorse or publish a draft report highly critical of Israel's activity in east Jerusalem, particularly of the security barrier and "illegal settlement" activity. Israeli officials welcomed the decision of the EU's 25 foreign ministers, who considered whether to accept the report at a meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. Israeli diplomats objected to the report, calling its language "very unpleasant" and suggesting its formal adoption could threaten relations between Israel and the EU. In his official statement on the decision on the report, UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw referred to the "changed circumstances in Israel and the Occupied Territories," adding that the EU would "continue to make strong representations to the government of Israel about the matter in the normal way." Straw, who chaired the council meeting because the UK holds the EU's rotating presidency, also said publishing the report now was inappropriate because the EU does not want "to get embroiled in domestic [Israeli] politics in the run-up to elections." Privately, EU diplomats gave the additional reason that now was not the time to cause problems with Israel, since its recent evacuation from the Gaza Strip was seen as having improved prospects for peace with the Palestinians. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev described the move not to adopt the report as "the right decision." more...

• Palestinian Authority Claims Western Wall is Moslem Property (December 12, 2005) - The Palestinian Authority’s official website, echoing the claims of its religious affairs office, also attempts to negate Jewish ownership of the Western Wall. The PA office claims Moslem ownership of the Western Wall by referring to the wall on its website as the Al-Boraq Wall. According to Moselm legend, the wall is the place where Mohammed parked his horse, named Boraq, before ascending to heaven. Moslem tradition holds that Mohammed rose to heaven from the Temple Mount, though that idea is not mentioned anywhere in the Koran, the central text of the Moslem faith. Rabbi Chaim Richman, Director of the International Department of the of the Temple Institue in Jerusalem, said that the PA’s claims of Moslem ownership of the Western Wall has “far reaching implications” for Israel. Richman said that the PA’s denial of the Jewish Temple's existence “is part of a campaign to totally eradicate, erase, and destroy all Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and the land of Israel.” more...

• The Roots of Evil in Jerusalem (November 9, 2005) - This report will shock and upset some; it is one I have put off for over 4 years. After struggling with it I have decided now is the time to write it. Knowing it could be misunderstood as anti-Semitic. God forbid that I a Jew should ever say or do anything that would be remotely considered as such, but I must admit this report does not come easy for me. The fact still remains that an evil force has been put into place in Jerusalem and has spread throughout Israel , in preparations for the end time and the seat of the anti-Christ. For if we are to believe that the anti-Christ is to have his seat on the Temple Mount , then we must come to grips with some truths not being preached today. One such truth is the foundation for such a move of the Devil must be underway even as we speak if this is to happen. Or we simply are not in the end days. This report will prove that such a move is underway and has been for quiet some time. It will be accepted by some and rejected by others, but that is the way it goes. In this report I will use many pictures showing the establishment of the Illuminati and establish proof that there has been a diabolical plot by those we refer to as the New World Order. Showing the architectural design of the New Israeli Supreme Court Building designed and paid for by the Rothchilds reflex the presence of Free Masonry and the Illuminati. I took all but one of the pictures you are about to see so I can assure that what you are seeing is real and in place.

  The same families who own and control the Federal Reserve and other major financial institutions have their eyes set on the Temple Mount , and the Holy City of Jerusalem. Just as Scriptures say, the man who will be revealed as the anti-Christ will sit in that place, before the appearance of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua HaMashiach, and many will receive him as their messiah. Just actually how that will come about remains to be seen, but one thing I am convinced of is that Holy men of God will not be the ones to rebuild the Temple , it will be the Illuminati. For God would not send men to that place to perform blood sacrifices. His Son's blood was the perfect sacrifice; there is no need to shed the blood of dumb animals any longer. Yeshua did a perfect work, and it was finished. But He will return and take control of the New Temple that I feel will be built soon. But before He will return this world will have to get in such bad shape that the anti-Christ can be accepted by most as the savior who can bring peace and order to the world. But then you know the rest of that story so lets go on.

  For those who may think this article is anti-Semitic I ask you to read an article on (Synagogue of Satan) for there are those who call themselves Jews but who are of the house of Satan. And many have found their way into the Israeli Knesset. more...

• “EUROPEANS SHOULD CREATE JEWISH STATE” (December 8, 2005) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued his anti-Israel rhetoric Thursday afternoon, denying the Holocaust and calling on Germany and Austria to create a Jewish State within their borders, Israel Radio reported. "We do not believe that Hitler killed six million Jews, but even if this is true by some chance, then why should the Palestinians pay the price for it," he asked, and suggested that the governments in Vienna and Berlin concede two or three provinces to the Zionists and settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all. "If Germany and Austria feel responsible that the Jewish people suffered at their hands during the Second World War, then all they should do is create a Zionist State in their territory," he said in a television interview in Teheran. Israeli officials condemned Ahmadinejad's comments as "outrageous and even racist." "Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the president of Iran has made outrageous and even racist remarks concerning Jews and Israel," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. more...

• ABBAS APPROVES PA ASSISTANCE TO FAMILIES OF SUICIDE BOMBERS By Jonathan D. Halevi, Daily Alert (December 8, 2005) - On December 5, the very day of a suicide bombing in Netanya, it has been reported that the chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA) gave budgetary approval to assistance for the families of suicide bombers. Each martyr's family will receive a monthly stipend of at least US $250 from the PA. The budget for families of martyrs, prisoners, and the wounded could reach $100 million a year out of an annual budget of over $1 billion.

• UN Ceremony Includes Map of ´Palestine´ in Place of Israel (December 7, 2005) - The United Nations held a "Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" last week. A large map of “Palestine,” with Israel literally wiped off the map, featured prominently in the festivities.
  
      
  ^ Map of "Palestine" from the Jordan River to the sea, with no mention of the Jewish State. 
  During the festivities, a map labeled a "map of Palestine” was displayed prominently between UN and PLO flags. The map, with “Palestine” written in Arabic atop it, does not include Israel, a member of the UN for 56 years. The map does not even demarcate the partition lines of November 29, 1947, marking a Jewish state alongside an Arab state. The partition was dictated by the UN General Assembly itself.
  
  ^ Map surrounded by the flags of the UN and PLO.
  With the map hanging behind him, Secretary-General Annan addressed the public meeting at UN Headquarters. At the start of the ceremony, the dignitaries present asked attendees to observe a moment of silence. “I invite everyone present to rise and observe a minute of silence in memory of all those who have given their lives for the cause of the Palestinian people,” the master of ceremonies said, “and the return of peace between Israel and Palestine.“ Anne Bayefsky, who reported on the event for the Eye on the UN organization, said that the ceremony's wording was aimed at giving honor to the worst of Palestinian terrorists. "It was a moment ... crafted to include the commemoration of suicide-bombers,” she wrote. In response to the event, Bayefsky and her organization have once again asked the U.S. to withhold funding from the UN.  more...  See how the Palestinian kids are taught > Relentless trailer

• Israel kills top Gaza militant after suicide attack - Israel killed a senior Gaza militant in an air strike on Wednesday and wounded 10 other people, after it vowed to avenge a suicide bombing in central Israel. The violence put a new strain on a shaky Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire and distanced further the chances of resuming peace efforts that were already largely on hold as Israel readies for a national election in March. Leaders of the Popular Resistance Committees, whose senior field commander, Mahmud el-Arqan, 29, died when two missiles fired from an Israeli aircraft struck his car in the Gaza town of Rafah, said they would avenge his slaying. "Our reaction will be painful," Abu Abir, a spokesman for the militants, said. Medics said 10 other people were wounded in the blast, among them three children younger than 10, struck by shrapnel from the vehicle in a residential area as it rounded a bend on a road crowded with pedestrians. Islamic Jihad, a separate militant organization from el-Arqan's group, had claimed responsibility for Monday's bombing of a shopping mall that killed five in the Israeli town of Netanya. Israeli military sources said el-Arqan was targeted for having collaborated with Islamic Jihad in a series of recent attacks on Israeli troops and in weapons smuggling into Gaza. In the West Bank, witnesses said Israeli forces had raided a village near the town of Jenin, where they surrounded a building in search of militants suspected of hiding inside. more...

• Israel shuts door to Gaza, West Bank (December 7, 2005) - Israel clamped an open-ended closure on the West Bank and Gaza yesterday, banning virtually all Palestinians from Israel, and arrested at least 15 militants in a first response to a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis outside a shopping mall. Israeli officials also said the army would target Islamic Jihad operatives in the West Bank, both through arrest raids and assassinations, and renew air strikes in the Gaza Strip in response to any Palestinian rocket attacks. "We decided to operate in a much broader, much deeper and more intensive manner against the Islamic Jihad infrastructure, and I hope that we will be able to prevent such attacks in the future," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told Army Radio after a late-night meeting of security officials. The army said the 15 arrests took place throughout the West Bank, with eight Islamic Jihad members rounded up in Tulkarem, near the village of Monday's bomber. The attack, in the coastal city of Netanya, was the fifth since Israel and the Palestinians forged a ceasefire in February. Islamic Jihad has claimed all of them, saying its attacks are in response to Israeli violations of the truce. The closure, which the army said would remain in effect indefinitely, prevented thousands of Palestinian merchants and laborers from reaching jobs in Israel. Gaza's main cargo crossing, however, remained open.  more...

• Iran Warns Israel After Netanyahu Attack Threat (December 7, 2005) - Iran on Monday warned Israel of "heavy consequences" if its nuclear installations were attacked by the Jewish state, after a former Israeli premier suggested Israel should take an aggressive stance toward Iran. "The Islamic republic is a tough target and there would be heavy consequences," said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. He was speaking after former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel needed to "act in the spirit" of the late premier Menachem Begin, who ordered an air strike on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981. "I view the development of the Iranian nuclear (programme) as a paramount threat and as a real danger to the future of the state of Israel," Netanyahu told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper. "Israel needs to do everything to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear threat against it," said Netanyahu. But Larijani said Iran, which maintains its nuclear programme is peaceful, was not afraid of an attack. "Comparing Iran and Iraq is an error, because Iran is not an easy target. You should not pay attention to such rude comments by Israeli officials," he told a news conference. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi also said Iran's response to such an attack would be "devastating and unbearable". more...

• PA PARTY CAMPAIGN SLOGAN: "DESTROY THE ZIONIST ENTERPRISE" (December 6, 2005) - The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a veteran component of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), will be running in January’s Palestinian Authority election under the banner, “Destroy the Zionist Enterprise.” At the head of the PFLP’s list for the PA parliament is Ahmed Sa’adat, the organization’s chairman, who ordered the assassination of Israeli minister Rehavam Ze’evi in October 2003. Another prominent figure on the list is Mohammed Alrimawi, who led the hit men who shot Ze’evi. Sa’adat and Alrimawi are supposed to be serving time in a Jericho prison for that assassination. The PA agreed to imprison the two men under pressure from the United States and Great Britain. The terrorist group’s platform for the PA elections was composed by George Habash, who founded the Marxist-Leninist organization in 1968. Although the group’s ideology has become anachronistic in an era when most Arab terror groups base their terror on Islamic jihad, or holy war, the PFLP, which has strong ties to the ruling clique in Syria, remains a significant force in the PLO. more...

• U.S. Army report: Israel can't stop Iran nukes (December 6, 2005) - Geopolitical limitations render Israel's air force militarily incapable of halting Iran's nuclear weapons program according to a new report published the by U.S. Army War College. The report asserts Israel lacks the military capability to locate and destroy Iranian nuclear assets. The report said the Israel Air Force cannot operate at such long distances from its bases. "The Israeli Air Force has formidable capabilities and enjoys unchallenged supremacy vis-à-vis the other Middle East air powers, but Israel has no aircraft carriers and it cannot use airbases in other Middle East states," the report entitled "Getting Ready for a Nuclear-Ready Iran," said. "Therefore its operational capabilities are reduced when the targets are located far from its territory."
  [On Sunday, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz warned that diplomatic pressure would not stop Iran's nuclear weapons program, Middle East Newsline reported. Halutz was one of three senior Israeli officials who warned that Iran would soon be able to turn into a nuclear power.] In an article authored by Shlomo Brom, former head of air force strategic planning, the report said Israel's deep-strike air capability was based on the F-15I and F-16C/D aircraft. At a range of more than 600 kilometers, Brom said, Israel could not sustain an air campaign. Iran is about 1,000 kilometers from Israel. "It is possible to determine that at long ranges — more then 600 kilometers — the IAF is capable of a few surgical strikes, but it is not capable of a sustained air campaign against a full array of targets," the report said. An Israeli air attack on Iran must also include such support aircraft as air refueling, electronic countermeasures, support, communication, and rescue, the report said. The mission would also require precision intelligence. Brom said Israel's intelligence and military community was divided over the Iranian threat. He said military intelligence regards Iran as determined to destroy Israel. The Mossad and National Security Council see Teheran as preoccupied with national defense and regime survival. more...

• Netanyahu Backs Pre-Emptive Strike on Iran (December 6, 2005) - Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in remarks published Monday that he would support a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear program. Netanyahu's comments, made in the heat of a campaign for leadership of the hardline Likud Party, drew criticism from rivals, who accused him of playing politics with the country's security. Iranian leaders brushed off the threat, warning that an attack "will have a lot of consequences." Israeli leaders have long identified Iran as the nation's biggest threat. Israel accuses Tehran of supporting Palestinian militant groups and rejects Iran's claim that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said in October that Israel must be "wiped off the map." Iran's announcement Monday that it plans to build a second nuclear power plant along with a deadly suicide bombing the same day by the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad group in the central town of Netanya is likely to heighten Israel's concerns. more...

• ROCKET ATTACKS CONTINUE DESPITE ISRAELI WARNINGS (December 5, 2005) - Palestinians fired two rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Sunday December 4, in the hours following a series of strikes by Israeli jets on targets in Gaza. Israel says six more were fired early Monday, December 5. The latest Palestinian attacks came fewer than 24 hours after Israel’s Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz issued a stern warning that rocket launches from Gaza will not be tolerated by Israel. The latest Palestinian strikes were the first missiles to land on the Israeli agricultural village Shuva. Palestinian rockets targeted Israeli civilians on December 2–3.

• Pope, Abbas Discuss Mideast Peace Process (December 5, 2005) - Pope Benedict XVI discussed the Middle East peace process Saturday with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who invited the pontiff to visit the Holy Land. ``You will be very welcome in Jerusalem and all the holy places,'' Abbas, speaking English, told the pope after their private 20-minute meeting in Benedict's library. ``Thank you very much,'' the pope replied. Abbas later told journalists that Benedict ``responded positively'' to his invitation but indicated no date for a visit. Last month, Israeli President Moshe Katsav invited Benedict to Israel and said he hoped the pope would visit next year. During their meeting, Benedict and Abbas talked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the pope stressing ``the need to integrate all components of the Palestinian people into the peace process,'' Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a written statement. The statement did not elaborate but appeared to be a reference to extremist elements blamed for violence and terrorism. Violence marred primary elections across the Palestinian territories earlier this week. Briefing journalists at a Rome hotel, Abbas said the pope with ``his symbolic weight ... can carry out a decisive role for peace.'' One of the members in the Palestinian delegation presented the pope with a document that Abbas later said was fashioned by Bethlehem's inhabitants ``to express the ties of friendship and spirituality that link the Vatican and the people of Bethlehem, dear to Christians as Jesus' birthplace.'' When Pope John Paul II received Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1982, the first of many meetings between the two men, it sparked protests in Israel and in the worldwide Jewish community. John Paul consistently championed rights for the Palestinian people while at the same time greatly improving the Vatican's relations with Israel. more...

• Netanyahu hints could consider Iran nuclear strike (December 5, 2005) - Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that he could consider a pre-emptive air strike against Iran's nuclear installations if he were to be re-elected. Netanyahu, who is widely expected to regain the leadership of the right-wing Likud party later this month, said Israel needed to "act in the spirit" of the late premier Menachem Begin who ordered an air strike on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981. "I view the development of the Iranian nuclear (programme) as a paramount threat and as a real danger to the future of the state of Israel," Netanyahu told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper. "Israel needs to do everything to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear threat against it." "We need to act in the spirit of Menachem Begin, who defied the entire world and with a bold step prevented Iraq from arming itself with nuclear weapons." Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Netanyahu's arch rival said last week that Israel would never allow its arch-enemy Iran to come into possession of nuclear weapons. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad caused an international backlash in October when he called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map". The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in September found Iran in non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, paving the way for the matter to be referred to the UN Security Council if Iran does not halt nuclear fuel work and cooperate fully with an IAEA investigation. Iran has insisted that its nuclear programme is merely designed to meet domestic energy needs.

• El Baradei: Iran only months away from a bomb (December 5, 2005) - IAEA chairman Muhammad ElBaradei on Monday confirmed Israel's assessment that Iran is only a few months away from creating an atomic bomb. If Teheran indeed resumed its uranium enrichment in other plants, as threatened, it will take it only "a few months" to produce a nuclear bomb, El-Baradei told The Independent. On the other hand, he warned, any attempt to resolve the crisis by non-diplomatic means would "open a Pandora's box. There would be efforts to isolate Iran; Iran would retaliate; and at the end of the day you have to go back to the negotiating table to find the solution."

• Israel Voices Worry Over Iran-Russia Missile Deal (December 4, 2005) - Israel on Sunday lambasted Russia over the sale of anti-missile systems to arch-enemy Iran, the latest round of what the local press has dubbed the "Iranian-Israeli arms race", AFP said. Iran, already under intense international pressure over its nuclear activities, has reportedly bought 29 mobile air defence systems from Moscow in a deal worth more than $700 mln. "When a country sells arms to Iran, it strengthens the military strength of the state and serves only the interests of the most negative elements in the region," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Marc Regev told AFP. The contract with Russia, which is already helping Tehran build a nuclear reactor in Bushehr, coincided with an Israeli announcement it had successfully testfired an Arrow defence missile against a mock Shahab missile. Tehran's rapid progress on its ballistic missile programme is a major cause for concern in the international community. Israel's own fears were heightened in October when Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Jewish state must be "wiped off the map". more...

• Russia Justifies $1 Billion Worth Weapon Deal with Iran (December 4, 2005) - Russia’s weapons sales to Iran are purely for defensive purposes, a government spokesman said Saturday, in response to reports that Russia was selling $1 billion worth of weapons to Iran, AP reported Saturday. The news reports said Russian was selling Iran advanced missiles and other systems, but the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mikhail Kamynin, did not comment on specifics, saying in a statement only that they were “exclusively defensive weapons.” Kamynin said the sales fully complied with nonproliferation commitments and Russian law. The statement appeared timed to head off the heated reaction expected from the United States after Russian media reported Friday that officials had signed contracts in November that would send up to 30 Tor-M1 missile systems to Iran over the next two years. The Interfax news agency said the Tor-M1 system could identify up to 48 targets and fire at two targets simultaneously at a height of up to 20,000 feet. A high-ranking Iranian official downplayed the deal, telling the official Islamic Republic News Agency on Saturday that Iran buys arms from many countries and would not stop. “Iran’s and Russia’s military cooperation is not a complicated issue,” said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. “It existed before, and there was no ban on it.” Moscow is already at odds with the West over its nuclear ties with Tehran but has sought to use its warm relations with Iran to be recognized as a key mediator between the West and the Islamic Republic, Reuters added.

• Israeli Aircraft Fire on Gaza Rocket Lab (December 4, 2005) - Israeli aircraft fired missiles at an abandoned building and a rocket launching ground in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday in the first aerial attack on Gaza in more than a month, the military said. Palestinian security officials said missiles also struck a charity belong to the Islamic Jihad militant group. A bystander was slightly wounded by flying shrapnel, they said. The Israeli military said it targeted a building used for terror operations and open fields where homemade rockets had been launched in recent days. No one was injured, it said. Palestinians said the building was an abandoned metal workshop. Israel targets workshops it suspects are used to produce producing weapons. After a lull of several weeks, Palestinians began firing homemade rockets at southern Israel from Gaza again last week. Israel responded initially with artillery fire. The air strike Sunday was the first since Oct. 27, the military said. Some Palestinian officials say the attacks on Israel, which have caused no injuries, have been renewed in an effort to show force ahead of Jan. 25 Palestinian parliamentary elections.

• Amazing discovery in heart of biblical Jerusalem (December 4, 2005) - In what many archaeologists hail as the potential find of the century, remains of a massive structure dating to the time of King David have been discovered in the heart of biblical Jerusalem. Eilat Mazar, the Israeli archaeologist leading the excavation, has suggested that it may, in fact, be the palace built by David as described in the Bible. The discovery has shaken the already contentious field of biblical archaeology to its roots: For the last few years, a number of respected archaeologists n most prominently Israel Finkelstein, chairman of Tel Aviv University's archaeology department and author of the 2001 best-seller The Bible Unearthed have argued that the biblical accounts of Jerusalem as the seat of a great and united monarchy under the rule of David and Solomon are false. If Mazar's hypothesis proves right, it would go a long way toward proving Finkelstein and the others wrong. Her findings will also doubtlessly affect the broader political battle over Jerusalem that is, the question of whether the Jewish people has its origins in the city and thus has a special hold over it, or whether the concept of a Jewish origin in Jerusalem is nothing but a myth. With such a potentially powerful find, there will naturally be no shortage of skeptics, whether for reasons of politics or scholarship. Yet there are many good reasons to identify Mazar's find, at least provisionally, as the palace described in the Book of Samuel. These reasons deserve to be heard. more...

• GAZA BECOMES THORN IN ISRAEL'S SIDE (December 2, 2005) - Israelis were promised that withdrawing from Gaza would result in being able to drop the area as a major security concern. But expected Palestinian Authority action against terror has not been forthcoming, the international community has not afforded Israel any meaningful understanding for its right to respond to and deter attacks on its citizens, and Gaza has instead become a thorn in Israel side. So said Brig.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, commander of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Gaza Division, in a message to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, explaining that the number of terrorist incidents emanating from Gaza since Israel left the area “is enormous.” The army has reported 75 incidents of small arms fire from Gaza, 130 Kassam rocket and mortar shell attacks, and at least 18 bombs planted along the border fence–the smallest one weighing some 40 kilograms (88 lbs.)–since Israel's “disengagement” from the coastal strip, according to Ynet. “This isn't the border we intended” when Israel decided to relinquish Gaza under the directives of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Kochavi said. Many security experts, including Likud party leadership candidate Binyamin Netanyahu, are warning this is just the beginning, and that Gaza is likely to become the gateway for an unprecedented wave of Islamic terrorism against Israel's Jews. Meanwhile, Senior Likud Knesset (Parliament) Member Yuval Steinitz issued a blistering attack against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz December 1 for reneging on their commitment to protect Israel from any post-Gaza withdrawal violence by unleashing a most severe military response at the first sign of Palestinian aggression. Instead, the IDF has been reduced to lobbing a few shells into open fields in retaliation for recent terrorist artillery attacks. “I am sure the Gazans are laughing at us more than they are scared by our shooting at them,” Steinitz, who chairs the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told Arutz 7. more...

• Militants let back in Gaza, Israel threatens sanctions (December 2, 2005) - Palestinians have allowed up to 15 militants wanted by Israel to return to the Gaza Strip in recent days, officials said Friday, in what Israel said was a violation of U.S.-brokered deal for securing the border. The dispute over the entry of the Hamas militants — including one of the group's founders — through the Rafah terminal on the Gaza-Egypt border threatened to undermine the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. Palestinian security officials acknowledged that wanted men entered Gaza through Rafah, but said anyone with a Palestinian identity card can come into the coastal strip. They said Israel was making demands that are not part of the crossing accord. Israel closed the Rafah passage — Gaza's main gateway to the outside world — shortly before withdrawing from the strip in early September. The crossing reopened last week after months of wrangling between Israel and the Palestinians over security procedures. Israel was afraid militants or arms would flow into Gaza through Rafah, but agreed to let the border reopen after the Palestinians accepted the presence of European monitors and installed security cameras to let Israel monitor the crossing live. Israeli officials said Friday, however, that the Palestinians are allowing militants into Gaza and that they are now helpless to prevent the wanted men from entering. Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said between 10 and 15 wanted militants have entered Gaza from neighboring Egypt in recent days. "We know this, but we have no ability to stop them because we are relying on the people there — the Europeans and Egyptians," he said. more...

• Sharon: Iranian nukes unacceptable (December 2, 2005) - Israel "can't accept a situation where Iran has nuclear arms" and "is making all the necessary preparations to handle a situation like this," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday. Iran's enemies have "the capability" to use military force to disrupt Iran's bid for nuclear arms, he said at the annual Editor's Committee gathering in Tel Aviv, adding that "before exercising it, every attempt should be made to pressure Iran into stopping its activity." Sharon stressed that "Israel doesn't lead the struggle" to keep Iran nuclear-free, and he hoped the UN Security Council would neutralize "this great danger." Sharon's comments raised Israel's rhetoric against Iran and came on the heels of assessments by IDF brass that, after March, diplomatic efforts to curtail Iran's nuclear program will be pointless. "Israel is not without hope and is taking all necessary measures, as it should," he said. Changing tack, Sharon referred to international pressure on Syria as critical, saying he was not inclined to discuss a return of the Golan Heights or anything else that might "make things easier for the Syrians." There are "no contacts" between Israel and Syria now, he said. Sharon alluded to diplomatic pressure on Israel when he said Israel had no plans to build an eastern fence in the Jordan Valley, which he termed "within Israel's security zone." more...

• Israel Military Intel Chief: Must Act Against Iran by March The Media Line (December 1, 2005) - The head of Israel’s military intelligence has told a parliamentary committee that if by March 2006 the international community has not reached an agreement with Iran that will end its nuclear program, diplomacy will be “pointless.” Although Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze’evi-Farkash did not articulate the obvious, members of the Knesset (Parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, who heard his presentation, believed he was advocating a military option as early as April. Ze’evi-Farkash also revealed that the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization was planning to unleash a massive barrage of rockets against civilian targets in the north of Israel. He said the torrent of rockets was to have followed an Israeli response to last week’s cross-border incursion that was aimed at kidnapping Israeli soldiers and apparently provoking a substantial Israeli retaliation as well.