Tag Archives: Israel

Defense Secretary in Israel Admits Iran Sponsors Terror Group

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter met with Israeli military leadership on a hilltop overlooking Lebanon and said that the United States will help Israel counter Hezbollah terrorists funded by Iran following the nuclear deal.

Carter said it was just “one example” of how the U.S. could support Israel after the agreement with Iran over nuclear materials.

“Hezbollah is sponsored of course by Iran, which is why the United States will continue to help Israel counter Iranian malign influence in the region,” Carter told reporters after receiving an Israeli security briefing in the area.

Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya’alon was complimentary of Carter and America’s support of Israel in the past while not being supportive of the nuclear deal.

“We greatly disagree when it comes to the agreement with Iran and fear for the future in the aftermath of its signing,” Ya’alon said. “Yet we discuss this issue in a fully open manner, alongside many other issues of great importance.”

Carter agreed that they can disagree over the deal but see common ground while making a second statement that Iran is funding terrorists.

“Friends can disagree about whether it will work,” he said, “and we will be watching Iran very closely to see. But there’s no disagreement about the ultimate objective. We cannot let Iran have nuclear weapons. And there’s no disagreement about the threats Israel sees every day from Iran’s destabilizing activities, from terrorists like Hezbollah and Hamas and [the Islamic State group.]”

Carter is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

President Reportedly Offers Israel Military Aid

In what one media outlet termed an attempt to “soften the blow of the Iran nuclear deal”, sources in the White House say President Obama has offered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an increase in U.S. military aid.

The reports say that President Obama called Netanyahu after the announcement of the Iran deal and said he wanted to hold “intensive discussions” on what more could be done by the U.S. to help bolster Israel’s defenses.  No specifics were being mentioned by the President.

A White House aide suggested in a phone call with Jewish and pro-Israel groups Netanyahu refused to discuss the possibility with the President because he did not want to be seen as blessing the nuclear deal in any way, according to the New York Times.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is scheduled to visit Israel next week in an attempt to reinforce the relationship between the two nations.  However, no negotiations on additional aid are expected to take place during the visit.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Israel would not accept any nuclear deal in a discussion with the British Parliament.

“The question you have to ask yourself is what kind of a deal would have been welcomed in Tel Aviv. The answer of course is that Israel doesn’t want any deal with Iran,” Hammond told lawmakers. “Israel wants a permanent state of standoff, and I don’t believe that’s in the interests of the region. I don’t believe it’s in our interest.”

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu almost immediately responded by saying the British F.M. had no idea what the Israeli government would accept.

“[We would accept a deal that would] compel Iran to choose between a path to the bomb and sanctions relief.   That’s the kind of deal that would be welcomed in Tel Aviv and here in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said.

“The alternative to this bad deal is not war,” Netanyahu went on to say, alluding to remarks by President Barack Obama on Wednesday. “The alternative is a better deal that would roll back Iran’s military nuclear program and tie the easing of restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program to changes in Iran’s behavior.”

Israeli President, Prime Minister Mark Anniversary of Operation Protective Edge

Israeli leaders held an official ceremony marking a year since the beginning of the 50 day war with Gaza.

Both Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid tribute to the 67 soldiers who died during Operation Protective Edge and warned that the next battle could be even more difficult and costly to the nation of Israel.

“The next conflict will be even more difficult than the last. It is clear that such a conflict will require a decisive and difficult decision,” Rivlin said. “When there is no fire towards Sderot, Nahal Oz, Nir Banim, Ashdod or Ashkelon — then there will be no fire towards the Gaza Strip.”

“We are not a people of war, but if forced to take up arms to defend our borders and our existence, we will not hesitate to do so,” the president added.

The remembrance comes as the United Nation’s Human Rights Council voted to condemn Israel for alleged war crimes during the conflict.

Netanyahu, however, appeared to be unmoved the opinion of the United Nations in his comments.

“I say to all enemies of Israel — Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the Islamic State, too — whoever tries to harm us, their blood is upon their heads,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu also spoke directly to the families of those who perished saying that each one saved lives.

“There isn’t any remedy for your pain,” Netanyahu said. “But with all that pain, you truly understand that your loved ones saved lives… for the sake of Israel.”

“Life is a flowing river that takes us forward and you will eventually know days of hope and happiness,” he continued. “There will always be pain, but your loved ones died as heroes.”

Netanyahu’s brother Yoni died during a 1976 Israeli military action.

Israeli Minister Tells Jews To “Come Home”

In the wake of three terrorist attacks timed to celebrate Ramadan, an Israeli official is giving a simple messages to Jews in France.

Come home.

“I call on the Jews of France – come home! Anti-Semitism is rising, terror is increasing,” said Immigration and Absorption Minister Ze’ev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

“We are prepared to receive with open arms the Jews of France,” Elkin wrote in a post on Facebook.

The message comes on the heels of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying they were engaged in a battle against “dark forces.”

“The brutal murders in France, Tunisia and Kuwait again underscore that the enlightened world is struggling against dark forces. The fight against the murderous terrorism of extremist Islam requires unity, the beginning of which is the unequivocal condemnation of the murderers and those who support them,” Netanyahu said in a statement released to the media.

Immigration to Israel from France is already at an all-time high.  In 2014, for the first time since Israel became a state, France topped the list of countries of permanent immigrants.  That year, 7,000 made the move.   Officials estimate that 10,000 could move by the end of 2015.

Netanyahu has called for Jews to “come home” in the past following French attacks.  At the funeral of four French Jews killed in a Paris kosher grocery store, Netanyahu said “More than ever, today.  Israel is the Jewish homeland,” and the more Jews there are here, “the stronger we will be in our homeland.”

Rocket Shot Into Israel From Gaza

A rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel on Tuesday night.

Residents scattered for shelter as alarms pierced through the quiet night.  The IDF said the sirens sounded in Zikim, Karmia, Netiv Ha’asara and Yad Mordechai.  All of those towns border the northern Gaza Strip.

Radio Israel reported the rocket landed in an open area between two towns although the IDF would not confirm that report.

The rocket attack was the latest in a string of launches at Israel over the last month due to in-fighting among groups in the Gaza Strip.  A salafi group has been fighting against the Hamas leaders in the Strip and their clashes seem to end with rockets being fired into Israel.

Israeli officials say that Hamas is responsible any time a rocket is fired into their nation from the Gaza Strip.

The attack comes on the heels of the United Nations claiming that Israel could be found liable for war crimes from last summer’s rocket attacks by Palestinian groups.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon earlier this month warned Israel would not allow the conflicts between Hamas and the salafi organization to disrupt Israeli life.

“In recent days we received another reminder about the complexity of the situation in the Gaza Strip, a hostile entity controlled by a murderous terrorist organization, Hamas, which is also challenged by terror gangs affiliated to the global jihad,” he said.

Arson Attack On Israeli Christian Church

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to capture and punish whoever is behind the arson attack on a Christian church near the See of Galilee.

“This outrageous arson attack against the church is an attack on all of us,” he said. “Freedom of worship in Israel is one of our core values and is guaranteed under the law. We will bring to justice those responsible for this crime. Hate and intolerance have no place in our society.”

The Church of Loaves and Fishes was burned around 3:30 a.m. causing extensive damage to the church both inside and out.  Hebrew graffiti was painted on the church leading officials to believe the incident was an arson attack.

“I am sure that the police force will do everything in its power to arrest those responsible, and to prevent similar attacks in the future,” Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said.  “The State of Israel safeguards the freedom of worship of all faiths and completely rejects any and all attempts to harm it.”

“I strongly condemn the attack and any types of violence against representatives of religious institutions or the institutions themselves. It is necessary to ensure that these institutions will remain protected in Israel, as well as in Germany and Europe. Incidents such as these must not be allowed to be repeated,” German Ambassador Andreas Michaelis said at the site of the attack.

The church was built in the 1980s on the site of 4th and 5th century churches.  It is the location where Jesus is believed to have performed the miracle of multiplying the loaves and fishes.

Inscription Found From King David Times

The Israeli Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of an inscription that was traced to the time of King David.

One of the researchers called it a “once in a lifetime” find.

A large clay storage jar was found at Khirbet Qeiyafa that was dated to the Iron Age between 980 and 1020 BC.  On the jar is the name os Ishba’al son of Beda according to the research published in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

“It is interesting to note that the name Ishbaʽal appears in the Bible, and now also in the archaeological record, only during the reign of King David, in the first half of the tenth century BCE. This name was not used later in the First Temple period,” Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority said in an IAA statement Tuesday.

The researchers said it was unlikely the Ishba’al mentioned on the jar was the same as the rival to King David.

Garfinkel said that just five years ago there were no known Judean inscriptions from that period.

“Minimalists would say that writing only started in Judah in the 7th century BCE,” he said. With the discovery of a second inscription at Khirbet Qeiyafa, “you can see that it existed; before this we didn’t even have any evidence that writing or literacy existed at all.”

“Researching any culture we would like to know if the people knew to read and write,” he said. “In this specific case study it’s even more important because it’s the beginning of the biblical tradition, and then it’s not just of interest to 40 archaeologists but to billions of people.”

Greg Laurie: U.S. Needs Israel More Than They Need Us

California pastor Greg Laurie told the thousands at Harvest Church and the millions around the world watching online that America needs Israel more than the other way around in a lesson on the end times.

Laurie said that Israel is at the eye of the hurricane when it comes to the great events of the end times and Jesus made it very clear that Israel is beloved of God.  He added those who bless Israel will be looked upon favorably by the Lord.

“One of the reasons God has blessed the United States is because of our support to Israel. … America needs Israel more than Israel needs America … because we need the blessing of God,” the pastor said.

 

Laurie reminded the parishioners that the Bible is the only book that clearly outlines what is going to happen in the end times.

“The Bible is the one book that dares to predict the future … with 100 percent accuracy,” he said, adding that about 30 percent of the Bible is prophecy, and that God wants us to know these prophecies. “The more we know about the next world, the better we’ll live in this one.”

Netanyahu Slams Mahmoud Abbas and Boycott Movement

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas is fostering “vilification of Jews” with his calls for boycotts of Israeli companies in the West Bank.

“Yesterday Palestinian President Abbas called for the labeling and boycotting of Israeli products. This is definitely not the language of peace,” Netanyahu said during a meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna. We will continue to resist boycotts, defamation, de-legitimization. We’ll do that internationally, we’ll do that locally if we need to, and our hand will remain stretched out for peace for any partner that wants to have peace with us.”

“I say that to the foreign minister of a free proud and independent Poland, on whose soil the defamation of the Jewish people happened when the Nazis controlled Europe,” Netanyahu said. “The attacks on the Jews were always preceded by the slander of the Jews. What was done to the Jewish people then is being done to the Jewish state now. We won’t accommodate that. In those days we could do nothing.”

The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign is designed to shut down Israeli companies in an attempt to force the Israeli government to give in to Palestinian demands.

The European Union is looking to put in place rules that would require all products from the West Bank to be labeled.

New Policy States Jerusalem-Born Americans Can’t List Israel As Birthplace

The right of U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem to list “Israel” as their country of birth on passports has been changed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court ruled on a 6-3 decision that Congress violated the Constitution when it passed a 2002 law telling the State Department any American born in Jerusalem could list Israel as their birthplace.

The new policy has been implemented in an attempt to stay neutral over any nation’s sovereignty over Jerusalem while Palestinians and Israelis negotiate its status.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority that the President has the right to recognize foreign nations and that the ability is his alone; meaning the Congress cannot assign nationality to any foreign land.

“Recognition is a matter on which the nation must speak with one voice. That voice is the president’s,” Kennedy wrote.

US Policy has held that Jerusalem’s city status should be resolved through negotiations between the parties.  Congress has for years pushed administrations of both parties to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

In his dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the Constitution “divides responsibility for foreign affairs between Congress and the president.”  He was joined in dissent by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

The ruling ends a 12 year old lawsuit brought by a Jerusalem-born American.