Iranian state television called it a documentary.
World leaders are calling it an Islamic extremist fantasy involving Iran attacking and destroying Israel.
A video played computerized simulations of drones and missiles attacking Tel Aviv, Haifa, the Ben Gurion Airport and the Dimona nuclear reactor. The video claims that the attacks would only happen if Iran were to be attacked by Israel or the United States.
Israel wasn’t the only target of the faux documentary. The video showed a simulated attack on the USS Abraham Lincoln, shooting down American aircraft and then attacking American bases throughout the Middle East.
The video is entitled “The Nightmare of Vultures” and features Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stating that “anybody who thinks of attacks the Islamic Republic of Iran should be prepared to receive strong slaps and iron fists from the Armed Forces.”
Israeli leaders are slamming John Kerry in the Israeli press after Kerry’s comments that appeared to lend credence to anti-Semitic boycotts by some countries and organizations.
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett lashed out after Kerry told world leaders at the Munich Security Conference that Israeli could be “delegitimized” around the world and face more boycott campaigns unless they make a peace deal with the Palestinians.
“We expect our friends around the world to stand beside us against anti-Semitic boycott efforts targeting Israel,” Bennett said. “Not for them to be their amplifier.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded a little more discretely by focusing on the issue of boycotts.
“Firstly, they only serve to make the Palestinians become more entrenched in their stance of refusal,” Netanyahu said. “Secondly, no pressure will make me abandon the State of Israel’s vital interests, of which security of the civilian population is foremost.”
The State Department has tried to roll back Kerry’s comments by saying that the Obama administration did not support boycotts.
A major archaeological find has been discovered in southern Israel.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of a Byzantine-era structure that they said likely “served as a center of Christian worship for neighboring communities.”
The discovery was made during a routine salvage operation in preparation for a new neighborhood in the area of the discovery site.
The building is about 72 feet long and 40 feet wide. It contains a central hall with two side aisles divided by marble pillars. A courtyard area features a white mosaic floor and a cistern.
Also found were five inscriptions including references to Mary and Jesus.
The IAA also recovered glass vessels, oil lamps, cooking pots and bowls. They estimate the church and items to be at least 1,500 years old.
Israeli intelligence officials scored a major success when they stopped an Al-Qaeda plot for major attacks inside Israel including an assault on the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Shin Bet internal security agency discovered the plot where the terror group recruited Palestinians to do the legwork for an attack that would be carried out by al-Qaeda operatives that they would sneak into the country.
The three Palestinian men in custody have confirmed the point man for al-Qaeda, Arib al-Sham, is still in the Gaza Strip. He is the subject of a massive manhunt. The operatives also told Shin Bet that the master plan came from al-Qaeda worldwide leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The main parts of the attack were twin homicide bombings. The first would target the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the second would hit the main Israeli convention center in Jerusalem. Additional attacks were planned against Israeli busses and Jewish homes in East Jerusalem.
Shin Bet says the discovery adds confirmation to suspicions that al-Qaeda now has a base of operations in the Gaza Strip.
An overwhelming majority of Israelis believe that the United States and the Obama Administration will do nothing to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The poll from the Times of Israel newspaper said that 64% of Israelis believe that President Obama will not stop Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon. Only 22% of voters surveyed believed that the President and America would stand up to Iran.
The poll also showed that President Obama had a 33% approval rating among Israeli voters and a 50% disproval rating. A surprising finding was that even among the 33% that approved of Obama, only 46% of those believed he had the ability to stop Iran from making a nuclear weapon.
The poll also showed that despite the poor approval rating overall, President Obama was approved by more Israeli voters than any Israeli politician except for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who had a 51% approval rating.)
The Israel Defense Force has a new weapon in the battle against missiles.
The system uses lasers to blow up short range rockets and mortars according to a defense industry official. The system is designed to deal with targets with a trajectory too small to be engaged by the Iron Dome system.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems said that Iron Beam’s laser will super-heat warheads of shells in a range of 4.5 miles from the laser’s base.
The laser system is called the “fifth layer” of missile defense for the country. The Iron Dome is being backed up with the Arrow II and Arrow III rocket interceptors along with another rocket interceptor named David’s Sling. The Arrow III and David’s Sling are still being tested by the military.
The United States has extensively underwritten the cost of the systems.
The Hamas government in Gaza held a celebration for 13,000 teenagers that have been trained to be terrorist suicide bombers.
Students from grades 10-12 were put into a one-week camp separated by gender. They were all trained in the techniques of Hamas terrorists and how to execute a successful suicide attack on Israeli forces.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Interior Minister Fathi Hammad and Education Minister Usama Mzeini all gave speeches praising the “new generation of Palestinian combatants.”
“Beware this generation,” Haniyeh said during a portion of the speech targeting Israel. “This is a generation which knows no fear. It is the generation of the missile, the tunnel and the suicide operations.”
The Hamas leaders made multiple references to a coming war with Israel.
Ariel Sharon was remembered as a great warrior who was also fiercely devoted to his family.
A state memorial service was held Monday attended by multiple foreign dignitaries. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and others attended the ceremony. The Arab world even had a representative as Egypt sent a diplomat to the ceremony.
Vice President Biden delivered a personal address about his decades-long friendship with Sharon and said his passing felt like a “death in the family.” Biden shared stories about how he learned Sharon earned his nickname “The Bulldozer” after he would bring out maps and repeatedly make the same points to hammer home his passion for his country.
He defended this land like a lion and he taught its children to swing a scythe,” Israeli President Shimon Peres said his eulogy. “He was a military legend in his lifetime and then turned his gaze to the day Israel would dwell in safety, when our children would return to our borders and peace would grace the Promised Land.”
Sharon was buried on his farm in southern Israel.
One of Israel’s strongest military and political leaders has gone home.
Ariel Sharon passed away Saturday at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. His family, including sons Omri and Gilad, were at his side when he died.
Sharon rose to prominence as a military leader in two of Israel’s biggest battles. His tactics for the IDF in both the 1967 Six Day War and 1973 Yom Kippur War are studied by students. Images of a wounded Sharon with a bandage on his head continuing to lead a battle was used as a rallying point for many IDF forces. He had received the nickname “Arik, King of Israel” for his fierceness on the battlefield.
He brought that no-compromise attitude into the political arena where he oversaw the 1982 Lebanon War as defense minister. After a seven year absence from political life, he returned in 1990 as construction and housing minister and headed a massive building effort of over 144,000 homes for the flood of Russian immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
He rose to foreign minister in 1998 and stood up against the Palestinians by walking onto the Temple Mount despite their protests.
Sharon was elected Prime Minister in 2001 and immediately Israel began to build the security barrier in the West Bank. When he discovered too much resistance inside his own political party, he left the Likud in 2005 to form his own party, Kadima. Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke in 2006 before he could stand for another term as Prime Minister, but his party went on to dominate the election under the leadership of Ehud Olmert.
His body will lie in state at the Knesset before his funeral on his Negev ranch next to his late wife Lily. Current and former world leaders are expected to come to Israel for the funeral.
A former Israeli Prime Minister who is one of the nation’s most revered generals is reported to be near death.
A spokesman for Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer said Ariel Sharon has shown a significant decline in health during recent days. The family has been called to his bedside with doctors estimating less than a week to live for the Israeli hero.
Sharon has been in a coma since a major stroke in 2006.
Sharon, called “the Bulldozer” by his political opponents, was known as a man who found a way to get things done during his time in Israeli leadership. He was Defense Minister during the nation’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon. He was elected Prime Minister in 2001 and was on the way to massive landslide re-election when he was felled by a stroke in January 2006.
His deputy, Ehud Olmert, was elected Prime Minister a few months after Sharon’s illness.
Israeli leaders have called for prayers for Sharon and his family.
