Palestinians Celebrate Jerusalem Synagogue Slaughter

Tuesday, November 18, 2014 |  Ryan Jones   ISRAEL TODAY

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Palestinians

Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and elsewhere openly celebrated the massacre of Jewish worshippers at a synagogue in Jerusalem Tuesday morning.

Hamas hailed the attack as “revenge” for the death of an Arab bus driver in Jerusalem a day earlier, a death that was ultimately determined to be a suicide.

Hamas official Mushir al-Masri even managed to commission or otherwise obtain a grotesque political cartoon (left) praising the “heroic” synagogue attack, which he promptly posted on Twitter.

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Hamas’ sister organization, Islamic Jihad, said that it, too, “salutes the operation in Jerusalem which is a natural response to the crimes of the occupier.”

For his part, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement firmly condemning the murder of Jewish worshippers in their place of prayer.

But Israeli officials suggested that Abbas was shedding crocodile tears, and insisted that it was ongoing anti-Jewish incitement in Abbas’ own state-controlled media that sets the stage for such atrocities.

“This is the direct result of the incitement led by Hamas and Abu Mazen [Abbas], incitement that the international community irresponsibly ignores,” read a statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman added, “It is incumbent upon the international community to condemn Abbas’ anti-Semitic remarks, which lead to massacres such as what has taken place this morning.”

Indeed, just last week, Palestinian Authority TV, which is directly controlled by the Abbas regime, aired a documentary on the history of the Palestinian leader’s Fatah movement in which the Jews were presented as a foreign contaminate that were put in this land by European powers that had grown tired of their problematic Jewish populations.

In a related development, it was reported that the perpetrators of Tuesday’s synagogue attack were relatives of one of the 1,027 terrorists Israel released in 2011 in exchange for abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

That revelation further bolstered arguments that the “goodwill gesture” of freeing jailed terrorists does absolutely nothing to soften Palestinian views of Israel or advance the cause of peace.

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'Foreign Power' Behind Explosion at Iran Nuclear Facility

'Foreign Power' Behind Explosion at Iran 

Nuclear Facility

Friday, October 10, 2014 |  Israel Today Staff

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The explosion that apparently devastated a top secret nuclear facility in Iran earlier this week was reportedly caused by a foreign power.

Citing European diplomats, the Al-Rai newspaper in Kuwait identified Israel as being behind the blast at the Parchin military site 30 kilometers southwest of Tehran. According to the newspaper, Iran subsequently ordered Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon to plant bombs along the Israeli border as a response to the action. Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a border explosion this week.

Western intelligence agencies believe the Parchin site was used for nuclear testing and as a facility to fit nuclear warheads to Iran’s long-range missiles. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors had long been denied access to the site.

The explosion that destroyed the Parchin site was massive. Various reports reveal that windows shattered up to 15 kilometers away. Satellite photographs backed up claims that the explosion was the result of an attack, and showed almost total devastation to the facility.

Israel’s government declined to issue an official statement on the incident, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks had renewed his firm warnings that Israel would not accept a nuclear-armed Iran.

PHOTO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year warning the UN General Assembly of the dangers of a nuclear Iran.

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Netanyahu Bible Study Highlights Israel's Right to the Land

Monday, October 06, 2014 |  Israel Today Staff

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sundayhosted his sixth open Bible study at the official Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem since reestablishing the practice two years ago.

The event was attended by dozens of leading rabbis and academics, many of them members of Knesset and the current government.

One of those participating in the round-table discussion was Education Minister Shai Peron, who spoke on the topic of why the Bible begins with the story of creation, rather than jumping straight into God’s relationship with and commandments to the Nation of Israel.

Peron cited the famous 11th century Jewish sage Rashi, who taught that the Bible begins with the story of creation to demonstrate that the whole world belongs to God, and He gives this land or that to whom He will.

Netanyahu noted that there are many in the world today who do not accept Israel’s divine appointment to this particular land, and who seek to defame the Jewish people and deny their birthright.

The prime minister said that while these open Bible studies have only been held a handful of times, the Word of God is studied in his home at least once a week. Netanyahu’s younger son, Avner, won the National Bible Quiz for Youth in 2010, and, according to the prime minister, often leads their home sessions.

PHOTO: Netanyahu and Peron joyfully discuss the finer points of scripture.

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Did Netanyahu Bury the Two-State Solution?

Wednesday, October 01, 2014 |  Ryan Jones  ISRAEL TODAY

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Peace Process

Some Israeli politicians see in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stirring speech before the UN General Assembly the final nail in the coffin of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In his speech, Netanyahu made clear that the current “template” for peace has failed, and that Israel is not prepared to repeat the mistakes of the Lebanon and Gaza withdrawals in Judea and Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”).

The Israeli leader strongly urged that Western peace brokers first facilitate stronger ties between the Jewish state and its more moderate Arab neighbors as a necessary first step toward eventual rapprochement with the Palestinians.

As far as Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely was concerned, Netanyahu had effectively stated there would never be a Palestinian state on Israel’s biblical heartland.

Netanyahu’s speech “informed the world that the two-state solution is dead,” Hotovely told Arutz Sheva Radio. “He spoke about the Middle East, about Cairo and Saudi Arabia and in essence hinted at other solutions rather than dividing the country. He alluded to the concepts of confederation.”

While Netanyahu did make reference to “territorial compromise,” he very conspicuously avoided the phrases “Palestinian state” or “two states for two peoples.”

In an interview with NPR, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads Israel’s peace negotiations and supports the two-state solution, suggested that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ intransigent speech days earlier had facilitated Netanyahu’s new position and all but killed the peace process.

Last Friday when he mounted the same podium at the UN General Assembly, Abbas essentially labeled Israel as his enemy and gave virtually no hope that peace talks based on mutual goodwill would restart any time soon.

“Instead of following the path of negotiations which would have enabled the creation of a Palestinian state, Abbas is now going to spend years on his [unilateral] demand for the UN to set a date for statehood,” said Livni. “Abbas should have opted for the American framework document which would have led him to a Palestinian state.”

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said he was unsurprised by Abbas’ belligerence, insisting that the current Palestinian leader had transformed into “a more serious enemy” than his predecessor, Yasser Arafat.

“[Abbas’] ideology is stronger and [he] negates the existence of a Jewish state and the right of the Jewish people to have a state of their own,” Steinitz told a conference at Bar-Ilan University. “For [Abbas], there is no Jewish people. He is only willing to recognize the Jewish religion.”

Still, there were some holdouts for “land-for-peace,” even if it meant Israel tread that path alone.

During a panel discussion on Channel 2 News, Opposition and Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog was asked to explain exactly what he expects of Netanyahu in his (Herzog’s) repeated demands that the prime minister continue to advance the peace process.

Herzog acknowledged that all previous surrender of land had only resulted in more terrorism, but nevertheless insisted that Netanyahu announce additional withdrawals backed by “iron clad guarantees.”

He failed to elaborate, or to address the fact that the 2005 Gaza pullout was supposedly backed by “iron clad guarantees” that failed to prevent Hamas’ violent takeover or subsequent assaults on southern Israel.

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Israel Hails Netanyahu's Speech, But Was Anyone Else Listening?

Tuesday, September 30, 2014 |  Ryan Jones  ISRAEL TODAY

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before the UN General Assembly on Monday was at the forefront of the news cycle in Israel on Tuesday. From the left to the right of the political spectrum, everyone agreed Israel’s leader is a gifted orator. But the question is, was anyone else listening?

During his 34 minutes at the podium, Netanyahu waxed eloquent regarding Israel’s desire for peace, battle for security and concerns over mounting regional threats.

Addressing the recent Gaza war, Netanyahu made a strong case, supported by an incriminating photograph, that it was Hamas, and not Israel, that had spent the summer committing war crimes.

The Israeli premier stressed that, contrary to the claims spewed last week by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, he is prepared to make peace with the Jewish state’s Arab neighbors, but that it must be done on equitable terms.

Netanyahu went on to suggest what is becoming increasingly clear to most Israelis - that in today’s Middle East, it would be easier to first forge genuine peace with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab states, and then leverage those new alliances to conclude an agreement with the Palestinians.

The reason for that is linked to Netanyahu’s next point - that the sweeping scourge of radical Islam in the form of the Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS) is a threat to everyone who truly seeks to live in peace.

To illustrate that Israel knows all too well what moderate Arab states are now facing, Netanyahu drew a direct comparison between ISIS and Hamas. Both, he insisted, “are of the same poisonous tree.”

Sadly, it was Israel’s American allies that failed to accept that last, crucial point.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that while Washington had designated both ISIS and Hamas as terrorist organizations, it does not view them equally since Hamas poses no direct threat to American interests.

But the Obama Administration’s response to Netanyahu’s remarks was not the most disappointment aspect of the story. Rather, it was the half-empty hall that the prime minister wasted his measured words upon.

The fact is that the hall of the UN General Assembly was more than half empty when Netanyahu took the podium, and a great many of those nations represented already largely side with the Jewish state on critical issues.

In other words, Netanyahu was left singing to the choir.

“Netanyahu knows how to speak, and I agreed with more than a little of what he said, but the problem is that the world is no longer listening,” said Opposition and Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog.

Unfortunately, Herzog’s critique rang true, as Netanyahu’s speech garnered frighteningly little attention from an international media and community predisposed to accepting the Palestinian narrative.

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IDF Kills Terrorists Behind Murder of Jewish Teens

Tuesday, September 23, 2014 |  Israel Today Staff

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Israeli forces on Tuesday morning exchanged fire with and killed the two chief suspects in the June 12 abduction and execution of Jewish teenagers Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel (pictured).

The brief gun battle took place in the Judean town of Hebron, where Marwan Kawasme and Amer Abu Aysha had holed up in a carpentry shop near a complex owned by the Kawasme family.

Israeli soldiers surrounded the building during the predawn hours and demanded the two wanted Hamas members surrender. They were instead met by machine gun fire.

Following the disappearance of Yifrach, Shaar and Frenkel as they attempted to hitchhike home from their yeshiva near Hebron, Israel launched “Operation Brother’s Keeper” in a frantic effort to find the youths.

When the boys’ bodies were found a week later, the operation shifted to one of retribution and deterrence. In the wake of Tuesday’s successful operation, had this to say:

“On the eve of the Jewish New Year, Operation Brothers’ Keeper - which began Friday, June 13, 2014 and continued with determination since then - came to an end. We promised the Shaar, Yifrach, and Frenkel families that we would get to their children’s murderers, and we did that this morning.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added the following:

“When we found the bodies of Naftali, Gilad and Eyal I said that whoever carried out the kidnapping and murder of our teens — his blood will be on his head. This morning it was accomplished. We will continue to hit terror everywhere.”

Hamas, too, confirmed deaths of its operatives in a statement reading:

“Two members of the Izz A-Din al-Qasam brigades, Marwan Kawasme and Amer Abu Aysha were killed after a journey of sacrifice and giving. This is the path of resistance and we walk it side by side.”

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