Dep. Defense Min. Hints at Israeli Strike on Iran
MK Danny Danon writes in Politico, refers to previous cases in which Israel struck nuclear sites against the US's will.-By Gil Ronen-First Publish: 1/19/2014, 8:58 PM-Israelnationalnews
Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon-Flash 90
“Over the next few months, the negotiations with the Iranians and the Palestinians will reach the crucial stages when difficult decisions will need to be made by all those involved,” Danon explains. “It is safe to assume that areas of contention will arise between us and our American allies. I am confident that both sides will work hard to ensure that whatever differences we may have on specific policy questions, we will not let these distractions impede upon our unwavering alliance.”Against the context of the prior allusions to the attacks on nuclear sites in Iraq and Syria, this appears to be a rather broad hint that Israel may, in the next few months, embark on a similar attack on Iran's nuclear sites. The choice of Politico as the venue for the article may be a way of ensuring that the message reaches all US lawmakers, who will not be able to say afterward that they had not been forewarned of Israel's intentions regarding the Iranian nuclear program.The US and other world powers have been negotiating with Iran over its nuclear weapons program, in an attempt to stop the program by diplomacy and avert war. Israel has strenuously opposed the concessions that the powers recently made in the negotiations, and warned that Iran was being deceitful and would not give up its nuclear weapons program unless it was forced to, either by military force or by crippling sanctions. US lawmakers are poised to pass a bill slapping new sanctions on Iran, but President Barack Obama is adamantly opposed to the initiative. Danon's article appears to be a message to the lawmakers, saying in effect: "If you don't slap more sanctions on Iran, Israel may have to strike on its own."
Obama: Less than 50% chance of Israeli-Palestinian peace
US president tells The New Yorker that Iran, Syria deals also are likely to fail, but that all three issues are interconnected
January 20, 2014, 1:27 am
1-The times of Israel
Chances are that the current
round of talks between Israelis and Palestinians will end without a
final agreement, said President Barack Obama.He made his remarks in an interview with The New Yorker’s David Remnick, which was published online on Sunday.“‘Obama told me that in all three of his main
initiatives in the region—with Iran, with Israel and the Palestinians,
with Syria—the odds of completing final treaties are less than
fifty-fifty,” wrote Remnick.“‘On the other hand,’ he said, ‘in all three
circumstances we may be able to push the boulder partway up the hill and
maybe stabilize it so it doesn’t roll back on us. And all three are
connected. I do believe that the region is going through rapid change
and inexorable change. Some of it is demographics; some of it is
technology; some of it is economics. And the old order, the old
equilibrium, is no longer tenable. The question then becomes, What’s
next?’”Obama also said, while discussing Iran, that
“members of Congress are very attentive to what Israel says on its
security issues.”
The president promised to veto any Iran sanctions bill that reached his desk.Obama expressed no regrets over his decision to back down from a strike on Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria.“I am haunted
by what’s happened,” said the president. “I am not haunted by my
decision not to engage in another Middle Eastern war. It is very
difficult to imagine a scenario in which our involvement in Syria would
have led to a better outcome, short of us being willing to undertake an
effort in size and scope similar to what we did in Iraq. And when I hear
people suggesting that somehow if we had just financed and armed the
opposition earlier, that somehow Assad would be gone by now and we’d
have a peaceful transition, it’s magical thinking.”
Obama also emphasized that the interests of Israel and the Sunni Arab states are “very closely aligned.”
“What’s preventing them from entering into
even an informal alliance with at least normalized diplomatic relations
is not that their interests are profoundly in conflict but the
Palestinian issue,” he explained, “as well as a long history of
anti-Semitism that’s developed over the course of decades there, and
anti-Arab sentiment that’s increased inside of Israel based on seeing
buses being blown up. If you can start unwinding some of that, that
creates a new equilibrium. And so I think each individual piece of the
puzzle is meant to paint a picture in which conflicts and competition
still exist in the region but that it is contained, it is expressed in
ways that don’t exact such an enormous toll on the countries involved,
and that allow us to work with functioning states to prevent extremists
from emerging there.”
Israel begins returning bodies of Palestinian terrorists
36 bodies to be handed over, following a High Court order; Israeli official says move unrelated to peace talks
January 19, 2014, 11:53 pm
1-The times of Israel
Israel on Sunday night began to
transfer the bodies of 36 Palestinian terrorists killed in the past
decade to the Palestinian Authority for burial by their families, the
military said.The
initiative is the result of an appeal by the families of those killed
to the High Court of Justice, in collaboration with Israeli
organizations. The High Court ruled in favor of returning the bodies
over the course of several weeks, and took DNA samples from family
members to identify the remains and ensure the bodies were transferred
to the right families.The Israel Defense Forces began the operation
by transferring the body of Majdi Khanafer, a resident of a village
south of Jenin who was killed in 2002, in a gunfire exchange with the
IDF, as he was on his way to perpetrate an attack.An additional two bodies will be returned on
Tuesday, Palestinians said. They belong to Fathi Jihad Ameera, killed in
2002, and Ata Ibrahim Samhan Samahna, killed in 2004, according to the
Palestinian Ma’an news agency.The bodies were buried in Israeli cemeteries
in designated plots for enemy casualties, and will be reburied according
to Muslim tradition.Last year, the remains of 91 Palestinians were
released to the Palestinian Authority. The transfer of the bodies, in
an operation titled “Crossing Jordan,” went ahead despite petitions by
families of terror victims to the High Court.However, while that move was meant to serve as
a confidence-building gesture, a senior Israeli official told Maariv on
Sunday that the current move is unrelated to peace talks and is wholly a
legal order.Among the 91 bodies discharged last year were
the remains of a suicide bomber who killed seven Israelis at Cafe Hillel
in Jerusalem; a terrorist who blew up the Jerusalem No. 2 bus, killing
18 people; and two suicide bombers who killed 16 Israelis in Beersheba.
The bodies of seven Fatah terrorists who took
over the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv in 1975 and were killed in a Sayeret
Matkal rescue operation were also returned last year.Times of Israel staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Netanyahu welcomes PM of ‘non-hypocritical’ Canada
Stephen Harper praised upon arrival for his support of Israel and for standing up against anti-Semitism
January 19, 2014, 9:08 pm
9-The times of Israel
Thanking Ottawa for not joining
much of the world in hypocrisy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
welcomed Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper to Israel Sunday.Harper,
accompanied by his wife Laureen and a substantial delegation of leaders
from the Canadian government, including several senior ministers,
arrived in Israel on Sunday night for his first official visit since
taking office in 2006.“This world is often cynical and hypocritical,
and you have shown great moral leadership,” Netanyahu said. “When it
comes to fighting terrorism, you know that there cannot be any
politically correct double talk, but only unequivocal condemnation and
united international action.”Canada under Harper has been seen as one of
Israel’s staunchest allies, backing the Jewish state at the United
Nations and working to isolate Iran.“I have to say, Stephen, that you are a great
friend of Israel and the Jewish people. I’m not just saying that – I
mean it deeply from the bottom of my heart and I speak for all the
people of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “When it comes to anti-Semitism, you
have stood up unabashedly at the side of Israel and the entire Jewish
people, I think at the side of decency and fairness to everyone: Jews
and non-Jews alike. And when it comes to Iran’s repeated calls for
Israel’s annihilation and its unrelenting development of nuclear weapons
– you and Canada have stood unflinchingly on the right side of
history.”The statement by Netanyahu echoed comments to foreign journalists last week in which he lashed out at Europe for hypocrisy in criticizing Israel while letting Palestinian incitement go unchecked.Harper is scheduled to be in Israel for four
days, during which time he will meet with Netanyahu and President Shimon
Peres to discuss possibilities for increasing trade and strengthening
relations between the two countries. The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian
peace process, the Iranian nuclear threat and instability in Syria are
also on the agenda.On Sunday, a press release issued by his office
called for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to negotiate
with the “Jewish State of Israel,” seemingly backing Jerusalem’s demand
that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state.“When it comes to peace, you recognize that a
genuine peace, a lasting peace, must be based on mutual recognition and
sound security arrangements on the ground,” Netanyahu said. “You have
shown courage, clarity and conviction. And in standing up for the truth,
your voice, Stephen, has been an indispensable one. So the people of
Israel and I deeply appreciate your friendship and the friendship of the
people of Canada to us.”
Harper said he would respond to Netanyahu’s
comments in a speech at the Knesset scheduled for Monday, the first ever
such address by a Canadian head of state.He will also travel to the West Bank on Monday to meet with Abbas.On Tuesday,
he will attend a joint meeting of the Israeli and Canadian governments
before accompanying Netanyahu to Yad Vashem, the Prime Minister’s Office
said in a statement. On his final day in Israel, he plans to tour
Christian sites in Israel’s north before attending a ceremony at Tel
Aviv University, where he will receive an honorary doctorate.Harper will embark Wednesday on a three-day
visit to Jordan to meet with Hashemite King Abdullah II and Jordanian
Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour.An evangelical Christian and one of Israel’s
most unabashedly staunch allies, Harper announced the trip at a Jewish
National Fund dinner in December, calling Israel “a light of freedom and
democracy in what is otherwise a region of darkness” and pledged that
the Jewish state “will always have Canada as a friend.”Since his election in 2006, the Conservative prime minister has been a full-throated, unapologetic supporter of Israel.Harper was the first Western leader to cut aid
to the Palestinian Authority following Hamas’s seizure that year of
power in Gaza, and the first to withdraw from the second UN World
Conference Against Racism, known as Durban II, saying the event would
“scapegoat the Jewish people.”In November 2012, Canada opposed Palestine’s
elevation to the status of nonmember state in a UN General Assembly
vote, one of only nine countries to do so.Canada has sided openly with Israel in every
one of its military operations since 2006. Earlier this month Harper
appointed Vivian Bercovici, a Toronto lawyer and an outspoken Israel
supporter, as Canada’s ambassador to Israel.
JTA contributed to this report.
Ya'alon to Terrorists: No More 'Free Shots' on Southern Israel
With
the recent uptick in rocket attacks on Israel, Defense Minister Moshe
Ya'alon has a message for Gaza terrorists: Don't try us.-By David Lev-First Publish: 1/19/2014, 8:06 PM-Israelnationalnews
Kassam rocket-Israel news photo: Flash 90
“We will not accept the targeting by terrorists of Israel, and we will act to cause damage to anyone that threatens the security of our citizens,” he added.Ya'alon stressed that the days of terrorists taking “free shots” at Israel were over. “We will not permit a return to the days when rocket attacks were a matter of routine. Anyone who tries this will pay the price. I would not recommend anyone in Gaza to try our determination to defend Israelis,” Ya'alon added.Early Sunday, Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft targeted several terrorist sites in Gaza, hours after a rocket attack on southern Israel. A statement from the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said that the aircraft targeted two centers of terrorist activity in southern and central Gaza. Direct hits were identified and all Israeli aircraft returned safely to their bases, said the statement. Several hours before the airstrikes, a rocket exploded in an open area between two communities in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council.Last Wednesday, Gaza Arab terrorists fired a barrage of rockets at Ashkelon. Five of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, which shoots down rockets before they hit populated areas. Several other rockets may have exploded in open areas. There were no reports of physical injuries or damages. The “Color Red” rocket siren was sounded prior to the explosions.Wednesday night’s rocket attack follows several attacks on Monday.
MK Hotovely: 'Deal" Would Mean End of the Likud
Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely said that if her party's leader attempted to strongarm concessions, it would be the end of the party.-By David Lev-First Publish: 1/19/2014, 11:01 PM-Israelnationalnews
MK Hotovely-Knesset Channel
