COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL AND THE WEST
EZEKIEL 38:10-19
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
Saudi plane lands in Israel… empty-In a first, Airbus leased to Kingdom’s national airline undergoes maintenance at Ben Gurion Airport-By Times of Israel staff May 6, 2015, 5:35 pm 3
In a first, a Saudi Arabian passenger plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport Tuesday night for technical maintenance.The aircraft, an Airbus A330, arrived from Brussels with no passengers on board, according to a report in Ynet news Wednesday.The aircraft is owned by a European company and leased to Saudia — Saudi Arabia’s government-owned national airline.As per the directions of the company, the plane landed in Israel for routine upkeep by Bedek, an Israeli company contracted by Israel Aircraft Industries.An IAI spokesperson confirmed the plane’s arrival and said that the “ongoing and routine maintenance” of the Airbus passenger plane was part of the services Ben Gurion provided to the aircraft manufacturer.Like most Arab countries, Saudi Arabia does not officially recognize Israel, and there are no direct or indirect flights between the two countries.
Report: Netanyahu rejected Kerry visit after election win-By Mark Hensch - 05/03/15 03:28 PM EDT-THEHILL
An Israeli media report on Sunday said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Secretary of State John Kerry’s request for a visit following his reelection last month.Kerry proposed travel to the Jewish nation immediately after Netanyahu’s victory on March 17, according to Israel’s Channel 2.Netanyahu instead suggested Kerry come after he has formed a new coalition government. The reelected Prime Minister is still in the process of negotiating a final alliance with other Israeli lawmakers.Netanyahu’s office did not respond a request for comment from The Jerusalem Post Sunday evening.The rumored slight comes amid simmering tensions between the Israeli leader and President Obama.The two leaders have clashed over Obama’s tentative pact with Iran on its nuclear arms research. Kerry on Sunday tried defusing Israeli concerns over the draft accord.“I say to every Israeli that today we have the ability to stop them if they decided to move quickly to a bomb and I absolutely guarantee that in the future we will have the ability to know what they are doing so that we can still stop them if they decided to move to a bomb,” Kerry said, according to The Associated Press.Obama has argued that such diplomacy is the best method for preventing a Tehran armed with atomic weapons.Netanyahu has countered that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, is untrustworthy and that a nuclear Iran threatens his nation’s existence.Kerry negotiated the framework agreement with Iranian leadership announced on April 2.It would lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for greater restrictions on its nuclear energy capabilities.Iran has vowed it will allow more frequent atomic inspections and caps on its centrifuge and uranium stockpiles as part of the deal.The Obama administration additionally criticized Netanyahu last month for his campaign rhetoric refusing the creation of a Palestinian state.The president is a strong supporter of a two-state solution for lasting Middle East peace.
Iran Claims it Chased US Warship in Gulf of Aden-Iranian navy confronted US vessel and several aircraft, causing them to 'rapidly' change direction, off the coast of Yemen.By Ari Soffer-First Publish: 5/6/2015, 2:50 PM-ISRAELNATIONALNEWS
The Iranian navy is claiming to have chased off a US warship and several American aircraft, in the latest aggressive move by the Islamic Republic's military.According to the semi-official Fars News Agency, 2 US reconnaissance planes and US Navy destroyer DDG81 "rapidly changed direction" on Monday, after being confronted by an Iranian fleet in the Gulf of Aden, south of Yemen.The Iranian Destroyer "Alborz", part of Iran's 34th fleet, sent a warning to the US vessels telling them to turn around after the Americans strayed into the "5-mile standard distance" from the Iranian fleet, Fars claimed.Iran has released video footage of the incident:"Checking foreign warships in the international waters and surveilling potential threats to Iran's national interests is our essential responsibility," the commander of the 34th flotilla of warships, Commodore Mostafa Tajeddini, said on Tuesday.The Iranian 34th fleet is conducting an "anti-piracy" patrol off the coast of Yemen, according to Tehran.But the US and others claim Iran is using its military assets in the region to back Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen, and the US Navy has been deployed off the coast of the war-torn country to prevent the transfer of weapons from Iran to the Houthis.However, Iran denies claims its operations in the region have been altered at all by the US deployment."The news report by the foreign media that we have changed our route after the US fleet's arrival is only a media ballyhoo," Tajeddini said.
"We have had communications with many naval units since we entered the Gulf of Aden, but no country has ever dared to warn the Iranian Navy," he added.The incident is just the latest aggressive move by the Iranian navy, which triggered an international crisis after seizing a Martial Islands-flagged ship, the MV Maersk Tigris, last week.Iranian state media reported Wednesday that Iran has now threatened to sell the captured ship, if its owners refuse to pay a hefty fine - despite it having been seized in international waters.
In a recent video, a senior Iranian military commander vowed that Iran's hostility towards the US would continue regardless of any nuclear deal, until America becomes an "Islamic Republic."
Iranian Cleric: Kerry Said he Wishes US Had Leader Like Khamenei-Senior cleric says Kerry told Zarif he 'wished US had leader like Iran's supreme leader,' adding 'US, Israel never were so weak.'By Ari Yashar-First Publish: 5/2/2015, 11:57 PM-ISRAELNATIONALNEWS
A senior Iranian cleric claims that US Secretary of State John Kerry told Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif that he "wished the US had a leader like Iran's supreme leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in comments made during the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.The cleric, Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda who is a senior member of the powerful Assembly of Experts, made the remark during Muslim prayer services last Friday, reports the Farsi-language state-run Asriran news site.A senior US administration official responded to the statement, telling the Washington Free Beacon that the claim is "patently absurd."Al-Hoda didn't stop there however, going on to claim that "both Republicans and Democrats want these negotiations with Iran, but they fight each other for partisan interests. (US President Barack) Obama wants the negotiation to succeed so his party can win the next election and Republicans want to stop him."Turning his attention to how Iran has been seeking regional hegemony via terror proxies, most recently the Shi'ite Houthi militia in Yemen, he added, "today, the resistance crescent has gone beyond Syria and Lebanon and reached to Yemen. Today the resistance front is in control of Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb."His mention of the Bab el-Mandeb strait refers to a waterway of the highest strategic value off the coast of southern Yemen where the Houthis are fighting for control. It would allow control of the key commercial water route into the Red Sea, and ultimately to Israel's southern port of Eilat.The "US and Israel have not been so weak anytime before. All these events are being managed by the hidden Imam," he said, making mention of a messianic religious figure in Shia Islam.As illustrated by the cleric's comments, Iranian dissident Saeed Ghasseminejad of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) told the Washington Free Beacon that the conduct of the Obama administration is garnering Iran's scorn."President Obama thinks that by making more concessions he can gain the trust and respect of Iranian leaders," Ghasseminejad said. "However, Iranian leaders neither trust him nor respect him.""Seeing unprecedented weakness in the US president, Iranian leaders do not fear the United States anymore. Partnership, trust, and alliance between the radical Islamist regime of Tehran and United States cannot and should not exist," he concluded.
Jewish Home wins Justice Ministry, but balks at Likud limitations-Likud negotiators give in to demand from Naftali Bennett that his party receive legal portfolio, but impose restrictions-By Stuart Winer May 6, 2015, 3:56 pm 11-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The Likud party agreed to appoint MK Ayelet Shaked as justice minister Wednesday in a bid to bring her Jewish Home party into the coalition, but negotiations snagged after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu imposed limitations on her power in the position.The move was meant to pave the way for Netanyahu to garner the 61 seats he needs for his governing coalition, ahead of a midnight deadline to present his government.However, in making the offer Likud also attempted to clip Shaked’s wings, insisting that she not be able to appoint religious court judges and that she also not chair the Israeli Judicial Committee, the body that appoints judges for the law courts, Hebrew-language news sites reported.Instead, a Likud minister would head the religious court judges appointment panel, with Shaked, who is nonreligious, and a representative from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party also having their say. The religious courts handle, among other things, matters of marriage and divorce.Jewish Home indicated, though, that without Shaked retaining leadership of the judicial committee for the law courts, the party will not sign a coalition deal.Further complicating the negotiations, Housing Minister Uri Ariel reportedly demanded from Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett that he be given the Justice Ministry instead, under pain of him and another two MKs leaving the coalition, which would leave Netanyahu shy of his needed majority, Army Radio reported.
Likud had been loath to give Jewish Home the Justice Ministry, fearing it would use the position to push through controversial reforms weakening the Supreme Court and changing the makeup of the panel that chooses new justices.Likud officials told Haaretz that there were two problems with giving the Justice Ministry to Jewish Home.“The first is that the justice minister will soon have to decide on who the next attorney general will be,” one official said. “It’s a very sensitive position, and Netanyahu has no desire to entrust that task to Bennett or Shaked. The second problem is that Shaked is spearheading the battle to change the face of the Supreme Court. Netanyahu has so far avoided going head to head with the court, and he may well not want this headache.”Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich warned that the developments did not bode well for the legal system.“Prepare to see a hard and bitter battle for the welfare and identity of the judicial system and law enforcement,” Yachimovich told the Walla news website.Yachimovich insisted that her criticism of Shaked should not be taken as a comment on Shaked as an individual. “She is capable, but her view of the courts, the judiciary, and the legislature, are the opposite of mine,” she said.Netanyahu has been scrambling to bring Jewish Home and its eight seats aboard before a midnight Wednesday deadline for him to declare a governing coalition.However, the nationalist faction upped its demands over the past days, insisting that Shaked be given the Justice Ministry and party leader Naftali Bennett be given a top portfolio — possibly the Foreign Ministry.As part of the emerging coalition deal both Bennett and Shaked will also likely have seats in the security cabinet, an arrangement the Likud opposes as it will give the Jewish Home party more clout than could be expected for its number of parliamentary seats.If he succeeds in signing Jewish Home up for his coalition, Netanyahu will have the pieces in place for a razor-thin 61-seat majority, enough to maintain power but not enough to do much else, analysts say.On Monday, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman announced his resignation as foreign minister and said his party would refuse to join the coalition.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
I Don't Care if I Win or Lose - I'm Doing the Right Thing'-Controversial campaigner Pamela Geller tells Arutz Sheva she isn't fazed by the media backlash against her following Texas attack.By Ari Soffer-First Publish: 5/6/2015, 12:08 PM-ISRAELNATIONALNEWS
The organizer of the Mohammed cartoon contest attacked by two ISIS terrorists on Sunday has vowed to continue her campaign - even if it turns out to be a losing battle.Pamela Geller - who is the founder and president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) - was at the event in Texas when it was targeted by two Muslim gunmen. Like other event participants she escaped unharmed thanks to police, who shot dead the gunmen almost immediately.But she expressed her frustration in a series of interviews with US media outlets, in which she was accused of having provoked the attack via her actions. Geller in turn accused the press of abandoning the First Amendment and the values of free speech "so as not to offend savages."In interviews with outlets from CNN to Fox News, Geller accused her interviewers of blaming the victim."We have to have this conversation, and the fact that we have to spend upwards of $50,000 dollars in security speaks to how dangerous and how in trouble freedom of speech is in this country," she said. "And then we have to get on these news shows and somehow we - those who are targeted, those who were going to be slaughtered - are the ones who get attacked, speaks to how morally inverted this conversation is."However, Geller told Arutz Sheva that she is unfazed by both the physical and media attacks on her and her campaign - and vowed to carry on regardless."We will continue to defend freedom with various initiatives," the controversial campaigner declared, refuting claims in the media that the AFDI is anti-Muslim."AFDI started to provide an organizational basis for my efforts to defend the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, the equality of rights for all before the law, and individual rights, and its objective is to do exactly that."Her critics counter that her campaign - which has also featured prominent bus ads criticizing Muslim anti-Semitism - focuses on criticizing and ridiculing Islam alone, but Geller insists that is merely because criticism of Islam - and the violent, often murderous response to it - has become the "defining issue" for free speech."It was not I who chose Muhammad cartoons as the defining issue for the freedom of speech; it was the jihadis when they massacred the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists," Geller told Arutz Sheva."They made it clear that they would kill if we expressed our freedom of speech in this way. That made it imperative that we defend the freedom of speech by drawing Muhammad cartoons and thereby showing that we would not capitulate to violent intimidation."And she noted that despite the overwhelmingly hostile reception given to her by the media, there were a few prominent dissenting voices."There have been some supportive responses. Sean Hannity and Megyn Kelly, among others, have understood what is at stake," she said, naming two Fox News presenters who lashed out at pundits - including their own colleagues - who stated that Geller had brought the attack on herself.But when asked if the otherwise overwhelmingly negative response to her campaign by the mainstream media made her feel she was fighting a losing battle, Geller struck a defiant tone."I don't care if I win or lose. I care about doing the right thing, and will continue to do so, come what may," she said.
EZEKIEL 38:10-19
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
Saudi plane lands in Israel… empty-In a first, Airbus leased to Kingdom’s national airline undergoes maintenance at Ben Gurion Airport-By Times of Israel staff May 6, 2015, 5:35 pm 3
In a first, a Saudi Arabian passenger plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport Tuesday night for technical maintenance.The aircraft, an Airbus A330, arrived from Brussels with no passengers on board, according to a report in Ynet news Wednesday.The aircraft is owned by a European company and leased to Saudia — Saudi Arabia’s government-owned national airline.As per the directions of the company, the plane landed in Israel for routine upkeep by Bedek, an Israeli company contracted by Israel Aircraft Industries.An IAI spokesperson confirmed the plane’s arrival and said that the “ongoing and routine maintenance” of the Airbus passenger plane was part of the services Ben Gurion provided to the aircraft manufacturer.Like most Arab countries, Saudi Arabia does not officially recognize Israel, and there are no direct or indirect flights between the two countries.
Report: Netanyahu rejected Kerry visit after election win-By Mark Hensch - 05/03/15 03:28 PM EDT-THEHILL
An Israeli media report on Sunday said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Secretary of State John Kerry’s request for a visit following his reelection last month.Kerry proposed travel to the Jewish nation immediately after Netanyahu’s victory on March 17, according to Israel’s Channel 2.Netanyahu instead suggested Kerry come after he has formed a new coalition government. The reelected Prime Minister is still in the process of negotiating a final alliance with other Israeli lawmakers.Netanyahu’s office did not respond a request for comment from The Jerusalem Post Sunday evening.The rumored slight comes amid simmering tensions between the Israeli leader and President Obama.The two leaders have clashed over Obama’s tentative pact with Iran on its nuclear arms research. Kerry on Sunday tried defusing Israeli concerns over the draft accord.“I say to every Israeli that today we have the ability to stop them if they decided to move quickly to a bomb and I absolutely guarantee that in the future we will have the ability to know what they are doing so that we can still stop them if they decided to move to a bomb,” Kerry said, according to The Associated Press.Obama has argued that such diplomacy is the best method for preventing a Tehran armed with atomic weapons.Netanyahu has countered that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, is untrustworthy and that a nuclear Iran threatens his nation’s existence.Kerry negotiated the framework agreement with Iranian leadership announced on April 2.It would lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for greater restrictions on its nuclear energy capabilities.Iran has vowed it will allow more frequent atomic inspections and caps on its centrifuge and uranium stockpiles as part of the deal.The Obama administration additionally criticized Netanyahu last month for his campaign rhetoric refusing the creation of a Palestinian state.The president is a strong supporter of a two-state solution for lasting Middle East peace.
Iran Claims it Chased US Warship in Gulf of Aden-Iranian navy confronted US vessel and several aircraft, causing them to 'rapidly' change direction, off the coast of Yemen.By Ari Soffer-First Publish: 5/6/2015, 2:50 PM-ISRAELNATIONALNEWS
The Iranian navy is claiming to have chased off a US warship and several American aircraft, in the latest aggressive move by the Islamic Republic's military.According to the semi-official Fars News Agency, 2 US reconnaissance planes and US Navy destroyer DDG81 "rapidly changed direction" on Monday, after being confronted by an Iranian fleet in the Gulf of Aden, south of Yemen.The Iranian Destroyer "Alborz", part of Iran's 34th fleet, sent a warning to the US vessels telling them to turn around after the Americans strayed into the "5-mile standard distance" from the Iranian fleet, Fars claimed.Iran has released video footage of the incident:"Checking foreign warships in the international waters and surveilling potential threats to Iran's national interests is our essential responsibility," the commander of the 34th flotilla of warships, Commodore Mostafa Tajeddini, said on Tuesday.The Iranian 34th fleet is conducting an "anti-piracy" patrol off the coast of Yemen, according to Tehran.But the US and others claim Iran is using its military assets in the region to back Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen, and the US Navy has been deployed off the coast of the war-torn country to prevent the transfer of weapons from Iran to the Houthis.However, Iran denies claims its operations in the region have been altered at all by the US deployment."The news report by the foreign media that we have changed our route after the US fleet's arrival is only a media ballyhoo," Tajeddini said.
"We have had communications with many naval units since we entered the Gulf of Aden, but no country has ever dared to warn the Iranian Navy," he added.The incident is just the latest aggressive move by the Iranian navy, which triggered an international crisis after seizing a Martial Islands-flagged ship, the MV Maersk Tigris, last week.Iranian state media reported Wednesday that Iran has now threatened to sell the captured ship, if its owners refuse to pay a hefty fine - despite it having been seized in international waters.
In a recent video, a senior Iranian military commander vowed that Iran's hostility towards the US would continue regardless of any nuclear deal, until America becomes an "Islamic Republic."
Iranian Cleric: Kerry Said he Wishes US Had Leader Like Khamenei-Senior cleric says Kerry told Zarif he 'wished US had leader like Iran's supreme leader,' adding 'US, Israel never were so weak.'By Ari Yashar-First Publish: 5/2/2015, 11:57 PM-ISRAELNATIONALNEWS
A senior Iranian cleric claims that US Secretary of State John Kerry told Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif that he "wished the US had a leader like Iran's supreme leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in comments made during the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.The cleric, Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda who is a senior member of the powerful Assembly of Experts, made the remark during Muslim prayer services last Friday, reports the Farsi-language state-run Asriran news site.A senior US administration official responded to the statement, telling the Washington Free Beacon that the claim is "patently absurd."Al-Hoda didn't stop there however, going on to claim that "both Republicans and Democrats want these negotiations with Iran, but they fight each other for partisan interests. (US President Barack) Obama wants the negotiation to succeed so his party can win the next election and Republicans want to stop him."Turning his attention to how Iran has been seeking regional hegemony via terror proxies, most recently the Shi'ite Houthi militia in Yemen, he added, "today, the resistance crescent has gone beyond Syria and Lebanon and reached to Yemen. Today the resistance front is in control of Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb."His mention of the Bab el-Mandeb strait refers to a waterway of the highest strategic value off the coast of southern Yemen where the Houthis are fighting for control. It would allow control of the key commercial water route into the Red Sea, and ultimately to Israel's southern port of Eilat.The "US and Israel have not been so weak anytime before. All these events are being managed by the hidden Imam," he said, making mention of a messianic religious figure in Shia Islam.As illustrated by the cleric's comments, Iranian dissident Saeed Ghasseminejad of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) told the Washington Free Beacon that the conduct of the Obama administration is garnering Iran's scorn."President Obama thinks that by making more concessions he can gain the trust and respect of Iranian leaders," Ghasseminejad said. "However, Iranian leaders neither trust him nor respect him.""Seeing unprecedented weakness in the US president, Iranian leaders do not fear the United States anymore. Partnership, trust, and alliance between the radical Islamist regime of Tehran and United States cannot and should not exist," he concluded.
Jewish Home wins Justice Ministry, but balks at Likud limitations-Likud negotiators give in to demand from Naftali Bennett that his party receive legal portfolio, but impose restrictions-By Stuart Winer May 6, 2015, 3:56 pm 11-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The Likud party agreed to appoint MK Ayelet Shaked as justice minister Wednesday in a bid to bring her Jewish Home party into the coalition, but negotiations snagged after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu imposed limitations on her power in the position.The move was meant to pave the way for Netanyahu to garner the 61 seats he needs for his governing coalition, ahead of a midnight deadline to present his government.However, in making the offer Likud also attempted to clip Shaked’s wings, insisting that she not be able to appoint religious court judges and that she also not chair the Israeli Judicial Committee, the body that appoints judges for the law courts, Hebrew-language news sites reported.Instead, a Likud minister would head the religious court judges appointment panel, with Shaked, who is nonreligious, and a representative from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party also having their say. The religious courts handle, among other things, matters of marriage and divorce.Jewish Home indicated, though, that without Shaked retaining leadership of the judicial committee for the law courts, the party will not sign a coalition deal.Further complicating the negotiations, Housing Minister Uri Ariel reportedly demanded from Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett that he be given the Justice Ministry instead, under pain of him and another two MKs leaving the coalition, which would leave Netanyahu shy of his needed majority, Army Radio reported.
Likud had been loath to give Jewish Home the Justice Ministry, fearing it would use the position to push through controversial reforms weakening the Supreme Court and changing the makeup of the panel that chooses new justices.Likud officials told Haaretz that there were two problems with giving the Justice Ministry to Jewish Home.“The first is that the justice minister will soon have to decide on who the next attorney general will be,” one official said. “It’s a very sensitive position, and Netanyahu has no desire to entrust that task to Bennett or Shaked. The second problem is that Shaked is spearheading the battle to change the face of the Supreme Court. Netanyahu has so far avoided going head to head with the court, and he may well not want this headache.”Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich warned that the developments did not bode well for the legal system.“Prepare to see a hard and bitter battle for the welfare and identity of the judicial system and law enforcement,” Yachimovich told the Walla news website.Yachimovich insisted that her criticism of Shaked should not be taken as a comment on Shaked as an individual. “She is capable, but her view of the courts, the judiciary, and the legislature, are the opposite of mine,” she said.Netanyahu has been scrambling to bring Jewish Home and its eight seats aboard before a midnight Wednesday deadline for him to declare a governing coalition.However, the nationalist faction upped its demands over the past days, insisting that Shaked be given the Justice Ministry and party leader Naftali Bennett be given a top portfolio — possibly the Foreign Ministry.As part of the emerging coalition deal both Bennett and Shaked will also likely have seats in the security cabinet, an arrangement the Likud opposes as it will give the Jewish Home party more clout than could be expected for its number of parliamentary seats.If he succeeds in signing Jewish Home up for his coalition, Netanyahu will have the pieces in place for a razor-thin 61-seat majority, enough to maintain power but not enough to do much else, analysts say.On Monday, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman announced his resignation as foreign minister and said his party would refuse to join the coalition.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
I Don't Care if I Win or Lose - I'm Doing the Right Thing'-Controversial campaigner Pamela Geller tells Arutz Sheva she isn't fazed by the media backlash against her following Texas attack.By Ari Soffer-First Publish: 5/6/2015, 12:08 PM-ISRAELNATIONALNEWS
The organizer of the Mohammed cartoon contest attacked by two ISIS terrorists on Sunday has vowed to continue her campaign - even if it turns out to be a losing battle.Pamela Geller - who is the founder and president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) - was at the event in Texas when it was targeted by two Muslim gunmen. Like other event participants she escaped unharmed thanks to police, who shot dead the gunmen almost immediately.But she expressed her frustration in a series of interviews with US media outlets, in which she was accused of having provoked the attack via her actions. Geller in turn accused the press of abandoning the First Amendment and the values of free speech "so as not to offend savages."In interviews with outlets from CNN to Fox News, Geller accused her interviewers of blaming the victim."We have to have this conversation, and the fact that we have to spend upwards of $50,000 dollars in security speaks to how dangerous and how in trouble freedom of speech is in this country," she said. "And then we have to get on these news shows and somehow we - those who are targeted, those who were going to be slaughtered - are the ones who get attacked, speaks to how morally inverted this conversation is."However, Geller told Arutz Sheva that she is unfazed by both the physical and media attacks on her and her campaign - and vowed to carry on regardless."We will continue to defend freedom with various initiatives," the controversial campaigner declared, refuting claims in the media that the AFDI is anti-Muslim."AFDI started to provide an organizational basis for my efforts to defend the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, the equality of rights for all before the law, and individual rights, and its objective is to do exactly that."Her critics counter that her campaign - which has also featured prominent bus ads criticizing Muslim anti-Semitism - focuses on criticizing and ridiculing Islam alone, but Geller insists that is merely because criticism of Islam - and the violent, often murderous response to it - has become the "defining issue" for free speech."It was not I who chose Muhammad cartoons as the defining issue for the freedom of speech; it was the jihadis when they massacred the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists," Geller told Arutz Sheva."They made it clear that they would kill if we expressed our freedom of speech in this way. That made it imperative that we defend the freedom of speech by drawing Muhammad cartoons and thereby showing that we would not capitulate to violent intimidation."And she noted that despite the overwhelmingly hostile reception given to her by the media, there were a few prominent dissenting voices."There have been some supportive responses. Sean Hannity and Megyn Kelly, among others, have understood what is at stake," she said, naming two Fox News presenters who lashed out at pundits - including their own colleagues - who stated that Geller had brought the attack on herself.But when asked if the otherwise overwhelmingly negative response to her campaign by the mainstream media made her feel she was fighting a losing battle, Geller struck a defiant tone."I don't care if I win or lose. I care about doing the right thing, and will continue to do so, come what may," she said.
