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Israel's President Shimon Peres accused Iran of encouraging the Palestinians to continue rocket attacks on Israel rather than negotiating a ceasefire, saying "they are out of their mind." At the same time, Peres praised Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi for the constructive role he has played in the intensifying crisis. "The unpleasant one is the Iranians. They are trying again to encourage the Hamas to continue the shooting, the bombing, they trying to send them arms," Peres said in interview on CNN. "They are out of their mind," he said. The President said Israel had no choice but to wage its...

President Shimon Peres on Saturday saluted as "courageous" remarks by Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas in which he appears to relinquish the demand for a "right to return" of PA Arabs to their former homes in what is now Israel. "Abu Mazen's courageous words prove that Israel has a real partner for peace," Peres said in a statement, referring to Abbas by his "kunya" name. .....

A letter from the desk of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is sparking controversy in Egypt leaving people in disbelief that the Muslim Brotherhood leader had actually referred to the Israeli president as a "great friend." Yet skeptical Egyptians who have called the letter a "Zionist fabrication" have now been silenced, as a spokesman for Morsi confirmed on Thursday the authenticity of the letter, which was given to Shimon Peres by Atef Salem, Egypt's ambassador to Israel, on Wednesday at an official ceremony in the president's residence. The contents of the letter, which were leaked to the press, caused an uproar...

(Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres on Thursday came out against any go-it-alone Israeli attack on Iran, saying he trusted U.S. President Barack Obama's pledge to prevent Tehran from producing nuclear weapons. "I am convinced this is an American interest. I am convinced (President Obama) recognizes the American interest and he isn't saying this just to keep us happy. I have no doubt about it, after having had talks with him," Peres told Israel's Channel Two television. "Now, it's clear to us that we can't do it alone. We can delay (Iran's nuclear program). It's clear to us we have...

President Shimon Peres is under attack for undercutting the elected government's stance on the Iranian threat. Besides stating a position that runs counter to the Prime Minister's in a television interview, he is also reported to have accused Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in closed conversations, of "terrible irresponsibility" in the Iranian matter. "The honorable president has apparently also been sucked into this unnecessary argument that is damaging for the state of Israel," said MK Moshe Matalon of Yisrael Beytenu. "As a former prime minister and defense minister, and a person who was privy to spectacular operations that were...

Egypt denied on Tuesday evening the reports that President Mohammed Morsi had sent a letter to Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres. Dr. Yasser Ali, Morsi’s official spokesman, denied the reports which appeared in the Israeli press and which said that Morsi thanked the Israeli president for his Ramadan greetings and said he is looking forward to Egypt helping to get the peace process “back to its right track.” However, according to a report on the website of the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, Ali described these reports as completely incorrect and stressed that Morsi did not send any letter to Peres. Another report...

At a panel discussing the life of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, President Shimon Peres said Monday that Ben-Gurion was a “religious Jew.” Peres said that Ben-Gurion “did not fight against the religious, but against the attempt to turn religion into a bureaucracy. Ben-Gurion saw himself as a religious mam. He was the greatest diplomat of them all, and he had a prophetic vision. “He did not make a mistake in anything...

Danny Dayan, head of the Yesha (Judea and Samaria) Council, spoke to IDF Radio on Wednesday morning and refuted statements made by President Shimon Peres the night before. “There is a solid Jewish majority west of the Jordan that is not dropping despite all the negative prophecies,” he said, responding to Peres’s claim that Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria endangers Israel’s Jewish majority. Population counts aside, “whether Israel will continue to be Jewish or not is not a matter of counting heads,” Dayan said. “What will keep us Jewish is the connection to Jewish tradition, to history and to...

President Shimon Peres reached out to the Iranian people Wednesday evening, saying “there is no need for us to live as enemies.” In a special address to the Knesset marking its 63rd anniversary, Peres spoke about the peace process with the Palestinian Authority, but also talked about the Iranian nuclear threat. In direct remarks to the Iranian people, the Israeli president said, “We were not born enemies, and there is no need for us to live as enemies. Do not allow the flags of hostility to cast a dark shadow on your heritage. You are a sensitive people that aspire...

President Shimon Peres' bodyguards were involved in an altercation with three Arabs Sunday evening, Channel 2 television reported. The reason for the fight is not yet clear. The incident reportedly took place outside Peres' temporary residence at Kfar David (Mamila) in Jerusalem. The president had to leave his permanent residence about six weeks ago, because of damage caused by flooding due to heavy rains. .....

Attorney Ami Palmor, Head of Pardons Department in the Justice Ministry, arrived at the President's Residence Saturday evening and delivered the files concerning the terrorists that are to be pardoned in the first part of the Shalit deal. Peres will attach a letter to the pardons, as he did when he pardoned child-murderer Samir Kuntar in the Regev-Goldwasser deal in 2008. At the time, Peres wrote: "I used the authority to grant pardons for the release of abducted prisoners Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. My decision does not denote any forgiveness for the murderers for their heinous acts. I do...

President Shimon Peres held a clandestine meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently in London, Maariv reported Friday. According to the report, the two continue to exchange telephone calls and messages, and their close associates have held discussions as well. Peres took the official position of refusing to respond to “rumors.” However, a close associate of the president quoted in the report expressed upset that the Peres-Abbas connection would be revealed. “President Peres is the last Israeli who continues to enjoy a direct channel to the Palestinians, and it is highly unfortunate that this channel will be sealed due...

Moscow, Aug 21 (DPA) A Russian newspaper claimed Friday that suspected pirates who boarded the freighter Arctic Sea were actually agents of the Israeli secret service trying to stop it from smuggling arms into Iran. According to Russian media, the Arctic Sea may have been carrying illegal X-55 cruise missiles destined for Iran hidden among its cargo of lumber. Men acting on behalf of the Israeli Mossad secret service commandeered the ship to divert the weapons away from Israel's regional enemy, the daily Novaya Gazeta said. Citing Moscow publicist Yulia Latynina, the daily pointed to the surprise visit of Israeli...

I’m glad Shimon Peres has retracted his claim that the British Establishment is motivated by anti-Semitism. It was a silly and unpresidential thing to say and, more to the point, it was inaccurate. No doubt it can be frustrating to deal with FCO mandarins; but, wrong as our officials are about most things, they are rarely anti-Semitic. It’s true that our diplomats tend to emphasise Britain’s relations with its former Arab protectorates, notably Jordan and the Gulf monarchies. Nothing wrong with that, of course, though you can see why it makes some Israelis uneasy. It’s true, too, that many FCO...

IPT News June 9, 2010 SNIPPET: "The Turkish-based charity that helped drive last week's deadly confrontation with Israeli commandos has deep ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups. The Hamas ties are not in question. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and IHH officials simply do not acknowledge that Hamas is a terrorist group." SNIPPET: "U.S. officials have expressed concern over the fact that "IHH representatives have met with senior Hamas officials in Turkey, Syria, and Gaza over the past three years," but IHH is not a designated terrorist organization in the United States. It's fair to ask, why not?"...

Israel plans to establish a national war monument in Jerusalem to honor the memory of the 22,684 soldiers and security personnel who have fallen defending the land of Israel since 1860 – the year the first Jews left Jerusalem’s Old City walls to settle other parts of the country. On Sunday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced plans to erect the new monument, during a ceremony at its future location on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. “As a society we owe a great moral debt to bereaved families,” Barak said. “In its 62 years of independence this country has stood before complicated...

Mideast: Israeli officials charge Syria with transferring ballistic missiles to the control of Iran's puppet militia, Hezbollah. It seems that another attempt to woo and appease a hostile power is not working. Last November we commented on reports in the Arab media in the Persian Gulf that Syria, apparently at the request of Iran, had turned about 300 long-range ballistic missiles over to Hezbollah control in Syrian territory. Hezbollah personnel were being trained to operate the Scuds. On Tuesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres confirmed these reports, publicly charging Syrian President Bashar Assad's government with transferring Scud missiles to the control...

Visiting US Vice President Joe Biden began his round of talks with senior Israeli officials on Tuesday at the President's Residence in Jerusalem. Biden told President Shimon Peres that the Iranian regime is isolated more than ever before, both domestically and internationally, adding that the Iranian people are imposing what he called moral sanctions against it. The Israeli president said imposing moral sanctions on Iran, including its expulsion from the UN, were no less important than taking economic measures. According to Peres, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cannot be a UN member and at the same time call for Israel's annihilation...

JERUSALEM, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Israeli President Shimon Peres reportedly proposed last month to persuade the United States to not install a missile system in Europe. A report in Maariv Monday said Peres made the proposal to garner Russian support for sanctions against Iran, Peres discussed the matter during a two-day visit to Russia. The newspaper said Peres promised to use Israel's influence in Washington to abort erecting the U.S. missile shield in Poland and Czechoslovakia, in exchange for Russia's support to impose sanctions on Iran and reconsider the delivery of S-300 missile defense systems to the Islamic Republic. Peres...

US President Barack Obama is expected to moderate a September meeting between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, President Shimon Peres said in an interview with Fox News Monday. Peres told the TV network that the two leaders would be meeting at the United Nations.