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Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday ahead of a planned Russian withdrawal from Syria. Rivlin conveyed to the Russian leader Israel's concerns about Iranian activity in Syria, and the active role the Hezbollah terror group has assumed in the Syrian civil war. The Israeli leader also touched on the future status of the Golan Heights, which Syria continues to claim as sovereign territory, despite Israel's annexation of the area in 1981. Rivlin reportedly told Putin that borders of both Syria and Iraq were arbitrarily drawn during the First World War, and...

Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker used an Israeli businessman to evade American sanctions in Iraq while collecting a debt from Saddam Hussein. According to a report by WorldNet Daily reporter Aaron Klein, Baker hired Nir Gouaz, president of Caesar Global Securities in Israel, to collect a debt from the Hussein regime in 1998. Baker is a senior partner at the Houston-based law firm, Baker Botts, which made some $30 million in fees from the deal which the Israeli businessman mediated. Gouaz said the Iraqi regime owed some $1.65 billion to the Korean Hyundai Engineering firm for a series...

Golan Heights, Israel - Elliot Chodoff, a political analyst who kindly gave our Christian group a tour of the Syrian border this week on our trip to Israel, was not even fazed by the gunfire we heard in the distance. "Welcome to my world," he said casually as "Pop! Pop! Pop!" sounded behind us. He just as calmly added that there were over 50 terror organizations within our field of vision. With all these nearby threats, you would expect Israel would be able to count on her friends to be fully versed on the situation and be ready to protect...

Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Tuesday that if he had to choose between the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and Iran on the country’s borders, he would “choose ISIS” every time. In comments made at the Institute for National Security Studies’ (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv, Yaalon said that if the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were to fall ...

Baku - APA. Russia could give asylum to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if he has to leave his country, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on January 12, according to RFE/RL. "It was surely more difficult to grant [U.S. national security contractor Edward] Snowden asylum in Russia than it would be in the case of Assad," Putin told the German tabloid Bild, referring to the American leaker of classified U.S. documents who was given asylum in Russia in 2013. Putin said it was too early to say whether Russia would have to give shelter to Assad as...

In a move dubbed "surreal" by a leading UN watchdog, and as a campaign of daily Palestinian terrorist attacks continues to target Israelis, the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday adopted six resolutions - all of which bar none condemned Israel. Not a single mention was made of the Palestinian attacks, which have left 22 Israelis dead and hundreds wounded, nor did any other countries - even serial human rights violators such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and others - receive any of the General Assembly's attention. More disturbingly still, five of the the UNGA resolutions were sponsored by the...

The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, which operates near the border, praises Israel’s medical assistance for refugees, fighters A Syrian rebel group operating along the Israeli border in the Golan Heights said it has no quarrel with Israel, and that its fight is with President Bashar Assad, not the Jewish state — and it will remain that way. Speaking with The Times of Israel by telephone in Arabic, a spokesperson for the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade — the militia that kidnapped UN peacekeepers in March and May — said, “We are only here to fight Assad; we want nothing from Israel and we...

'Severe blow': Al Qaeda suicide bomber takes out leadership of key ISIS brigadeHAIFA, Israel – A recent suicide bombing in southern Syria shows the rivalry between Al Qaeda and ISIS is more than just a contest to see who can kill the most infidels -- the groups are using classic terror techniques on each other. The Nov. 15 bombing came at a top-level meeting of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, a key ISIS militia known for its bloody and vicious hold over parts of the Golan Heights. Six of the group’s top men were killed, including Muhammad "Abu Ali" al-Baridi,...

In defiance of European Union guidelines, Hungary will not label products from Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights. Indeed, its foreign minister urges greater cooperation with Israel in fighting global terrorism. Speaking at a breakfast meeting of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Hungarian Foreign Minister and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto, who was on a 24-hour visit to Israel, said that his country will not label products from Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights, calling the EU’s decision to do so “irrational.” “We do not support that decision. It is an inefficient instrument. It is irrational and does...

US President Barack Obama's administration on Thursday voiced its approval of the discriminatory EU decision the day before to label Jewish goods from Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The administration said the move is only a "technical guideline," and is not a boycott, reports Associated Press - despite the obvious assumption that consumers would follow the labeling when choosing what products to buy. US State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said, "we do not believe that labeling the origin of products is equivalent to a boycott. And as you know, we do not consider settlements to be part...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday likened the European Union's decision to label Jewish goods from Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights to the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses. Israel in retaliation also called off a number of scheduled EU meetings. "The labeling of products of the Jewish state by the European Union brings back dark memories, Europe should be ashamed of itself," Netanyahu said as he wrapped up a visit to Washington. "It took an immoral decision...this will not advance peace, it will certainly not advance truth and justice. It's wrong," he said in an English-language video...

The megalithic complex of Rogem Hiri (Rujm al-Hiri in Arabic, meaning stone heap of the wild cat) is located in the central Golan, some 16 km. east of the Sea of Galilee, on a desolate plateau of basalt boulders. Since its discovery in a survey of the Golan in the late 1960s, this mysterious site has aroused the curiosity of archeologists. Between 1988 and 1991, archeological excavations and research were conducted in order to establish facts and determine the time of its construction and its function. Rogem Hiri is a monumental construction of local basalt fieldstones of various sizes. It...

Discovery of oil in ISRAEL means the Jewish state could soon produce ‘significant quantities’ of ‘black gold’… and potentially change the face of the Middle East Vast oil reserves have been discovered in Israel that could transform the country into world energy power and change the face of the Middle East for years to come. Afek Oil and Gas, an Israeli subsidiary of the U.S. company Genie Energy, said the breakthrough came in the Golan Heights, near the border with Syria. Yuval Bartov, the firm’s chief geologist, said there was ‘enormous excitement’ about the immense wealth it could bring to...

Over four decades after the 1973 war that saw Egyptian forces seize of the Sinai Peninsula from occupying Israeli forces in a shock offensive, the legacy of the brief conflict lives on. One of the tales of the war known by some Egyptians is the existence of a “secret code” used by the Egyptian army that Israeli intelligence was unable to crack. The cypher was simple yet unorthodox: using an unwritten language from one of Egypt’s ethnic minorities, the Nubians. With the system, words and commands that would have been undecipherable to even a veteran Israeli intelligence officer could be...

Haifa, Israel – After Israel complained for years that it was surrounded by oil-rich states but didn’t have a drop within its own borders, it appears there’s a big-time turnaround with the announcement Wednesday that massive oil reserves have been located in the Golan Heights,close to the country’s border with Syria. Afek Oil and Gas, an Israeli subsidiary of the U.S. company Genie Energy, confirmed the find in an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 TVbut conceded that until the oil is actually extracted, they won’t be sure of the actual amounts and quality of the oil that has been discovered....

Billions of barrels of oil have been discovered in Israel, and this discovery could essentially make Israel energy independent for many decades to come. But there is just one problem. This discovery was made in the Golan Heights. If you are not familiar with the Golan Heights, it is an area that Israel took from Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967. The government of Israel considers the Golan Heights to now be part of Israeli territory, but the United Nations does not recognize Israel’s claim. Instead, the UN still recognizes Syrian sovereignty over that area. So now that massive...

Estimates are that the amount of oil found will make Israel self sufficient for very many years to come. After more than a year of round-the-clock drilling, large amounts of oil have been found on the Golan Heights. Estimates are that the amount of oil discovered will make Israel self sufficient for very many years to come. Afek Oil and Gas chief geologist Dr. Yuval Bartov told Channel 2 News, "We are talking about a strata which is 350 meters thick and what is important is the thickness and the porosity. On average in the world strata are 20-30 meters...

The Israeli military said Sunday it struck two Syrian army posts with artillery fire after rockets from the war-torn country landed in Israeli-controlled territory. The military said the two rockets, which landed over the last two days, were errant fire from the Syrian conflict. They caused no damage or injuries. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said in a statement that Israel holds the Syrian military "responsible and accountable for any aggression emanating from Syria." Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said a Syrian army position in the Quneitra region of the...

The Iran nuclear deal has dramatically shifted Middle Eastern geopolitical tectonic plates, and has heralded a new reality in which Sunni Arabs need Israel more than ever. One of many misleading lines in President Obama’s address earlier this month heralding the Iran nuclear deal came when the statecraft salesman declared that “because this is such a strong deal, every nation in the world that has commented publicly, with the exception of the Israeli government, has expressed support.” The clear implication is that Israel stands alone and isolated in the international community in opposing détente and rapprochement with Iran. The American...

Israeli strikes on Syria left up to six people died on Friday as Israel escalated its military response to four rockets landing on its territory a day earlier. Up to five men were killed in a car after it was struck while travelling near the frontier of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, the Syrian army said, in what appeared to be a second wave of Israeli retaliatory action following a series of late night raids on Thursday. Syrian state television said the strike had killed "five unarmed civilians", but hte UK-based Syrian Conservatory for Human Rights said the...