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The Cannes film festival screening of "The Anti-Semite," a film by a French comic with a history of anti-Semitism, was cancelled. The film by and starring Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala, was produced by the Iranian Documentary and Experimental Film Center. It reportedly pokes fun at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, where an estimated 1.5 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and features Dieudonne as a violent and alcoholic character dressed as a Nazi officer for a fancy dress party. Robert Faurisson, a convicted Holocaust denier, also makes a cameo appearance in the film. The film reportedly will be sold over...

Operatives linked to Iran tried to kill foreign diplomats, including Israelis and Americans, in at least seven countries over 13 months, the Washington Post reported. New evidence uncovered by investigators in four countries linked the assassination attempts to either Iran-backed Hezbollah militants or operatives based inside Iran, the Post reported Monday, citing U.S. and Middle Eastern security officials. The officials reportedly said that the assassination attempts stopped in early spring, when Iran began to take a softer tone with the West. Shortly after, Iranian officials formally accepted a proposal to resume negotiations with six world powers on proposals to limit...

The Shavuot holiday in Kochav Yaakov turned tense when Arabs entered the settlement late Saturday night – causing warning sirens to sound. The town, where parents and children alike were out in synagogues to study in honor of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, found itself rushing to find children, shutter windows, and bar its doors as the IDF responded to the threat. Ilan Malachi told Arutz Sheva about the tension that gripped the Binyamin region community. "We call the emergency squad, and a friend said that apparently there is Arabs had infiltrated into the community. It was...

Security experts have discovered a new data-stealing virus dubbed Flame they say has lurked inside thousands of computers across the Middle East for as long as five years as part of a sophisticated cyber warfare campaign. It is the most complex piece of malicious software discovered to date, said Kaspersky Lab security senior researcher Roel Schouwenberg, whose company discovered the virus. The results of the Lab's work were made available on Monday. Schouwenberg said he did not know who built Flame. If the Lab's analysis is correct, Flame could be the third major cyber weapon uncovered after the Stuxnet virus...

25 May 2012 Syria Crisis: Homs Fighting 'Leaves 50 Dead' At least 50 people, including 13 children, have been killed in Syria's restive Homs province, opposition activists say, calling it a "massacre". They said scores were wounded in the violence in Houla, as government forces shelled and attacked the town. If the toll is right, it would be one of the bloodiest attacks in one area since a nominal truce began in April. Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the opposition controlled "significant parts of some cities". In a letter to the Security Council, Mr Ban said the situation remained...

The UN Security Council has condemned the use of heavy weapons by Syria's government during a massacre in which 108 people were killed and 300 injured... Going into the meeting, Syria's big-power ally, Russia, made it clear that it needed to be convinced of the Syrian government's culpability for what had happened at Houla... Opposition activists say the Syrian military bombarded Houla after demonstrations. They say that some of the victims were killed during the shelling, while others were shot dead at close range by the regime militia known as the "shabiha"... Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations told...

The District Governor of the Shechem (Nablus) District in the Palestinian Authority called upon the international community Sunday to intervene quickly and provide the Palestinian Authority with protection from Jews. AlBakri warned that "The ongoing aggressiveness of the settlers will lead to violence in the entire region, the results of which cannot be predicted. The continued violence by settlers requires international intervention, he argued. He said that the Jews are interested in "widening" the cycle of violence in the summertime, in order to cause Arab farmers financial losses. "The escalation in attacks by settlers would not have occurred were it...

JERUSALEM—After a prolonged chill, security ties between Israel and China are warming up. With Israel offering much-needed technical expertise and China representing a huge new market and influential voice in the international debate over Iran's nuclear program, the two nations have stepped up military cooperation as they patch up a rift caused by a pair of failed arms deals scuttled by the U.S. The improved ties have been highlighted by this week's visit to Beijing by Israel's military chief and a training mission to Israel by the Chinese paramilitary force that, among other things, polices the restive Tibetan and Muslim...

Iran has significantly stepped up its output of low-enriched uranium and total production in the last five years would be enough for at least five nuclear weapons if refined much further, a U.S. security institute said. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a think-tank which tracks Iran's nuclear program closely, based the analysis on data in the latest report by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which was issued on Friday. Progress in Iran's nuclear activities is closely watched by the West and Israel as it could determine how long it could take Tehran to build atomic...

Italy's oil and gas major Eni has made a big oil discovery in the Western Desert of Egypt, part of the group's strategy of refocusing exploration activities in the country by targeting deeper plays in the Western Desert region. The discovery, at the Emry Deep exploration prospect, located in the Meleiha Concession 290 kilometers south west of Alexandria, is estimated at 150-250 million barrels of oil in place and will require further appraisal drilling, Eni said in a statement on Thursday. The full field development foresees an early production phase from the current well to be followed by the drilling...

First results after polls closed at 9pm last night showed Mohammed Morsi, the leader of the Brotherhood's political front, the Freedom and Justice Party, taking an early lead, seemingly confirming the group's own earlier exit polls. Analysts stressed that the count would be long and difficult, with a formal result only due on Tuesday. But other campaigns, including that of Amr Moussa, the former Arab League secretary-general long considered the front-runner, also said Mr Morsi was ahead and at least likely to gain one of the two spots in next month's run-off. Whether he will go on to win that...

It isn't often these days that you see two men, arms round each other, holding Israeli and Turkish flags. But an extraordinary rescue on the world's highest mountain has bonded two climbers, one from Israel and one a Turk. By his own account Nadav Ben-Yehuda was only 300 metres from the summit of Mount Everest, and on course to become the youngest Israeli to conquer it, when he spotted someone lying in the snow, clearly in trouble. He recognised Aydin Irmak as a Turkish climber he had befriended down at base camp. Other climbers, set on reaching the summit, or...

On Wednesday afternoon in Baghdad, a few thousand kilometers away from the Prime Minister’s Jerusalem Residence, the world powers known as the P5+1 – the US, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany – sat down for much anticipated talks with the Iranians about their nuclear program. At the same time, just a few hundred meters away from the Prime Minister’s Residence, 100 or so people loudly demonstrated for the rights of Ethiopian immigrants and against discrimination. And all the while, for two hours on a mild afternoon, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu – with a small black kippa on his head...

Who could not despise the tottering Bashar al-Assad dictatorship in Syria? The Syrian strongman has killed some 10,000 protestors over the last year; thousands of Syrians are now refugees. The autocracy arms and aids the terrorist organization Hezbollah. It targets democratic Israel with thousands of missiles, and still does its best to ruin neighboring Lebanon. Theocratic and terrorist-sponsoring Iran has few allies -- but Syria remains its staunchest. Almost no country over the last half-century has proved more hostile to the United States than has Syria. With sanctions not working, and with the Chinese, Iranians and Russians not eager to...

Nobody was expecting a breakthrough at Wednesday's nuclear talks in Baghdad, but most weren't expecting a breakdown, either. Indeed, predictions were that Iran and the P5+1 (the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China) would engage on more detailed proposals for concrete, reciprocal confidence building measures, and then adjourn by day's end having scheduled a new round of talks in a few weeks. But in what may be an exercise in brinkmanship, or a sign of an impending crisis, Iranian officials balked at the offer from the Western powers. "The points of agreement are not yet sufficient for another round,"...

>"WHAT HAPPENED," asks Michael Oren, "to Israel's reputation?" The Israeli ambassador to the United States, a noted historian, combat veteran, and bestselling author, raised that question in a Wall Street Journal essay last week. Writing on the 64th anniversary of Israeli independence, Oren began by quoting from Life magazine's salute to the Jewish state on its 25th birthday in 1973-- a 92-page special issue that honored the "astonishing achievement" of modern Israel, an island of enlightened democratic courage flourishing against all odds amid a sea of Arab hostility and violence. From "a tiny, parched, scarcely defensible toe-hold," Life declared, the...

A man from southern Israel divorced his wife this week because she had brought 550 cats into their home. The husband, apparently not a cat lover, told the Rabbinical Court in Beersheba that he was unable to sleep in his bedroom because the surface of the marital bed was constantly covered with cats who refused to lie on the floor. The man, in his divorce request, complained that the cats also blocked his access to the bathroom and did not allow him to prepare meals in the kitchen, the Hebrew daily Maariv reported Wednesday. When he sat to eat, cats...

Ongoing campaign comes despite promises by PA to stop arresting, harassing those posting critical Facebook comments. After a two-week lull, the Palestinian Authority has resumed its crackdown on Palestinian journalists and bloggers in the West Bank. The clampdown, which began three months ago, has targeted journalists and bloggers who reported on corruption cases in PA institutions or posted censorious comments on Facebook. The ongoing campaign comes despite promises by PA leaders to stop arresting and harassing Palestinian journalists and bloggers, especially those commenting on Facebook. At least nine journalists and bloggers have been arrested or interrogated by various branches of...

JERUSALEM – Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 2,700-year-old seal that bears the inscription "Bethlehem," the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday, in what experts believe to be the oldest artifact with the name of Jesus' traditional birthplace. The tiny clay seal's existence and age provide vivid evidence that Bethlehem was not just the name of a fabled biblical town, but also a bustling place of trade linked to the nearby city of Jerusalem, archaeologists said. Eli Shukron, the authority's director of excavations, said the find was significant because it is the first time the name "Bethlehem" appears outside of a biblical...

Gamal Abd Al-Nasser... Ahmadinejad..., and the Hamas Charter says that they want to annihilate Israel... Israel... left Gaza- and then what happened? They began launching missiles at them from Gaza. I have lived in America for 28 years. I love America and I love freedom. This country has given us a lot of freedom. I get really angry when I hear that some Muslims here curse America.... Do you know what they used to say in the mosques in Egypt? " We want to go to the White House, and turn it into the Islamic House. We want to cancel...

The self-described “pro-Israel, pro-peace” liberal advocacy group J Street is soliciting funds for congressional candidates who are openly hostile to Israel while simultaneously targeting for defeat explicitly pro-Israel lawmakers who do not agree with its radical Middle East agenda, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis of J Street’s election year strategy. Among the more than 50 candidates endorsed by J Street is a sizable delegation of lawmakers who have expressed hostility towards the Jewish state. At least six of J Street’s candidates have failed to affirm the U.S.-Israel alliance on the House floor, rejected Israel’s right to defend itself...

Since the toppling of the Hosni Mubarak regime last year, matters in Egypt – and thus in the Egyptian/Israeli relationship and in the surrounding Middle East – have steadily gone from bad to worse. Strangely, few are taking notice. The Obama Administration actively encouraged the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in the eventual successor regime and has legitimized this avowed anti-American, Islamist organization. Editorials around the country show little indication of being aware of how bad the situation is becoming. Yet the evidence is plentiful. The MB has never made a secret of seeking to abrogate the 1979 Egyptian/Israeli...

Salameh Kaileh, 56, was arrested April 24 on suspicion of printing leaflets calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is fighting a 15-month-old uprising against his rule. Kaileh's story offers a rare inside glimpse into the conditions faced by detainees held by the country's feared security services. "It was hell on earth," Kaileh told The Associated Press on Sunday, nearly a week after Syrian forces released him and deported him to Jordan. Speaking at his friend's home in an Amman suburb, Kaileh had bluish-red bruises on his legs, which he said were the result of beatings with...

A statement issued by the European Union on Tuesday seemed to suggest it supports Palestinian Authority Arabs’ rights to throw stones during non-violent protests. The statement, released on Tuesday by the spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, criticized Israel for convicting PA Arab Bassem Tamimi of dispatching stone-throwers and protesting illegally. An Israeli court convicted Tamimi on Sunday, according to an AFP report. The 45-year-old was charged with soliciting stone-throwing based on evidence that he directed such incidents from the roof-tops. He was arrested on March 24, 2011, AFP reported,...

Israel is being urged to reroute its controversial West Bank barrier away from the lands of an ancient Palestinian village with a unique agricultural system. The BBC's Wyre Davies visited Battir, whose inhabitants fear their traditional way of life will disappear. In this part of the world, the supply and control of water is a major logistical and political issue. Yet the quaint village of Battir must be one of the luckiest and most blessed communities around - because Battir has water in abundance. For more than 2,000 years, seven natural springs have given life to the village and its...

An Israeli human rights group has released a video that appears to show Israeli soldiers standing by while Jewish settlers open fire on stone-throwing Palestinian protesters in the West Bank, wounding one of them, reports the BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes. It is the sort of incident that we often hear about, but almost never get to see. This time, thanks to B'Tselem, we have graphic video evidence of what happened. The picture the videos paint is disturbing. It appears to show Jewish settler youths attacking a Palestinian village; later heavily armed Jewish settlers shooting at, and wounding, a Palestinian man,...

Last week, Iranian blogger Potkin Azarmehr questioned the authenticity of reports that Iran had executed Majid Jamali Fashi, the 24-year-old Iranian accused of carrying out the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Massoud-Ali Mohammadi. This morning, Potkin circulated a snapshot of an Israeli passport, showcased on Iranian TV, which authorities claim is evidence that Fashi was an Israeli agent.

Two days before the second round of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers in Baghdad, senior Israeli officials criticized the diplomats in charge of negotiations with the Islamic Republic. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the upcoming talks, saying that "the Western powers must not reveal any weakness while dealing with Iran, and must not cave in on any aspect of its nuclear program.” “The west is bowing down to Iran, and at the same time the chief of staff of Iranian military chief is revealing Iran’s true intentions, as he calls for the destruction of Israel,” said one

Mattis wanted to send a third aircraft-carrier group to the Persian Gulf earlier this year, The Daily Beast has exclusively learned, in what would have been a massive show of force at a time when Iranian military commanders were publicly threatening to sink American ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The four-star Marine Corps general and CentCom commander believed the display could have deterred Iran from further escalating tensions, according to U.S. military officials familiar with his thinking. But the president wanted to focus military resources on new priorities like China, and Mattis was told a third carrier group was...

The Arab League called on Tehran on Monday to halt what it described as a media campaign against Bahrain over a proposal for political and military union between Gulf Arab states. Saudi Arabia has been pushing the idea of closer Gulf integration to contain Shi'ite Muslim unrest in Bahrain and counter the influence of regional Shi'ite power Iran. Riyadh's initial goal appears to be a merger with Bahrain, where majority Shi'ites have been staging pro-democracy demonstrations targeting the Sunni Muslim ruling family for over a year. Bahraini leaders have been publicly receptive to union. "The Iranian government must stop its...

Police on Monday afternoon demolished a wedding tent at the Jewish outpost of Ramat Migron and presented an order declaring the planned nuptial site to be a closed military zone. According to 'Tatzfit' forces detained all those at the site who were setting up the wedding, dismantled the wedding tent and other equipment, and threatened to arrest anyone who persisted in making preparations at the site. The wedding party decided to move the event to an adjacent area, near the road. However, dozens of people then began throwing rocks at security forces from across the road. No injuries were reported,...

Sherkoh Abbas, a veteran Syrian Kurdish dissident, called on Israel this week to support the break-up of Syria into a series of federal structures based on the country's various ethnicities. Speaking from Washington, Abbas was also critical of US attempts to induce Syrian Kurds to join and work with the main opposition body, the Syrian National Council... Kurds are the largest ethnic minority population in Syria. They number more than 10 percent of the population, centered in the northeastern provinces of Hasakeh and Qamishli. There is also a large, partly Arabized Kurdish population in the cities of Aleppo, Hama and...

Israel denied Monday reports in the Turkish press that it planned to deploy thousands of troops in Cyprus to protect oil and gas interests in the sensitive region... Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted a Greek Cypriot official saying that Israel planned to send 20,000 troops to the Greek part of the divided island to protect 30,000 Israelis to be employed in nascent joint oil and gas projects. Turkey on Friday threatened reprisals against companies bidding for oil and gas drilling projects off Cyprus, in the latest spat between Ankara and the island's internationally recognised government... Turkey's warning came after the...

The Film Class, Uri Rosenwaks, current exhibitions, (Petach Tikva Museum) 9 Feb 2012 – The community of black Bedouins ("Afro-Bedouins") in the desert town of Rahat faces racial and class discrimination deeply rooted in the social conventions of the traditional Bedouin community in the Negev. The black Bedouins' roots lie in East Africa, where they were captured by Arab slave traders and sold in the markets of Zanzibar and Saudi Arabia to white Bedouin tribes. These markets operated until the early 20th century; many of those abducted and their offspring continued to serve as slaves in Palestine until 1948 (when...

A preliminary count of votes for Egyptians living abroad has put Islamist candidate Abdul-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh in the lead, followed by left-leaning Hamdeen Sabahi . The online statement by the State Information Service (SIS) on Saturday added that the figures "confirmed a sharp competition" for third between Amr Moussa and Mohamed Mursi.

The non-governmental group B’Tselem released footage Sunday of a seemingly deadly stand-off that occurred Saturday between Israeli settlers and Palestinian men near the settlement of Yitzhar and the town of Asira al-Qibliya. In the video, a group of presumed Palestinians is throwing rocks at what appear to be the settlers, who are armed with rifles. Less than a minute into the video, a man named as 24-year-old Fathi Asayira is seemingly shot in retaliation by a settler armed with a rifle. As the man who was allegedly shot is carried away by his companions, the settlers and what appears to...

Toronto’s Pride Week is at risk of losing its city funding now that Queers Against Israeli Apartheid has confirmed its intention to return to the parade this year. Council is slated to vote next month on providing a $123,807 grant to Pride Toronto, a decision that would have been routine if not for QuAIA’s plan to apply for a spot in the parade before the June 1 deadline. ... On top of the grant, the city provides about $300,000 worth of police, clean-up and other services for Pride Week, which runs from June 22 to July 1 and has a...

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a military parade rehearsal Monday in Yemen's capital, killing at least 60 soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks in the city in years, according to the ministry of defense, officials and witnesses. The bombing appeared to be a failed assassination attempt against the Minister of Defense, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, who arrived at the city square for the parade just minutes before the blast ripped through the area.

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Monday that efforts will continue to summon South Africa's ambassador for censure over his country's announcement on Saturday that products made in Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron) will be marked as being from "Occupied Palestinian Territory". The South African ambassador disconnected his telephone on Sunday, however, apparently to avoid the summons, sources in the Foreign Ministry said. Arutz Sheva's attempts to reach the South African embassy for a reaction were not successful. Rabbi Natan Alexander, a Bnei Akiva emissary in Johanesburg, told Arutz Sheva on Sunday that he was not surprised by the...

The traditional Jerusalem Day celebrations at the flagship religious Zionist yeshiva, Merkaz HaRav Kook, took place on Sunday evening so as not to cause desecration of the Sabbath. This year, in addition to words of Torah about the city, dancing and joyous song led by famed clarinetist Musa Berlin and singer Akiva Margaliot, they included an historical revelation by the head of the yeshiva and an emotional declaration of loyalty to united Jerusalem by the Prime Minister himself, who vowed "I will never forget thee, O Jerusalem" and spoke of the international pressures to give in on the city with...

More than 80 percent of 304,000 Jews in Judea and Samaria own their own homes, nearly 15 percent more than the national average, according to government statistics. The official population figures, higher by up to 20 percent than numbers reported by several left-wing groups, do not include young people living in “illegal” communities. Information from the Central Bureau of Statistics, reported by Globes, paints a picture of quality of life not enjoyed by Israelis living in urban communities. The statistics do not include other factors such as education, which is a high priority in most towns in Judea and Samaria...

Iran is dedicated to annihilating Israel, the Islamic regime’s military chief of staff declared Sunday. “The Iranian nation is standing for its cause and that is the full annihilation of Israel,” Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi said in a speech to a defense gathering Sunday in Tehran. His remarks came on the day International Atomic Energy Agency director Yukiya Amano flew to Tehran to negotiate for inspections of Iran’s nuclear program. They were reported by the Fars News Agency, the media outlet of the Revolutionary Guards Corps. While many within the Islamic regime, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have often stated that...

Following are excerpts from an interview with former PA Mufti Sheik Ikrima Sabri, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on May 11, 2012: Interviewer: Do you agree that in Jerusalem, there are places that are holy to the Muslims, the Jews and the Christians? Ikrima Sabri: No, not to the Jews. I didn't say to the Jews. Omar Ibn Al-Khattab didn't find any synagogues of the Jews. There weren't any. Interviewer: So in your opinion, today there are no places whatsoever in Jerusalem that are holy to the Jews? Ikrima Sabri: No, none. They build new synagogues, but there are no...

Jimmy Carter - Mass Murderer Pravda 16.05.2012 Boni pastoris est tondere pecus, non deglubere. - Tiberius By John Fleming   ... Jimmy Carter affects a superficial appearance of amiability and since leaving the White House, besides his well-known work for Habitat for Humanity, he has espoused time and again humanitarian causes. He has been appointed a diplomatic plenipotentiary time and again, especially under Clinton, and he made a well-publicized trip to Cuba and met Fidel Castro recently, where he, without mentioning the repression under corporate monopoly capitalism, in Georgia and everywhere else in the U.S., chided Castro in a would-be...

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday urged Israeli leaders to relinquish the idea of a unified Jerusalem if they truly want peace, contending in a pair of interviews that years of government neglect have kept the Jewish and Arab sectors irreparably divided. The comments, made as Israel marked the 45th anniversary of capturing east Jerusalem, were nearly unprecedented for a mainstream Israeli leader and put Olmert at odds with his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu. Celebrating Israel's control of Jerusalem, Netanyahu declared his government was committed to keeping the entire city Israel's undivided capital. "No Israeli government since 1967 has done...

negotiations Dangerously fruitful dialogue Dangerously fruitful dialogue Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is entrusted with a decisive mission in Tehran Sunday, May 20: collecting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s broad endorsement of the interim eight-point deal he and US President Barack Obama have drafted through secret dialogue. debkafile has obtained exclusive access to the eight points - with the caveat that they may not be final. The details are still to be hammered out and proved practicable. But the way the deal stands now, it will be unacceptable to Israel because if affords Iran enough leeway to carry...

Rabbi David Nesenoff who made the famous Helen Thomas viral video at the White House...has made a video about Jews and Obama.

Two weeks ago, US Congressman Joe Walsh published an op-ed in the The Washington Times in which he called for the US and Israel to abandon the two-state solution. After running through the record of Palestinian duplicity, failed governance, terrorism and bad faith, he called for Israel to apply its sovereignty to Judea and Samaria. In his words, Israel should "adopt the only solution that will bring true peace to the Middle East: a single Israeli state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Israel is the only country in the region dedicated to peace and the only power...

The future is here and this is not a butterfly on your wall, as Israeli drones are getting tiny. Their latest project – a butterfly-shaped drone weighing just 20 grams - the smallest in its range so far – can gather intelligence inside buildings. ­The new miniscule surveillance device can take color pictures and is capable of a vertical take-off and hover flight, just like a helicopter, reports the daily Israel Hayom. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) says this may come in handy in ground clashes, when a soldier would merely take it out of a pocket and send behind the...

An Arab terrorist was seriously wounded by his own knife when he tried to stab a soldier and dozens of bicyclists near Gush Etzion, all of whom escaped injury. The cyclists were riding from the Hevron Hills to Jerusalem to celebrate the 45th Jerusalem Unification Day. Soldiers escorted the bicycle event, and when the rider reached Gush Etzion, located only a few miles from Jerusalem, the terrorist took out his knife and lunged at soldiers. During the clash, his knife entered his stomach, wounding him seriously. Israel medics rushed him to Hadassah...