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Ayatollah Khomeini's heirs are breathing new life into the Islamic revolution in the hope of transforming Iran into a regional power. The Iranian revolution can only point to a single achievement in the Arab world: Hizbullah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah are keeping revolutionary fervor alive in Lebanon. This base of exported revolution is central to Iran's political-diplomatic efforts to achieve a higher status in the region and in the world. Two additional foundations of Iranian power must be added: * The Iranian nuclear program, complete with delivery systems capable of reaching targets in the Middle East and Europe. *...

Over 15,000 naval personnel from four countries are participating in a Joint Task Force Exercise dubbed "Operation Brimstone", that is underway in North Carolina and off the eastern U.S. coast from Virginia to Florida. The nine day exercise began Monday and includes special forces from France, Brazil and the United Kingdom. The large exercise comes barely a month after the Israeli air force conducted a massive exercise in the Mediterranean reportedly a rehearsal for a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites, and also shortly after the Geneva meeting where six world powers gave Iran yet another ultimatum of two weeks...

Last Wednesday's pageantry in Beirut celebrating the return of Samir Kuntar marked a black day for Lebanon. It is hardly the first time an Arab terror outfit has held a street party for murderers - sweets were handed out in plenty of Arab capitals on 9/11. Still, it was surprising to see the participation of many members of Lebanon's pro-democracy March 14 movement, like Prime Minister Fouad Siniora who has become a significant US ally over the last three years. Now, Lebanon's friends in the international community, especially in Washington, who backed March 14's struggle and looked to it as...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel is facing its worst existential threat since the birth of the State, said Republican US presidential candidate Senator John McCain on Wednesday, McCain said the combination of external threast by Iranian nuclear weaponry and the presence of terrorist groups on Israel's borders, plus the internal threat posed by political upheavel due to the corruption investigations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, comprises the greatest threat to Israel since 1948. "My feeling about Israel today is that they are probably in many respects under a greater threat... than they've been in since their independence," he in a campaign speech back...

OBAMA VISITS WESTERN WALL IN OLD CITY JERUSALEM... ARRIVES AT 5:08 AM LOCAL TIME [10:08 PM ET]... SUNRISE... SHOUTING MAN: 'JERUSALEM IS NOT FOR SALE, OBAMA'... MOB SCENE... CHAOS... BOWING HIS HEAD IN PRAYER... PLACES NOTE IN WALL... POSES FOR PHOTOS... LOTS OF SHOUTING... LEAVES 5:20 AM... DEVELOPING...

As they say: developing picture available on Drudge

A report expected to be released by the United States security coordinator to Israel will reveal a turf war going on between two American generals sent by the State Department to the region, Israeli defense officials said Wednesday. Lt. -General Keith Dayton Photo: US Department of Defense Slideshow: Pictures of the week Author of the report Gen. (ret.) James Jones was appointed security envoy to Israel and the Palestinian Authority by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice following the Annapolis Conference in November. While earlier media reports have claimed that the document will slam Israel for its policies in the territories,...

Senator Barack Obama, the visiting Democratic presidential candidate who is leading the race for the White House, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday evening that, if elected president, he would do "everything in my power" to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Asked about concerns that the Iranians would abuse his stated readiness for "tough diplomacy" to play for time and keep moving ahead toward the bomb, Obama said that his "willingness to negotiate" had "very clear and direct goals" and "a sense of urgency." So "if the Iranians fail to respond, we've stripped away whatever excuses they may have,...

DRUDGE HEADLINE WITH PHOTO: "POLITICS HITS THE WALL: PRAYER FOR CHANGE"

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has called the U.S. decision to send a representative to international nuclear talks in Geneva a "positive step." But he reiterated Wednesday that his country will not back down in the face of international pressure to suspend sensitive nuclear activities. Mr. Ahmadinejad vowed Iran will continue to pursue nuclear technology despite the efforts of what he called oppressive powers. In Washington, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Mr. Ahmadinejad's statements continue to isolate the Iranian people from the international community. Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran could face additional sanctions if...

(IsraelNN.com) The Coalition for a United Jerusalem held a news conference in the capital Tuesday night to demand that US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama express unequivocal support for the unification of Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty. The Coalition, which represents a group of Jewish organizations including the American Israeli Action Coalition, the Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel, Emunah Women, the Rabbinical Council of America in Israel, the Worldwide Young Israel Movement and the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), called on Obama to reaffirm his positive views for the future of Jerusalem. The presumptive Democratic nominee declared at...

(CNN) – Responding to an Israeli reporter’s question Wednesday on his commitment to protect the Jewish state, Barack Obama pointed to a bill “we passed” in the U.S. Senate Banking Committee that tightens sanctions and authorizes divestment from Iran. “My committee,” he called it. Except that he isn’t a member of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. “Just this past week, we passed out of the out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee - which is my committee - a bill to call for divestment from Iran as way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they...

SDEROT, Israel (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama assured Israel and its U.S. Jewish supporters on Wednesday he was a friend who would not press for peace concessions that would compromise its security. Hailing Israel as a "miracle," he vowed staunch support and held only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank. Obama, seeking to allay wariness among some U.S. Jewish voters about his policy towards Israel, flew to Sderot, a town hit by rockets fired from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, saying he hoped to bring peace but would not dictate the terms of...

Sen. Barack Obama stands next to the Eternal Flame at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in J'lem. Can I just say that I don't get the wreath thing. I know various leaders do this, but it isn't a Jewish custom to put flowers at a grave so I don't really get this. Obama and Bibi. Bibi looks cute, but it's hard to tell what he thinks about meeting Obama. Considering that Israelis favor McCain by 20 points and that Obama's fan club in Israel has only 57 members, probably not too much. Obama with clown Shimon Peres. Obama looks...

Iran is set to receive an advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft system by year-end that could help fend off any preemptive strikes against its nuclear facilities, senior Israeli defence sources said on Wednesday.

So, Barack Hussein Obama is on a world tour that, today, includes Israel. So, he's doing the obligatory photo ops at various Jewish religious sites to pretend he's really not as anti-Israel as his years of association with Edward Said, Ali Abunimah, Louis Farrakhan, and Rev. Jeremiah Wright tell us. Ditto for his multiple Nation of Islam staffers and desire to meet and negotiate with Iran--Israel's most lethal enemy--without preconditions. Well, guess what? Contrary to the host of American Jews falling for and supporting this fraud, smart Israelis ain't buyin'. They're no dummies. They know this is a BS photo-op...

SDEROT, Israel (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Wednesday a nuclear Iran would pose a "grave threat" and that the world must stop Tehran from obtaining an atomic weapon. Obama told reporters during a visit to Israel that if elected, he would take "no options off the table" in dealing with the Iran issue and said tougher sanctions could be imposed. "A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat and the world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama told reporters after visiting the Israeli town of Sderot, which lies close to the border...

Filed Under (Ruth Matar's letters from Jerusalem) by admin THE TEDDY BEAR DEMONSTRATION Letter from Ruth Matar (Women in Green) Jerusalem Thursday, July 17, 2008 Dear Friends, I was deeply shocked to learn that presidential candidate Barrack Hussein Obama has appointed Daniel Kurtzer as his key Middle East adviser! Kurtzer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, has long been recognized by Israel leaders, including prime ministers, as biased against Israel and is notorious for urging extreme concessions from the Jewish State. The first time I came across the name Daniel Kurtzer was in December 2003, when, as U.S. Ambassador to...

A Palestinian in a mechanical digger has rammed traffic in west Jerusalem, injuring at least 10 people before being shot dead. A bus and a number of cars were hit during the incident. Some cars were crushed and one was turned on its roof. Witnesses say an armed civilian first shot at the driver, before he was killed by border police. Three weeks ago a Palestinian man went on a deadly rampage in a heavy vehicle in Jerusalem, killing three Israelis. The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says it is thought the 2 July attacker was simply a disturbed man...

JERUSALEM - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Monday that the United States could never allow Iran to inflict a "second Holocaust" on the Jewish people, in comments aired on Israeli TV on the eve of a visit to Israel by his Democratic rival Barack Obama. Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, has described Iran's nuclear program as a threat to its existence. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last month said it must be stopped by "all possible means." Asked whether he would back Israel if it chose to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, McCain...

Obama to Israel: Put Terrorism in Context The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) issued the following statement today: Senator Obama in Jordan today said that terrorism makes 'Israelis want to dig in and simply think about their own security regardless of what's going on beyond their borders.' What Senator Obama fails to recognize is that the safety and security of its citizenry is the primary obligation of a country's leadership. In essence, Senator Obama is asking Israelis and the American Jewish community to put terrorism in context. Senator Obama continues his rhetoric of moral equivalence by implying that measures taken by...

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama tried to say all the right things Wednesday, affirming that as president he would preserve the close relationship between Washington and Jerusalem, and pledged that Israel's security would be a top priority in his administration. "I'm here on this trip to reaffirm the special relationship between Israel and the United States and my abiding commitment to Israel's security and my hope that I can serve as an effective partner, whether as a U.S. senator or as president," Obama said during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres. Obama had a packed day of meetings with...

Gillerman in Final Speech: Whatever Happens, Israel will Prevail by Gil Ronen Israel's outgoing Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Gillerman, gave his last speech Tuesday to the U.N. Security Council. Referring to Jerusalem's second tractor terror attack in three weeks, which occurred just hours before his speech, he said that when the first tractor attack occurred, people said the driver was "a madman." It now is clear, he added, that the problem was not a solitary madman but rather "a phenomenon."

JERUSALEM - Barack Obama wrinkles. Just slightly, and just when he has to wear a flak jacket over his blue oxford shirt. The media behemoth slouching after the senator is scouring his every word, expression, bead of sweat, basketball shot and accessory — are those hiking boots too Bremer? Are the sunglasses too rapper? Will he leave enough time for his glittery groupie, Carla Bruni? — for hints of imperfection that would foretell lacunae in presidential judgment. The One, as McCain aides sardonically call Obama, glided through Afghanistan, Iraq and Jordan, girding his messianic loins for the inevitable kvetching he...

As of this moment, the state of affairs between Israel and the Arabs is discouraging from the Israeli standpoint and encouraging from the Arab point of view. Everything appears to have been reversed: If in the past Israel relied on its wiles and the Arabs fell for its ruses, now the relationship has been turned upside down, as so often happens in life. Again and again, we encounter this reversal of roles. Once, unable to deal with the superiority of Israel's cunning, the Arabs were sustained by delusions or waited for miracles. Now the situation is topsy-turvy: The Arabs rely...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama began a visit to Jerusalem on Wednesday pledging staunch support for Israel and saying that if elected, he would work to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process. As part of an overseas tour aimed at bolstering his foreign policy credentials, Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Israel opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials. "I will share some of my ideas. The most important idea for me to reaffirm is the historic and special relationship between the United States and Israel -- one that...

White House hopeful Barack Obama stepped into the maelstrom of the Middle East, stating ahead of talks with Israeli leaders he would strengthen US bonds with Israel if elected president.The Democratic senator, on a high-risk tour to prove his diplomatic and commander-in-chief credentials, arrived in Jerusalem late Tuesday for a packed presidential-style schedule after visiting Iraq and Jordan.But regional tensions immediately intruded, as a Palestinian man was shot dead after launching a bulldozer rampage which wounded at least 16 people near Jerusalem's King David Hotel where Obama was to stay.Obama condemned the attack, saying it was "a reminder of what...

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews assault two Palestinians in Jerusalem Tuesday evening; 'people in yeshiva were yelling: murder the Jews who protect Arabs,' says Jewish man who saved lynch victims' lives Roi Mandel Published: 07.22.08, 23:08 / Israel News Hatred in Jerusalem: Two Palestinians narrowly escaped a lynching attempt in Jerusalem Tuesday evening after they were assaulted by dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews. The two Arabs were wounded, while a Jewish resident who protected them with his body was stabbed. "Blood was boiling, and these crazy people almost killed me," the Jewish man told Ynet. The police are looking into the incident...

"Let me be absolutely clear," Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said today at a press conference in Amman, Jordan. "Israel is a strong friend of Israel's. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under a McCain...administration. It will be a strong friend of Israel's under an Obama administration. So that policy is not going to change."

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) was looking into Palestinian claims on Monday that settlers from Har Bracha and Yitzhar in the West Bank fired two rockets into fields near Nablus. A picture of the "rocket" provided by a left-wing activist and obtained by The Jerusalem Post shows a burning metallic cylinder lying in a field near Nablus. The Shin Bet said it could not confirm what the cylinder was and raised the possibility that settlers had fired a homemade rocket or that Palestinians had discovered an old military shell and set it on fire. One of the two projectiles...

Obama to Israel: Put Terrorism in Context Washington, D.C. (July 22, 2008) -- The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) issued the following statement today: "Senator Obama in Jordan today said that terrorism makes 'Israelis want to dig in and simply think about their own security regardless of what's going on beyond their borders.' What Senator Obama fails to recognize is that the safety and security of its citizenry is the primary obligation of a country's leadership. In essence, Senator Obama is asking Israelis and the American Jewish community to put terrorism in context. Senator Obama continues his rhetoric of moral equivalence...

Hamas said on Tuesday morning that one of its members has been killed in an explosion in the Gaza Strip. The rulers of the Gaza Strip said the man was killed on a "Jihad mission." They identified him as Khalil Ibrahim Jundiyeh. Two other members of Hamas were hurt in the blast Tuesday at the victim's home near Gaza City. One of the wounded was in critical condition, according to medical sources in Gaza Strip. Hamas said it had launched a probe to investigate the deadly incident.

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama vowed on Tuesday to work for a breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations "starting from the minute I'm sworn into office." In a news conference here before departing for Israel, he said any U.S. involvement in peace talks must recognize not only Israel's security concerns but also the economic hardships facing Palestinians. He said he would continue to regard Israel as a valued ally. "That policy is not going to change," he said. "What I think can change is the ability of the United States government and a United States president to be actively engaged with...

I have two grandchildren, ages 5 and 7. If you're a parent or grandparent yourself, I challenge you not to think about a child you love when you read what I'm about to tell you. I challenge you not to share my disgust with the barbarians who use the blood of innocents to further their political agendas. And I challenge you not to share my contempt for the bureaucrats who think they can appease them. For the governments that think their actions don't have consequences. For the politicians who think that something - anything - good can come from allowing...

A letter from an anxious Israeli to the presidential candidate on the eve of his visit to Jerusalem JERUSALEM — Dear Senator Obama, Welcome to Israel. When you arrive here today, you will encounter a people intrigued by your candidacy and, given the current crisis of Israeli leadership, envious of your capacity to inspire. Issues that have worried some Americans about your background have scarcely been noted here. The whispering campaign labeling you a Muslim wasn't taken seriously by mainstream Israelis. Nor are we fazed by your middle name: Half of Israel's Jewish population has origins in Muslim cultures. Despite...

In the Arab-speaking world, the 'honor' gained through fighting trumps any material benefits gained through negotiating. The number-one mistake people make trying to understand the Middle East is refusing to believe folks here think differently from themselves. As Captain Ahab hunted the white whale, as prospectors hunt for gold, as... well, you get the idea, so is the hunt for the great Arab moderate. There are Arab moderates, some very smart and brave people. The problem is none are in positions of power and all must shut up or face repression, defined as enemies of their people. The view of...

Senior officials in the U.S. State Department, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have repeatedly complained to Israel recently over relatively minor Palestinian issues that it would have ignored until a few months ago, Israeli officials say. Complaints about settlement construction or army operations that kill Palestinian civilians have always been the norm. But Israeli officials are worried by the State Department's new tendency to intervene in a much broader range of issues. Advertisement One such case occurred two weeks ago, when the daughter of Palestinian parliamentarian Hanan Ashrawi sought to visit Israel. At one time, she had lived in...

Sixteen people were wounded, one of them moderately, as a bulldozer driver went on a rampage in central Jerusalem Tuesday afternoon in an apparent attempt to recreate the terror attack in the capital earlier this month. The vehicle reportedly left a construction site near Yemin Moshe neighborhood and set off towards Liberty Bell Park (Gan Hapa'amon), near the corner of Keren Hayesod and King David streets. It drove a distance of approximately 160 meters, attempting to overturn a bus and crashing into four other vehicles - one of which it flipped over. The man was then shot dead by a...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Monday that the United States could never allow Iran to inflict a "second Holocaust" on the Jewish people, in comments aired on Israeli TV on the eve of a visit to Israel by his Democratic rival Barack Obama. --snip-- Asked whether he would back Israel if it chose to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, McCain told Channel 2 TV: "But I have to look you in the eye and tell you that the United States of America can never allow a second Holocaust."

Tomorrow, Barack Obama will step off his plane into Israel and under a microscope. While he is there, American voters - Jews, Evangelical Christians and others - who factor a presidential candidate's policies toward Israel into their electoral choice, will watch Obama's every step and listen to his every word very, very closely. Recent polling indicates that Barack Obama has less support among American Jews than previous Democratic presidential nominees. This is not merely because an unprecedented campaign has been waged by viral emails and incendiary articles falsely portraying Obama as harboring secret biases for the Palestinian cause and taking...

Israel will “almost surely” strike Iran’s nuclear sites in the coming months — and if the conventional attacks fail to destroy or at least delay Iran’s nuclear program, the Middle East will face a nuclear war. That’s the view of Benny Morris, a professor of Middle Eastern history at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, who predicts either a subsequent pre-emptive Israeli nuclear strike or a nuclear exchange after Iran gets the bomb. “Should Israel’s conventional assault fail to significantly harm or stall the Iranian program, a ratcheting up of the Iranian-Israeli conflict to a nuclear level will most likely follow,” Morris, author...

As the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, you are about to leave your post after nearly six years and return to Tel Aviv at a time when Iran is releasing touched-up photographs of its latest missile tests and continuing to enrich uranium in defiance of U.N. sanctions. How seriously do you take their threats? Listen to Ahmadinejad, who denies the Holocaust while planning the next one, who talks about wiping Israel off the face of the map — listen to him, and take him at face value.But what if it’s all bluster? Maybe he’s just a short man who...

It is difficult to imagine Israel attacking Iran. It is, however, more difficult to imagine Israel not attacking Iran. Consider three questions: First, does Iran mean what it says about destroying Israel? When its leaders repeatedly call for Israel's annihilation, after referring to it as a cancer and using other rhetoric not heard on a national level since the Nazi regime's depiction of Jews, is this just rhetorical flourish? Or do they really hope and plan to destroy Israel? Second, can Iran do it? One can hope and even plan to do something outrageous, but that does not necessarily mean...

I’ve never seen a better demonstration of the mainstream media’s collusion with terrorists and murderers than this post at the blog of McClatchy Newspapers Jerusalem bureau chief Dion Nissenbaum: Kickin’ it with Samir Kuntar. What the hell is wrong with these people? From the Dion Nissenbaum's blog: "Samir Kuntar is sitting under a photo of himself standing next to Hassan Nasrallah and telling friends that he almost didn’t come home. As Israel was getting ready to free Kuntar last Wednesday, the Lebanese militant told guards that he didn’t want to walk to freedom in a prison uniform. When the Israeli...

The foreign media's lack of coverage of Hizbullah's lavish celebrations last week reveal how journalists have capitulated at the hands of extremism. The foreign media's coverage, or lack of coverage, of Hizbullah's lavish celebration of the return of Samir Kuntar last week revealed just how journalists covering this region have capitulated at the hands of extremism. With the exception of an editorial in the Boston Globe denouncing the warm welcome as "morally repulsive" and condemnations from a few conservative papers such as the New York Post, most journalists failed to report on just how repugnant the culture promoted by Hamas...

With the specter of another Ron Arad-type tragedy looming, the return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit has taken center stage. Yet the impending prisoner release could spell a hero's welcome for my daughter's murderer, one even more chilling than that for Samir Kuntar. Hamas has repeatedly said that one of its iron-clad conditions for Schalit's return is the release of all female and teenage Palestinian prisoners. And after Hizbullah's emboldening success in freeing Kuntar, Hamas is certain to be more extortionist than ever. But the government must plumb the ramifications of this purportedly "humanitarian" demand. WHO ARE those anonymous female...

The sickening specter of a monster like Samir Kuntar being welcomed home in Lebanon as a conquering hero should turn the stomachs of all who repose faith in humanity. Even for a generation neutered to horror stories, his crimes stand out. In April, 1979, after killing a police officer and then shooting Danny Haran at close range in the back in front of his four-year-old-daughter Einat, Kuntar proceeded to smash the head of the little girl on beach rocks and then crushed her skull with the butt of his rifle. The coup-de-grace was when, in an attempt to hide her...

As Gordon Brown, the first British prime minister ever to address the Knesset, told our parliamentarians on Monday, his father was a lifelong friend of Israel who chaired the Church of Scotland's Israel Committee, visited at least twice a year and learned Hebrew. Evidently, he didn't teach his son. Brown admirably attempted, in Hebrew, to utter a phrase of greeting at the start of his speech and to quote Herzl's "If you will it, it is no dream" at the end - but rather mangled both. Indeed, his pronunciations were notable on several occasions, including an "Auschwitz" rendered as "Ouchwhich."...

(IsraelNN.com) Everyday, hundreds of Jewish women and girls are being held in captivity by abusive Arab husbands and boyfriends across Israel. Often their only way out is a daring breakout while the abusers are away. This newly released video shows the story of one such rescue. The video shows how “N.” and her eight children were rescued from their “home” in an Arab section of Jerusalem’s Old City, just minutes from their brothers praying at the Kotel(The Western Wall). “N” had used the Yad L’Achim helpline to be in touch with the volunteer rescue squad. The volunteers infiltrated the Arab...

One of the most striking aspects of our political discourse, particularly during election time, is how efficiently certain views that deviate from the elite consensus are banished from sight -- simply prohibited -- even when those views are held by the vast majority of citizens. The University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes -- the premiere organization for surveying international public opinion -- released a new survey a couple of weeks ago regarding public opinion on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, including opinion among American citizens, and this is what it found: A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 18 countries finds that...