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The Palestinian Authority's official news agency Wafa says Israel is using rats to drive Arab families out of their homes in the Old City of Jerusalem. Has the Palestinian Authority smelled a rat in east Jerusalem? Photo: Courtesy/Joanna Servaes Slideshow: Pictures of the week In the past the news agency, which is controlled and funded by PA President Mahmoud Abbas's office, has accused Israel of using wild pigs to drive Palestinians out of their homes and fields in the West Bank. In the reports, Palestinians were quoted by the agency as saying that they had seen Israelis release herds of...

Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip arrested 120 men aligned with Fatah faction on Saturday after an explosion there killed five Hamas members and a girl, the Hamas' officials and Fatah said. Friday's blast next to a car used by the armed wing of Hamas killed three members and the girl, and two others later died of their wounds in hospital, Reuters said. "The Fatah movement has no link whatsovever with these internal disputes within Hamas," a statement by Fatah said. "The claim that Fatah carried out these explosions aims to cover up the fact that there are disputes...

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that Iran has boosted the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges to up to 6,000, in an expansion of its nuclear drive that defies international calls for a freeze. "Today they (the West) have agreed that the existing 5,000 to 6,000 centrifuges do not increase and that there is no problem if this number of centrifuges work," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by state radio. Ahmadinejad said in April that Iran was working to install 6,000 more centrifuges at an underground hall in a plant at its nuclear facility in Natanz, where it already had 3,000...

In today’s edition of Time, there was an interesting analysis of the potential problems of an Israeli strike on Iran.

Would it be a great disaster if Iran had nuclear weapons? As a habitual contrarian, I pose the question because almost everyone seems to believe that it would, and that it must be prevented at all costs. But is that true? John Bolton, the former United States ambassador to the United Nations, said in April that "if the choice is [Iran] continuing [toward a nuclear bomb] or the use of force, I think you're at a Hitler marching into the Rhineland point." Bush, too, has compared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler. But these so-called statesmen never consider what might...

Sen. Obama's delivered a crucial speech in Berlin on July 24. Find the missing words. This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we...

John McCain said he would move the U.S. embassy to Israel to Jerusalem upon being elected president. "Right away," Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) the presumptive Republican nominee for president told CNN Friday. "I've been committed to that proposition for years."

Miriam Farhat, the Palestinian mother who became famous in 2002 when she appeared in a video encouraging her son to attack a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, was reported Thursday to be in critical condition after suffering a massive heart attack. When I see all the Jews in Palestine killed, that will be enough for me," she said on camera. "I wish he will kill as many as he can, so they will be scared." Her son Muhammad, 19, killed five teenagers and wounded 23 people at Atzmona before he was shot dead in March of that year. Hamas...

Sen. Joe Lieberman praises pastor who said Holocaust was God's work One of John McCain's most prominent supporters on Tuesday praised an evangelical leader whom the Republican presidential candidate repudiated after a string of controversial remarks were made public. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who frequently campaigns with McCain, said pastor John Hagee's support for Israel outweighed the remarks that led McCain to reject his endorsement. Lieberman said he had been urged not to speak to Hagee's group, Christians United for Israel. Advertisement "The bond that I feel with Pastor Hagee and each and every one of you is...

'Still time for peace deal this year' Rice says Israel, PA negotiating seriously, 2-state solution common wisdom since Bush came to office US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said there was still hope that Israel and the Palestinians could reach a deal before US President George W. Bush leaves the White House at the end of his second term early next year. "There is still time for them to, in accordance with Annapolis, reach agreement by the end of the year," Rice told reporters in Australia. "We will keep working toward that goal." Rice is to sit down with senior...

(IsraelNN.com) Samir Kuntar has told the Lebanese station Future TV that "Allah willing, I will get the chance to kill more Israelis." Kuntar is the child-murderer who killed three Israelis, including a four-year-old girl whose skull he crushed with the butt of his rifle, in 1979, and who was released to Hizbullah by Israel last week along with four other terrorists in return for the remains of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Kuntar added in the television interview, filmed days after his release, that he would like to pursue a master's degree in "military resistance." The day after...

The ayatollahs continue to enrich uranium, despite the high profile meeting on July 19, in Geneva between Tehran's top nuclear negotiator and senior western diplomats representing the Group of 5+1. No surprise there. They are banking their regime's survival on nuclear capability. Ali Larijani, Iran's former nuclear negotiator, once said that giving in to the West's demands that Iran suspend its enrichment would be suicide. But, however much their regional role is tied to developing a nuclear weapon, domestically their grip is being challenged on a daily basis. Indeed, the backbone of the ayatollah's regime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps...

The Religious Left in America and internationally is viscerally opposed to Israel, whom it exclusively faults for nearly all Middle East turmoil. But liberal churchmen in the West used to support Israel, welcoming its creation as a providential reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust.

On July 2, 2008 an Arab terrorist seized a bulldozer in Jerusalem, rammed it into people and vehicles, and ended up murdering three people (including the mother of an infant) and injuring dozens. The home of the murderer was not demolished. Because the murderer held Israeli citizenship, as an East Jerusalem resident, his family members collected “survivor benefits” from Israel’s National Insurance Institute (like social security). They probably also collected payoffs from the Palestinian terrorist groups or their bankrollers in Arab countries who reward families of murderers. Terrorist family members were not expelled or deported. All in all, engaging in...

A mysterious explosion in a suburb of Teheran that killed 15 people last Saturday was likely an attack on a Iranian military convoy carrying arms to Hizbullah, the Telegraph reported Friday. The Revolutionary Guards imposed a news black-out immediately after the blast, but the UK newspaper reported that it looked like sabotage was responsible for destroying the convoy as it traveled through Khavarshahar. The newspaper noted that the company responsible for moving the military equipment, LTK, was owned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and was allegedly involved in shipping arms to Hizbullah. Last Saturday's incident was the latest in a...

Here in Miami we amuse ourselves -- please forgive the impertinence -- by making jokes about the elderly and their driving habits. Perhaps it is a defense mechanism of sorts. The latest one to make the rounds has the old woman desperately calling 911. She has just entered her car and found that she has been robbed: they took the radio, the CD player, and even the steering wheel. The dispatcher promises to send an officer forthwith. Ten minutes later the policeman calls his report back in to headquarters: "No emergency here. The lady got into the back seat by...

THREE PROPHETIC PARALLELISMS CONCERNING ISRAEL. By Rev. JAMES C.SMITH, of Dufftown (At the Glasgow Conference, June, 1894.) To understand the the Old Testament you must understand Israel; to understand the New Testament you must study the Church. The great subject of the Bible is sin, and the great doctrine of the Bible is the putting away of sin by the grace of God. All other subjects fall under this great line of study. If the Bible casts its teaching in any special form or mould more than another, it is in the form of parallelism, and this is one of...

Barack Obama's visits to the Israeli town of Sderot, which was struck by Palestinian rocket attacks, and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial are smart moves. They underline that he stands, beyond any doubt, in solidarity with Israel against "terrorism". You assume that it is smart to exploit the suffering and death of millions of Jews in the Holocaust for Israeli and/or American political goals. But how does his visit to Sderot square with any solidarity with the decades-long dispossessed, oppressed and occupied Palestinians? Well, that is why he visited Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime...

Reputedly moderate Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is reported to have sent greetings to Samir Kuntar, the Lebanese terrorist freed in last week’s Israel-Hizbullah exchange who in a 1979 attack killed a 28-year-old Israeli man in front of his 4-year-old daughter and then killed the girl by smashing her head. Abbas was on a visit to Malta at the time and was under no known pressure to issue his tidings. Even if he was – Samir Kuntar being popular among Abbas’s Fatah Party, which held a rally in Ramallah to laud his release and that of the remains of Palestinian...

JERUSALEM – Sen. Barack Obama's campaign plastered the entrance to the Western Wall – the holiest site in Judaism – with official campaign posters, WND has learned. Jerusalem police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld confirmed to WND posters that adorned police barricades erected at the Western Wall plaza for Obama's visit were distributed by the presidential candidate's campaign. "These posters were his campaign and not the doing of the police," said Rosenfeld, whose police department coordinated security and provided protection for Obama's visit today to the holy site. Asked if it was traditional practice for politicians visiting the Western Wall to bring...

New Gallup poll data indicate that he leads Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, by 60 percent to 33 percent among Jewish voters. In 2004, Sen. John F. Kerry won 74 percent. In 2000, Al Gore won 79 percent, about what Bill Clinton took in 1996 and 1992. Jonathan Sarna, a historian of American Jewry, said that Carter was the only Democrat in many decades who won the presidency -- in 1976 -- with less than 70 percent of U.S. Jews supporting him. As of today, Obama is 10 points shy of that benchmark.

Iran has signalled it will no longer co-operate with International Atomic Energy Agency experts investigating for signs of nuclear weapons programmes, confirming that the probe - launched a year ago with great expectations - was at a dead end. Coming from Iranian Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the announcement compounded international scepticism about denting Tehran's nuclear defiance just five days after Tehran stonewalled demands from six world powers to suspend activities that can produce the fissile core of warheads. Besides demanding a stop to uranium enrichment - which can create both fuel and the nuclear missile payloads - the international...

The Wednesday CBS Evening News story on Barack Obama's day in Israel presumed Jewish concerns about his commitment to Israel are unreasonable as reporter Sheila MacVicar empathized with Obama's plight while she fretted about how an Israeli newspaper columnist “referred to him by his full name: Barack Hussein Obama.” After noting that Obama “did spend an hour with the Palestinian President, something John McCain did not do on his trip here,” MacVicar stressed the “the focus of the day was to try to reassure Jewish voters who are suspicious of him.” From Jerusalem, she then held up a copy of...

The Israeli army chief of staff has said in Washington that all options must be prepared to counter Iran's controversial nuclear programme, in remarks relayed on Thursday. "We are all united over the understanding that Iran must not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon and that there is no doubt that diplomacy must be given priority," Major General Gabi Ashkenazi said on Israeli public radio. "But we all realise, both the Americans and us, that all options must be prepared," said the chief of staff, who is on his first visit to Washington since taking office last year.

               Now We Know Jennifer Rubin - 07.23.2008 - 10:50 AM Barack Obama has repeatedly expressed puzzlement at how American Jews could be wary of him. At various shuls and before AIPAC he has brought up the email/whispering campaign, his middle name and even the comments of other African-Americans to explain why Jews haven’t all been smitten by the Great Man. The tone, not just from him, but from his blogoshpere friends has often been one of “But how can it be that they doubt him?” Well, now there are plenty of stories...

On the heels of John McCain's strong statement to Israel and the Jews that he would "not allow a second Holocaust" to happen, Barack Hussein Obama was asked whether he'd prevent a second Holocaust by reporters during his trip to Israel. The setting for the question is notable. It was just before he made a photo op visit to "Yad VaShem," the Holocaust museum in Israel. What is also notable was Obama's "response" and how it was "covered" by the Mainstream media. While the Wall Street Journal's Jay Solomon and Cam Simpson noted the question, they did not note the...

Russia will supply to Iran advanced anti-aircraft systems by the end of 2008 or early 2009, Reuters reported with reference to a source with Israel's Ministry of Defense. According to the source, Russia will supply advanced S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Iran. The delivery of first consignment has been slated for September, but deploying and making the systems operable will take from six to 12 months...

Before heading to the airport to depart for Germany, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, came to the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem for a pre-dawn visit, arriving at 5:01 am local time. The visit did not appear on the official schedule nor had it been anounced by the campaign, but dozens of people were waiting for him, apparently tipped off. At 5:11 am, Obama --a white yarmulke atop his head, a pack of Secret Service agents surrounding him -- walked from the motorcade with a small group of men to a sectioned off area of the Western wall...

In the wake of this week’s bulldozer terrorist attack on King David Street, the second bulldozer terrorist attack in the capital this month, security officials are acutely aware that the Arab residents of Jerusalem currently pose the greatest terrorist threat to Israel. Already, police have arrested 71 Jerusalem Arabs this year on suspicion of planning or knowing about planned acts of terror. That number is up drastically from the 34 Jerusalem Arabs who were arrested on terror-related charges in all of 2007.

While visiting US presidential hopeful Barack Obama was meeting with top Israeli leaders on Wednesday, representatives of leading Israeli and American Jewish organizations came together under the banner of the Coalition for a United Jerusalem to demand that the candidate reaffirm his initial support for a unified Jerusalem under Israeli control.

Israeli security and the American Secret Service on Wednesday decided to cancel visiting US presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s scheduled visit to the Gaza border region for fear of Palestinian snipers.

Stirring the Pot July 24, 2008 The New Republic Shmuel Rosner Will Israel bomb its way to the table? Israeli politicians have suggested for years that they might attack Iran, but, lately, they seem to be dropping more hints than usual. At the beginning of June, Israel's deputy prime minister, Shaul Mofaz, flatly told the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth that, if Iran continues its nuclear program, Israel "will attack it." Mofaz's comments struck many observers as more political than substantial--one of the things an ambitious Israeli leader does to bolster his odds of becoming the next prime minister. But the...

Barack Obama completed his trip to the Middle East with a pre-dawn visit to the holiest place in Judaism where he received a mixed reaction from Orthodox Jews. The US presidential nominee was heckled as he visited the Western Wall in the early hours of Thursday morning, bowing his head in prayer and observing traditional custom by placing a folded piece of paper into the crevice of the wall. Orthodox men interrupted their morning prayers to catch a glimpse of the Illinois senator, reaching out to shake his hand as he passed them by. But not all were taken by...

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Barack Obama’s world tour wasn’t without problems for the campaign. The novice Democrat Party Candidate visited the Western Wall early Thursday morning.

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...

Remember these words Barack Obama apparently spoke today in Israel in THIS VIDEO. "I'll NEVER compromise on Israel's Security"

(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...

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,...

In Israel, a resurgence in the number of Jews who believe in Jesus is getting a lot of attention. Many leaders say it's the strongest growth since the time of Jesus and that the Messianic movement could be on the brink of a great revival. "This is the first time where we've seen Israeli society in general being so open to consider who Yeshua is," said Messianic leader Asher Intrater. "This is a real miracle, and there's beginning to be grace and favor with us in the land." Although Jesus and the early disciples were Jewish, for nearly 2,000 years...

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

(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...

During a whirlwind 36-hour visit that saw US presidential hopeful Barak Obama meet with all of the top Israeli and Palestinian leaders and visit numerous sites throughout the country on Wednesday, the Democratic candidate said all the right things as he tried to assure Israelis that a US administration with him at the helm would not endanger the Jewish state. Polls have shown that a large majority of Israelis prefer Obama’s opponent, Republican John McCain, as president, fearing the Democratic candidate’s Muslim family history and his personal ties to religious figures and political advisors hostile toward Israel.

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.

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...

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...