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Official says purported attack 'proof' of links between Israel, Syrian insurgency; UK foreign secretary pledges 'respect' to Israel's commitment to own security P{margin:0;} UL{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-right: 16; padding-right:0;} OL{margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-right: 32; padding-right:0;} H3.pHeader {margin-bottom:3px;COLOR: #192862;font-size: 16px;font-weight: bold;margin-top:0px;} P.pHeader {margin-bottom:3px;COLOR: #192862;font-size: 16px;font-weight: bold;}Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said the strike at Syria overnight represented a "declaration of war" by Israel.  Speaking to CNN the official claimed the alleged attack proved there was a link between Israel and the Syrian rebels engaged in violent combat with the forces supporting President Bashar Assad. He added Syria would respond in the manner and timing of its...

Syria state media reports of Israeli airstrikes targeting several military positions. Israeli warplanes struck areas in and around the Syrian capital, setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be on their way to Lebanon's Hezbollah group, officials and activists said.Syria's state media on Sunday reported that Israeli missiles struck a military and scientific research centre near the Syrian capital and caused casualties.The attack, the second in three days, signaled a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's civil war."The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups which have...

Israeli officials on Saturday reportedly confirmed the Israeli Air Force carried out a strike against Syria and say it targeted a shipment of advanced missiles. The officials said the shipment was not of chemical arms, but of “game changing” weapons bound for the terror group Hezbollah. One official said the target was a shipment of advanced, long-range ground-to-ground missiles.

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Isaiah 62 1. For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. 2.The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. 3.You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 4.No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But...

Joe Biden also said the US remained committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Barack Obama's threats to use military force to prevent Iran securing a nuclear weapon are more than idle bluffs, vice-president Joe Biden told the biggest pro-Israeli lobbying group Aipac on Monday.Biden said that while the US preferred a diplomatic solution to the standoff with Iran, a military option remained on the table."The president of the United States cannot, and does not, bluff. President Barack Obama is not bluffing," Biden told the audience in Washington.Israel is seeking assurances of support...

BEIRUT (AP) -- An Israeli air attack staged in Syria this week may be a sign of things to come.Israeli military officials appear to have concluded that the risks of attacking Syria are worth taking when compared to the dangers of allowing sophisticated weapons to reach Hezbollah guerrillas in neighboring Lebanon.With Syrian President Bashar Assad's grip on power weakening, Israeli officials fear he could soon lose control over his substantial arsenal of chemical and advanced weapons, which could slip into the hands of Hezbollah or other hostile groups. These concerns, combined with Hezbollah's own domestic problems, mean further military...

Latest News Syria, Allies Condem Israel Strike Israel bombed a suspected shipment of antiaircraft missiles in Syria on Wednesday, according to regional and U.S. officials, in its most ambitious strike inside its neighbor's territory in nearly two chaotic years of civil war there.The early-morning strike in a border area west of Damascus targeted a convoy of trucks carrying Russian-made SA-17 missiles to Hezbollah, the anti-Israel Shiite militant and political group in Lebanon, according to a Western official briefed on the raid. Israel launched an airstrike against a convoy of trucks moving near the Lebanon-Syria border Tuesday, a senior U.S. official...

Israel conducted a rare airstrike inside Syria near the border with Lebanon, hitting a convoy of trucks, foreign officials said Wednesday, amid fears President Bashar Assad's regime is providing weapons to the Islamic militant group Hezbollah.

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There are three subjects that Jews in my social circle never tire of: food, movies and the two-state solution. Consider me officially tired of the third. I began promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict long before it was popular. In 1986, when I helped organize a rally in Beverly Hills calling for Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians, no mainstream Jewish organization would have anything to do with us, and Jewish “patriots” shouted us down and disrupted the event. I believed then — and still believe — that establishing two states is the best, most just way to...

Security: As Hamas launches rockets toward Israeli population centers, Tel Aviv's investment in missile defense passes its acid test, destroying the vast majority. The U.S., meanwhile, is moving in just the opposite direction. On Sunday, Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system successfully shot down two Iranian-made Fajr-5 rockets aimed at the heart of Tel-Aviv by Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. It was just one of many such interceptions by what is now the world's only battle-tested missile defense system. The "Fajr" (Dawn) series are mobile-launched, unguided, solid-fuel artillery rockets developed by Iran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war with...

(Reuters) - Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander of Hamas in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave that the Islamist group vowed would "open the gates of hell". The onslaught shattered hopes that a truce mediated on Tuesday by Egypt could pull the two sides back from the brink of war after five days of escalating Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli strikes at militant targets. Operation "Pillar of Defense" began with a surgical strike on a car carrying the commander of the military wing of Hamas,...

The Israeli air force shot down a drone after it crossed into southern Israel on Saturday, the military said, but it remained unclear where the aircraft came from.

I strolled into my neighborhood Hallmark store looking for an appropriate card to send to some Middle East Muslims expressing my condolences for grievances they may have against my country and against Jews who might have offended them throughout the years. I saw the birthday cards, the grieving cards, those celebrating weddings, and others, but none fit my search. Neither did the clerk recall ever having seen such a card. I called her attention to the many apologies that President Obama has made to Muslims, and she agreed that there would seem to be a need for cards of this...

WASHINGTON – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a direct appeal to American voters on Sunday to elect a president willing to draw a "red line" with Iran, comparing Tehran's nuclear program to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and reminding Americans of the devastating repercussions of failed intelligence. His remarks were an impassioned election-season plea from a world leader who insists he doesn't want to insert himself into U.S. politics and hasn't endorsed either candidate. But visibly frustrated by U.S. policy under President Barack Obama, the hawkish Israeli leader took advantage of the week's focus on unrest across the Muslim...

This work was originally published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 27, No. 3, Fall 1994, pp. 117-194. The paper received considerable notice, and in 1995 the Mormon History Association recognized Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection with its annual award for the best article in Mormon studies. [snip] The one thing about which we might all agree concerning Joseph Smith is that he was not the usual sort of person. He did not approach life itself--or his religious commitment--in a usual way. Yet the character of our historical investigation of Joseph Smith and his times has...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Isaiah 49 19. “Though you were ruined and made desolate and your land laid waste, now you will be too small for your people, and those who devoured you will be far away. 20. The children born during your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, ‘This place is too small for us; give us more space to live in.’ 21. Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who bore me these? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. Who brought these up? I was left all alone, but these—where...

It’s no great secret that the leaders of local Jewish organizations are Democrats and fervent supporters of the party. There has been so much controversy over this relationship recently that the only way to clear the air would be to urge Jewish leaders to publicly declare their political affiliations. Then their congregations and organizational members would at least have a better idea of what's motivating these leaders’ sermons or organizational policies. Many members of synagogues and Jewish groups assume that their leaders are politically neutral and have only the interests of Israel and Jews at the top of their agendas....

Most Israelis think Romney would be 'friendlier' By HERB KEINON06/15/2012 01:14Survey finds majority of Israelis think Obama is "friendly" toward Israel but are warmer toward the Republican candidate.

Cutting Iran's link to the Mediterranean Sea is a strategic prize worth the riskWe're not done with the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran. Given that the current round of negotiations with the world's major powers will not fundamentally change Iran's nuclear program, the question of an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities is likely to return to center stage later this year. In addition to hard-headed diplomacy and economic sanctions, there is an important step the United States can take to change Israel's calculations -- helping the people of Syria in their battle against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.