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Government officials accompanying President Shimon Peres in Kazakhstan accidentally left behind secret documents, including details of his itinerary, and threw security officials into a panic. The president’s spokeswoman confirmed to Israel National News that the documents had been forgotten and placed the source of the blunder in the Foreign Ministry.

Iran has recalled its ambassador to Azerbaijan for consultations after a visit by President Shimon Peres to the Islamic Republic's northwestern neighbor, an Iranian news agency reported on Monday. Quoting an informed source, ISNA said the envoy was recalled to Tehran after Peres' visit to Azerbaijan on June 28 and "threats" which it said the Israeli ambassador in Baku had voiced against Iran, without elaborating. The semi-official Fars News Agency carried a similar report.

Today, Shimon Peres kicked off the AIPAC conference with a special address. Phil noted some observations below. Initial buzz from the speech in and around the conference center is that Peres neglected to mention the need to establish a Palestinian state as part of the peace process. This is shaping up to be an important tension between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations.During his speech, Peres was briefly interrupted by activists from Code Pink. The photo below is of Desiree Fairooz standing on a table in front of Peres as he speaks (photo credit: Mark Wilson, Getty Images). Below is the...

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday called a U.N. investigation accusing Israel of recklessness during the war in Gaza "outrageous" and said the Jewish state will not apologize for defending its citizens against Hamas missile attacks. He conceded that the Israeli military made some mistakes — as all armies do during war. Nonetheless, Peres said he thinks chances for Mideast peace "were improved" following his meeting in Washington on Tuesday with President Barack Obama.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a brief press availability with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the top of their meeting in the Capitol this afternoon. Below are their remarks: Speaker Pelosi. It is a very special day indeed. The Speaker of the House has the privilege of welcoming the President of Israel to the Capitol of the United States. President Peres is a hero to many of us. He is a great visionary and has been recognized by the world as such. The President is a tremendous leader, a fighter for peace, a Nobel laureate recognized for his vision, his intellect,...

Peres Presses for Cave-In to Vatican? by Hillel Fendel (IsraelNN.com) President Shimon Peres is pressuring Interior Minister Eli Yishai to sign away six properties demanded by the Vatican, including Mt. Tabor and a church in Nazareth, according to IDF Army Radio. The Vatican has long demanded that Israel give it these and other properties, while Israel has refused. With the visit of Pope Benedict XVI only a week away, tensions between the sides are rising. Minister Yishai, of the Sephardic hareidi-religious Shas party, has thus far refused to give his approval – and staffers in the President’s office say they’ll...

President Barack Obama held a prime-time news conference Wednesday to mark his first 100 days in office. The potential flu pandemic was topic number one. Next came the economic crisis, with worries about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal a close third. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict went unmentioned. Next week, however, expect Israel to be in the Washington limelight. The 2009 AIPAC Policy Conference kicks off on Sunday with speeches by leading US politicians and Christian religious leaders. President Shimon Peres is scheduled to talk on Monday morning, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will deliver his banquet address Monday evening, via...

President Shimon Peres had some unusually aggressive words for Iran Sunday, seemingly threatening military action if US President Barack Obama's overtures to the Islamic republic don't bear fruit. In an interview with Kol Hai Radio, Peres also said that the arrest before the weekend of a Hizbullah terror cell in Egypt was a blow to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's power. "Ahmadinejad recruits forces against us, but there are also forces against him," Peres said. "What happened in Egypt created a fierce opposition and we must unify all his opponents - the Sunnis and the Europeans, as well as those afraid...

Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to becoming Prime Minister once again in Israel. He has been tapped by Israeli President Shimon Peres to form a new government following party elections there earlier this week. Netanyahu's party, Likud, lost by one vote but has the support of other minor parties to form a new government. If he can do it within the next six weeks, he will be Prime Minister. Netanyahu is a conservative, and will take a hard line on Iran and other terrorist entities. The Obama Administration would undoubtely like to see a more dovish Prime Minister in...

President Shimon Peres said Wednesday that he erred in supporting Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

In Friday’s edition of “Best of the Web Today,” James Taranto writes this analysis of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan giving Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres a tongue-lashing during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos: “One obvious point is that Turkey is hardly in a position to criticize Israel for responding firmly to terrorist attacks” (referring to repeated Turkish air and ground incursions into northern Iraq to go after the Kurdish Workers' Party), and “[a] less obvious point is that Erdogan might have killed whatever chance his country had of becoming a member of the...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday stormed off the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, red-faced after verbally sparring with President Shimon Peres over the recent fighting in Gaza. Erdogan was angry after being cut off by a panel moderator after listening to an impassioned monologue by Peres defending Israel's recent 22-day offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"Today is a great day not only for the United States of America, but for the entire world," President Shimon Peres wrote in a letter addressed to Barack Obama on the day of his inauguration as president of the United States. "Obama was elected by the United States, but as a matter of fact, he was chosen by the whole of humankind," Peres continued, "His election is the correction of one of the greatest wrongs in the annals of history… - slavery." "I pray here in Jerusalem that Barack Obama will be a great President of the United States. If...

Outgoing US President George Bush telephoned President Shimon Peres bidding him farewell on the occasion of the end of Bush's term as president Tuesday. Peres said to Bush, "If the world had acted against Hitler the way you acted against Saddam Hussein, the lives of millions would have been saved." The president added, "You made a historic contribution to the entire world and to the Jewish people in particular. We will treasure this forever and will never forget it."

ISRAELI President Shimon Peres has praised his outgoing US counterpart George W. Bush for his contribution to the Jewish state and people in a phone conversation. "In my name, in the name of Israel and the Jewish people I would like to thank you for the long years of help and friendship to Israel," Mr Peres told Mr Bush, who spoke to world leaders by phone today on the eve of leaving office. "You have made a historic contribution to the entire world and the Jewish people in particular," Mr Peres' office quoted him as telling Mr Bush, who staunchly...

Egypt's leading Muslim cleric Mohammed Tantawi has denied he knowingly shook hands with Israeli President Shimon Peres at a religious conference, saying he did not recognize him, a newspaper reported yesterday. Pictures of the handshake during a UN-sponsored religious dialogue last month caused a furor in the Egyptian opposition press and demands by an opposition MP that the government-appointed Tantawi be sacked. Tantawi, who heads the Islamic Al-Azhar University, told Al-Masri al-Yom that he did not know the octogenarian Peres, who has occupied various positions in the Israeli government since its founding in 1948 and is a Nobel peace prize...

President Shimon Peres told Diaspora Jewish leaders Monday, "You have to close your eyes" to make peace. He also reasoned that a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority will encourage Sunni Muslims against Ahmadinejad. Speaking at the annual General Assembly of the United Jewish Committees, he said that "making peace is a little bit like marriage [and] you have to close your eyes and accept what is possible to accept." His audience laughed and applauded. He also explained his reasoning why surrendering Judea and Samaria to the PA and establishing a new Arab state in their place would have a...

LONDON - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama proclaimed himself "very impressed" with the Arab League's peace plan when he discussed it with President Shimon Peres during a brief visit to Israel four months ago, Peres said Tuesday. Peres, who had just arrived in London for an official visit, made the comment in interviews to be published in the British media. He was responding to questions about whether he thought Obama would advance the Middle East peace process in general and the Arab League's plan in particular.

Israelis and Palestinians have never been closer to making strategic decisions than they are today, and at the end of the day, each side wants to win a little more than the other, Sheikh Abdallah Nimr Darwish, founder of the Islamic Movement, told President Shimon Peres on Tuesday. "But the Palestinians have nothing left to offer Israel," he added. Darwish spoke at the traditional Iftar meal for leaders of Israel's Arab communities hosted by President Shimon Peres during Ramadan. "The Palestinians can't give up any more," said Darwish, without elaborating on what they have already ceded. There was agreement on...

Lebanese murderer Samir Kuntar one day after his release from an Israeli prison promised to continue on the path of jihad against the Jewish state. Israel said he wouldn’t get the opportunity. Kuntar and the four Hizballah militants released with him attended a special prayer service on Thursday at the graveside of slain Hizballah operational chief Imad Mughniyah, who masterminded an untold number of attacks against Israel and Jewish targets abroad.