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An Israeli state-owned arms company developing a laser-based missile shield that evokes “Star Wars” style technology says its deployment over the country is closer to becoming a reality. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems said development of the system was advanced enough for the company to be comfortable with publicizing it at this week’s Singapore Airshow, which is Asia’s largest aerospace and defense exhibition. The laser technology behind the missile shield called Iron Beam is not that far removed from fiction. “It’s exactly like what you see in Star Wars,” said company spokesman Amit Zimmer. “You see the lasers go up so...

Israel beefed up security for former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral near the Gaza border on Monday and warned the enclave's Palestinian rulers not to allow rocket fire during the ceremony, which US Vice President Joe Biden will attend. .....

At least 23 people were killed and 146 were injured Tuesday morning in two strong explosions near the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon. A senior Lebanese official said the cultural attaché at the embassy was among the dead. According to one report, several rockets were fired at the area and at least one of them hit the building. The area of the blasts in southern Beirut is considered a Hezbollah stronghold. The Shiite organization is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and is helping him in his war against Syrian rebels. …

J-10 in live-fire training, all 28 rocket projectiles hit targets On August 21, a division of the air force under the Guangzhou Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) launched a ground target live-fire training, in a bid to further improve the troop’s actual-combat capability. In this live-fire training, the leaders of the division and regiments participated in the flight and organized technical researches. They proposed subjects for the aviation theory exam, and marked the papers to analyze technical difficulties based on existing problems. Seminars were held for pilots to clarify the implementation methods, safety measures...

At least four rockets were fired from Lebanon Thursday afternoon, with at least one confirmed as having struck in the area of Nahariya. IDF Radio reported that bomb shelters in the northern city of Akko (Acre) have been opened for public use, and the IDF is urging residents of the north to remain close to shelters. There are unconfirmed reports that the IDF has responded with artillery fire into Lebanon

Several Egyptian terrorists were killed in an air strike in Sinai on Friday, which some claimed Israel had carried out. Security sources and witnesses said the terrorists were struck as they prepared to launch a rocket into Israel, reported AFP. The source of the strike was not immediately clear. Some sources spoke of an Israeli air strike conducted from Israeli air space and others credited the Egyptian military. Witnesses said at least five members of a cell led by local Islamist militants were killed in the raid. Egypt's army said two explosions were heard at around 4:15 p.m. local time...

Celebrations of Mohammed Assaf’s victory on “Arab Idol” lasted in the Gaza Strip for just under 24 hours. A volley of rockets fired from Gaza Sunday night and Monday morning at several targets in Israel marked a return to routine in the Strip. The Israeli response wasn’t long in coming: bombs on installations associated with Islamic Jihad, which was apparently responsible for the rocket fire, and on the tunnels in Rafah, and a closing of the border crossings between Israel and Gaza. But this time, after 40 days of total quiet, the motivation for launching the missiles is not related...

More glorious fruit of the Arab Spring. "3 Arrested in Plot to Bomb Egyptian Cities and Embassy," by Ben Hubbard in the New York Times, May 11 (thanks to Kenneth): CAIRO — Egyptian security forces have arrested three militants with ties to Al Qaeda who were planning terrorist attacks in Egyptian cities and against a foreign embassy, the interior minister said Saturday. A Western official said the Egyptians had privately identified the embassy as the United States Embassy in Cairo. Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said at a news conference that the suspects had been arrested with 22 pounds of explosive...

[...]Omar al-Masharawi, an 11-month-old infant, was killed on Nov. 14, the first day of fighting. An Associated Press photograph showed Omar's anguished father, Jihad al-Masharawi, clutching his slain child wrapped in a shroud. Palestinians blamed Israel, and the image was broadcast around the world and widely shared on social media. Now a report from the U.N. office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says the baby was "killed by what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short of Israel."

SNIP "We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States," the country's top military body said.

The Second Hamas-Israel War of Nov. 10-21 inspired a mighty debate over rights and wrongs, with each side appealing to the large undecided bloc (19 percent of Americans according to CNN/ORC, 38 percent according to Rasmussen). Is Israel a criminal state that has no right to exist, much less to deploy force? Or is it a modern liberal democracy with the rule of law that justifiably protects innocent civilians? Morality drives this debate.To any sentient person, it is obvious that Israelis are 100-percent justified to protect themselves from wanton attacks. A cartoon from the First Hamas-Israel War of 2008-09 symbolically...

For nearly a week, Israel has been under attack from terrorist elements in Gaza, primarily Hamas. As the Israeli air force and navy respond with surgical, targeted strikes on Hamas facilities, the government is weighing the possibility of ordering a ground offensive too.In our view, an armored push into Gaza in order to deal the Hamas military wing a decisive blow is necessary. From a strategic, long-term perspective, Israel cannot avoid confronting Hamas head-on, and must take action sooner rather than later. For Israel to restore quiet to its borders and ensure its survival in the new Middle East, Arab...

The U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and its non-Muslim allies have sprung into action. They are demanding that President Obama make Israel end its offensive against Hamas which, in characteristic Islamist fashion, they are falsely depicting as a genocidal crusade. Obama blames Hamas, but the pressure from Islamists, the anti-Israel left and other countries like Britain and France, may be taking a toll. He signaled possible opposition to an Israeli ground operation, saying it’d be “preferable” to end the Hamas rocket threat without sending in troops. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim Brotherhood entity whose executive director was fundraising for...

Gaza’s terrorist rulers marked the ceasefire that went into effect on Wednesday evening by continuing to fire rockets at southern Israel. According to Kol Yisrael radio’s midnight newscast, 20 rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel since the ceasefire went into effect at 9:00 p.m. Wednesday evening. There were no reports of physical injuries or damages. Before the ceasefire went into effect, terrorists fired a barrage of 40 rockets at the area, targeting Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Be’er Sheva among other cities. In Be’er Sheva, a rocket directly hit a home, causing no physical injuries. Four rockets fired at Ashdod...

Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal announced in a press conference Wednesday evening that Israel "has failed in all its goals" in Operation Defensive Pillar, following the cease fire announcement. "After eight days, God stayed their hand from the people of Gaza, and they were compelled to submit to the conditions of the resistance," Mashaal said. "Israel has failed in all its goals," he told reporters in a Cairo hotel. Mashaal also thanked ceasefire mediator Egypt, as well as Iran, which he said "had a role in arming" Hamas during the conflict. Arabs in Gaza took to the streets to celebrate the...

The IDF hit more than 50 targets in Gaza on Tuesday evening, bringing the total number of strikes in the region Tuesday over 100. Half of the strikes were aimed at terrorist cells that were engaged in firing rockets at Israel. Six known Hamas terrorists and one known Islamic Jihad terrorist were killed over the course of the day. Twenty terrorists were injured in airstrikes as they attempted to fire Grad rockets. Twenty-two percent of Tuesday’s strikes hit rocket launchers that were not manned at the time. Another 8 percent of strikes targeted smuggling tunnels. Four percent targeted weapons stockpiles,...

The way in which the New York Times reports good vs. evil is one of the most important stories of our time. Take the war between Israel and Hamas that is taking place right now. This war is as morally clear as wars get. Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to annihilating the Jewish state. It runs a theocratic totalitarian state in Gaza, with no individual liberty and no freedom of speech or press. In a nutshell, Hamas is a violent, fascist organization. Israel, meanwhile, is one the world's most humane states, not to mention a democracy that is so...

Diplomatic message to Egypt: Hamas terrorism must cease by Tuesday evening or we step up attack. Israel has delivered an ultimatum to Hamas through Egypt, according to which the IDF will widen its offensive in Gaza in 36 hours unless Hamas ceases firing rockets and smuggling arms into Gaza, IDF Radio reported Monday morning. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told the station that the time left before Israel steps up its attack can be measured in "hours, not days." "We are at a junction," he said. "Either we go toward a calm or toward a meaningful widening of the operation… including...

"From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionists: Don't go to sleep because we may get you in your sleep." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]