Free Republic

With the rumored move of Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball coach David Blatt to the NBA, a whole new arena of activity can open up for outgoing President Shimon Peres. One can only imagine the press conference: “Maccabi Tel Aviv announces the signing of our new coach, the illustrious Shimon Peres. Mr Peres, please, explain your views on the world of sports". Coach Peres: "It is with great honor and happiness that I accept this new assignment. After all, to be welcomed by the Euroleague champion, perpetual winner of the Israel League Cup - and here am I, the perennial loser….....

President Shimon Peres on Monday hailed remarks by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on the issue of the “Palestinian refugees”, AFP reported. Peres, who said Abbas’s comments showed his "seriousness about reaching peace", was referring to what Abbas said during a meeting Sunday with more than 300 Israeli university students at his Ramallah headquarters. At the meeting, the PA chief told the students said he did not want to "flood Israel" with so-called “Palestinian refugees” and that there was no need to "re-divide" Jerusalem. "I was happy to hear him," Peres's office quoted him as saying at the start of...

There is no way to separate Judaism from the state of Israel, President Shimon Peres said Sunday. On a visit to the Machon Lev Jerusalem Technology College, Peres said that despite the efforts of secularists, Israel would always remain a Jewish state. Peres addressed a question from a student who said that “in recent months we have seen an unparalleled attempt to defame the hareidi religious public, especially when it comes to serving in the IDF.” Did Peres believe that it was necessary to force hareidi religious yeshiva students into the army in order to get them into the workforce?...

President Peres has politely suggested that the European Union to step out of Middle Eastern affairs while delicate negotiations are in process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. … The Israeli president, who is also visiting Lithuania, thanked Latvia for helping to convince the European Union to list the military wing of the Hizbullah terror organization as a terrorist entity. But Peres also criticized the EU for blocking financial aid to Israeli institutions located in Judea, Samaria and areas of Jerusalem restored to the capital following the 1967 Six Day War. …

President Shimon Peres called on Jews from Judea and Samaria last week to send a cohort with their strength and skills to settle the Negev. Addressing an event to mark the 70th anniversary of Kibbutz Revivim—located deep in the Negev—Peres noted that at present, there are only 6,500 residents in the Ramat Hanegev region. … In the Negev, which comprises some 60 percent of the land mass of Israel, there are few Jewish communities and bus routes are still relatively sparse. …

It was a love fest at Shimon Peres’ 90th birthday party Tuesday night, as world leaders, beloved performers and regular folk spoke, sang, and sent their messages of love and affection for the president, former prime minister, and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Peres sat flanked by former US president Bill Clinton and Jewish stage diva Barbra Streisand on his right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, on his left. Behind them was an auditorium full of who’s who in Israel and abroad, from actors Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone, Prince Albert of Monaco and Chicago mayor...

The Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet Leyisrael) said on Thursday that it will not take part in an upcoming gala event attended by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and will not pay him $500,000 to give a speech at this gala. Clinton’s participation in the event has not been canceled. Earlier this week it was reported that the JNF would pay Clinton this huge sum for the gala evening, to be held June 17 in honor of President Shimon Peres’ 90th birthday. It will be held at the Peres Academic Center in Rehovot, one of the few institutions in Israel...

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a backlash after reports surfaced that his office was charged an extra $139,000 for a bed on a recent five-hour flight to London. The uproar comes as Israel faces a new austerity budget, tax hikes and just two months after the Netanyahu residence’s $2,700 annual ice cream bill came to light.

President Shimon Peres said on Monday that he does not regret the Oslo Accords, despite the fact that their signing brought about hundreds of Israeli victims who were killed in terror attacks.Speaking in an interview with the Walla website, on the occasion of Israel’s 65th Independence Day, Peres said that terrorist attacks against Jews had taken place long before the signing of the Oslo Accords. “There were terror victims before the Oslo Accords. Before the Accords there was only one Palestinian camp and that camp supported terrorism. Now we have two camps, and one camp is against terrorism and in...

President Shimon Peres said that he believes that U.S. President Barack Obama will attack Iran’s nuclear facilities if diplomatic efforts fail. “I have no doubt that if diplomatic talks fail with Iran and Tehran doesn't stop accelerating its nuclear development—U.S. President Barack Obama will conduct a military attack against Iran,” Peres told the Israel Hayom newspaper this week, in an interview ahead of Israel’s 65th Independence Day next week. … Western nations have “tried their utmost to prevent Iran from going nuclear, but Iran has gone nuclear,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech on Tuesday. …

Behind the bonhomie evident between President Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the Israeli leader delicately reminded his guest about Israel’s three millennia-old claim to the city he is visiting. During a joint press conference at the prime minister’s residence, Netanyahu opened his remarks by telling Obama, “it’s a great pleasure to host you here in Jerusalem.” He concluded them several minutes later with the words, “It’s a profound honor to host you, the leader of the free world, at this historic time in our ancient capital. Mr. President. Welcome to Israel, welcome to Jerusalem.” …...

President Shimon Peres told the European Union Parliament Tuesday, “In the past thousand years, more Jews lived in Europe than in any other continent. Alas, more Jews were murdered in Europe in the last hundred years than in the preceding two thousand years.” The first Israeli president to address the current arrangement of the EU Parliament, he recalled his childhood in Europe, where his family escaped in 1934 while “in 1942, most of the inhabitants of my town were burned alive.” He extolled the accomplishments of Israel, from making the desert bloom to Israel’s becoming a ”start-up nation.” President Peres...

President Barack Obama will have dinner with the first-ever black Miss Israel when he makes his first visit to the Jewish state as US leader next week. An advance party of White House officials insisted on inviting Yityish Aynaw, 22, to next Thursday's gala dinner hosted by Shimon Peres, Israel's president, after hearing how she became the first Israeli of Ethiopian origin to win the country's premier beauty queen contest last month.

Israel will award President Barack Obama the country’s Presidential Medal of Distinction during his upcoming visit. Israeli President Shimon Peres’ office said Monday that Obama will be recognized for his “unique and significant contribution to strengthening the State of Israel and the security of its citizens.” …

President Shimon Peres is under attack for undercutting the elected government's stance on the Iranian threat. Besides stating a position that runs counter to the Prime Minister's in a television interview, he is also reported to have accused Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in closed conversations, of "terrible irresponsibility" in the Iranian matter. "The honorable president has apparently also been sucked into this unnecessary argument that is damaging for the state of Israel," said MK Moshe Matalon of Yisrael Beytenu. "As a former prime minister and defense minister, and a person who was privy to spectacular operations that were...

(Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres on Thursday came out against any go-it-alone Israeli attack on Iran, saying he trusted U.S. President Barack Obama's pledge to prevent Tehran from producing nuclear weapons. "I am convinced this is an American interest. I am convinced (President Obama) recognizes the American interest and he isn't saying this just to keep us happy. I have no doubt about it, after having had talks with him," Peres told Israel's Channel Two television. "Now, it's clear to us that we can't do it alone. We can delay (Iran's nuclear program). It's clear to us we have...

President Shimon Peres challenged presidents Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy Sunday to back up their vows not let Iran go nuclear. “I want to see actual results,” the Israeli president said. Speaking at the opening session of the annual Israel Business Conference, President Peres declared to a CNN reporter, "Iran is the center of all corruption. They kill, threaten, and poison….They are a significant threat to the entire world, not just to Israel. .....

Moscow, Aug 21 (DPA) A Russian newspaper claimed Friday that suspected pirates who boarded the freighter Arctic Sea were actually agents of the Israeli secret service trying to stop it from smuggling arms into Iran. According to Russian media, the Arctic Sea may have been carrying illegal X-55 cruise missiles destined for Iran hidden among its cargo of lumber. Men acting on behalf of the Israeli Mossad secret service commandeered the ship to divert the weapons away from Israel's regional enemy, the daily Novaya Gazeta said. Citing Moscow publicist Yulia Latynina, the daily pointed to the surprise visit of Israeli...

The Sukkot festival is almost here. A few days after Yom Kippur (that falls this Friday night and Saturday), Israelis celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, as it’s known in English. For seven days, Jews commemorate the time spent wandering in the desert as well as pondering the temporary nature of our own existence. How do we do this? By actually building and living in temporary booths (that’s the meaning of the word Sukkot) and Jerusalem is one of the best places to see how many variations and interpretations of a “booth” people can come up with and attach to their...

Mideast: Israeli officials charge Syria with transferring ballistic missiles to the control of Iran's puppet militia, Hezbollah. It seems that another attempt to woo and appease a hostile power is not working. Last November we commented on reports in the Arab media in the Persian Gulf that Syria, apparently at the request of Iran, had turned about 300 long-range ballistic missiles over to Hezbollah control in Syrian territory. Hezbollah personnel were being trained to operate the Scuds. On Tuesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres confirmed these reports, publicly charging Syrian President Bashar Assad's government with transferring Scud missiles to the control...