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A bombshell on Ayala Hasson's broadcast this evening. Sami Abu Shehadeh describes millions of dollars invested from abroad in the Arab sector to increase the percentage of the vote by foreign associations and foreign countries @AyalaHasson

With most of the votes counted and no decisive outcome as far as who the next Prime Minister will be, or if Israel will be headed to an unprecedented fifth national election in less than three years, one thing is clear, the big winners in Israel’s national election this week were Israeli Arabs. One might have said that a year ago, after Israel’s third national election in (what was then) a year. Then, the “Joint Arab List,” a faction made up of four Arab political parties running together, won a striking 15 seats in Israel’s Knesset (parliament). This made the...

Poll fever continues ahead of March 17 elections, and while results have shown Likud and Labor neck and neck, the latest survey by Channel 10 gives Labor a full four mandate gap over Likud. According to the poll, conducted by the Dialog Institute under the supervision of Prof. Camil Fuchs, Labor - which erased the word "Zionism" from its Arabic ad campaign - would get 24 mandates, while Likud would only receive 20. Coming in at third Jewish Home stays at 16 seats, followed by a joint Arab list that would receive 12 mandates. Such a joint list - formed...

Video Police had shown the committee video footage of recent Arab rioting in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, and Committee Chair MK Miri Regev (Likud) asked him why police did not close off the Temple Mount to both Jews and Muslims, instead of just Jews. MK Zahalka began shouting that police have no business entering the Mount - the holiest place in Judaism - claiming that it is "occupied territory". He then told Lt. Gen. Danino that he has blood on his hands, prompting a furious reaction by Regev. The exchange was extreme even by the extreme standards set by...

Chairman Wassal Taha of the National Democratic Assembly (at-Tajamuʿ al-Waṭanī ad-Dīmūqraṭī in Arabic-Balad in Hebrew) issued a statement, Friday, expressing his complete opposition to a statement, this week by Member of Knesset Hanin Zoabi that Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (PA) committed an act of treason through security coordination with Israel in its search for three teens abducted on June 12th in Judea, according to a Friday report by Kol Yisrael government radio. The statement said Zoabi's words did not represent the position of the party. .....

About 200 Americans under contract with the Department of Defense at Balad Air Force Base in Iraq are trapped by the al-Qaida-inspired jihadists who have seized control of two cities and are now threatening Baghdad, according to WND sources. The sources, private contractors who have recently returned to the U.S. from Iraq, said Friday their former colleagues effectively have been abandoned by the U.S. military and are fighting for their lives against an army of jihadists surrounding the base who belong to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The U.S. contractors are at Balad to help the...

The Arab Balad party's election video is an animated clip showing Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and several nationalist MKs singing Hatikva in to a Middle Eastern tune. Video In the clip, Lieberman explains that he was the one who proposed a law requiring citizens to pledge allegiance to the state of Israel in order to be eligible for an ID card. He then announces that he has now become convinced that the tune of Hatikva – Israel's national anthem – should be changed so that Arabs feel comfortable singing it as well. The well-executed clip follows, with MKs Aryeh Eldad,...

An Israeli Arab man has been indicted for allegedly working on behalf of Hezbollah in a plot to assassinate Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, a gag order lifted on Monday revealed. Tira resident Rawi Fuad Sultani, 23, was arrested by Shin Bet and Israel Police forces earlier this month and indicted at the Haifa District Court. According to the charge sheet, Sultani first made contact with Hezbollah agents at a multi-national Arab summer camp in Morocco organized by the Israeli Arab political party Balad. Lebanese Hezbollah agent Salman Harev, who also took part in the camp, spent...

A USAF F-16 assigned to the 332nd AEW, based at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, caught fire after the pilot aborted the takeoff, at about 5.40h. Baghdad time. The fire was contained adjacent to the runway, and the pilot, who ground egressed the aircraft, was taken to the Air Force Theater Hospital on base for evaluation. The pilot had no apparent injuries. The aircraft was destroyed in the fire. A safety board will be convened to investigate the incident. Courtesy of Joint Base Balad Public Affairs

6/17/2008 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFPN) -- The home of the Air Force's only wing in Iraq and the Army's logistical headquarters for supplies and shipments in the country has been renamed to reflect the dual nature of the base. Joint Base Balad is the new name for what used to be called Balad Air Base by the Air Force and Logistics Support Area Anaconda by the Army. The new name went into effect at midnight June 15 to coincide with the transfer of base support functions from the Army to the Air Force under the Base Operating Support...

BALAD, Iraq, June 11, 2008 – Since May 22, more than 500 former insurgents in the Balad area have reconciled with the Iraqi government, choosing a different path for their lives. Operation Balad Musalahah is a combined effort between the qada-level government of Iraq -- a qada is roughly equivalent to a U.S. county -- and the leadership of the Iraqi police, 4th Iraqi Army Division, and the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team. The ongoing effort has encouraged tribal leaders and local people with significant influence to promote unity within the once-beleaguered area,...

My son has returned from Iraq after 4 month tour of duty with the RAF, He told me while there, that he spent a week with the American camp at Balad. Please pass on my thanks to all Servicemen and women at this site for the hospitality shown to a young Brit, while on duty , as them in a foreign land defending freedom..........

3/12/2008 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Airmen from the 64th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron here were called out to rescue two American citizens lost on a hiking trip March 2. "We initially started hearing information about a possibility of American citizens getting lost during a hiking trip at around 4 a.m.," said Navy Lt. Evan Scaggs, a 64th ERQS pilot and the flight lead for the rescue. "The Joint Personnel Recovery Center started to gather information about who the people were, where they were and checking to see if there were any other problems, while we were on stand-by...

On Nov. 3, U.S. soldiers raided a safe house of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq near the northern city of Balad. Not a single combatant was captured, but inside the house they found something valuable: a diary and will written in neat Arabic script. "I am Abu Tariq, Emir of al-Layin and al-Mashadah Sector," it began. Over 16 pages, the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader detailed the organization's demise in his sector. He once had 600 men, but now his force was down to 20 or fewer, he wrote. They had lost weapons and allies. Abu Tariq focused his anger...

12/20/2007 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- With the help of volunteers from around the base, the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing flight safety office reduced the number of bird strikes on aircraft by 30 percent here in November. They accomplished this through the Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard program, which uses awareness and proactivity to reduce the number of bird-strike threats against aviation assets. "We are here preserving the Air Force's combat capabilities," said Master Sgt. Brian Saunders, a flight safety office member." Last year alone $42 million in damage was done to Air Force aircraft from bird strikes." Helping...

BAGHDAD, Iraq: Gunmen burst into two houses belonging to a Sunni Muslim family northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 14 relatives, police said. The attack occurred around 1 p.m. local time in the village of Rufayaat, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) east of Balad. Balad is a majority Shiite town 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the Iraqi capital, but it is surrounded by territory that is mainly populated by Sunnis. At least 10 gunmen piled into two vehicles broke into the homes, then separated women and children from their male relatives. All 14 victims were men, ranging in age...

Ansar al-Sunnah in Iraq, in eight communiqués issued between Tuesday, November 28, 2006, and today, Thursday, November 30, claim responsibility for attacks targeting American forces in the cities of Haditha, Kirkuk, Heet, and Balad. Two of these operations, including the detonation of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on an American CIA vehicle and truck carrier, were videotaped. Others, composed of sniper attacks and bombings of vehicles and barracks, were stated to be revenge attacks for American crimes in Haditha.

BALAD, Iraq (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Iraq on Wednesday on a visit that comes amid waning support in the United States for the war and questions about when U.S. troops might start returning home. Rumsfeld's visit follows stops in Afghanistan, where military operations are often overshadowed by fighting in Iraq, and Tajikistan, which because of its location has become critical to U.S. counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics efforts. Rumsfeld has so far declined to comment on troop levels in Iraq, saying those decisions should be made with commanders in the field.

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Raymond Mathews (left) and Staff Sgt. Jason Parker, assigned to 66th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, cover the windshield to a HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter at Balad Air Base, Iraq, June 20, 2006. Elite, unique and one-of-a-kind in Iraq, the squadron is the only combat search and rescue unit in Iraq and is trained to save the people no one else can reach. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Andrew Oquendo Rescue Unit at Balad Serves as ‘911’ for Iraq Called in for only those facing extreme danger, the pararescuemen are the “911” unit...

Balad Airbase-Paving the Way to the Future By Polli Barnes Keller Gulf Region Division U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Before - parking of helicopters on edge of active taxiways. Photo 3: After - Tactical helicopter parking ramp. (USACE Photo by Ray Martin) Tikrit Iraq - Repairs and renovations to the Balad Airfield are paving the way to the future of Iraq.In four months, over 800 cubic meters of concrete have been placed and over 35 miles of conduit and conductors have been laid. By the time all the repairs and renovations to the Balad Airbase runway are complete, more than...