Israel has developed an app that will serve as an early missile warning for its citizens, saving lives.
The Israelis, as a courtesy and humanitarian effort, when they retaliate against Arab aggression, send small bombs in first to warn citizens so they can evacuate.
Stewart has a problem with this. This is fodder for mockulatory criticism, and his a-hole audience gleefully applauds on cue.
Jerks, all.
The security cabinet has voted to call up some 40,000 reservists in preparation of a possible ground operation in Gaza Strip as part of Operation Protective Edge, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to "take off the gloves" in its confrontation with Hamas.
Netanyahu placed responsiblity for the current round of fighting on Hamas, and said "Hamas chose escalation and it will pay a heavy price for it."
Senior political sources close to Netanyahu said he has ordered the defense establishment to conduct a "continuous, long and forceful operation in Gaza."
The decision to call up reservists was taken at the request of IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, and is intended to allow reservists to take over part of the duties currently being fulfilled by conscripted soldiers, who will now avail themselves to the operation itself.
According to the source, Netanyahu told the IDF to go "all the way," saying "evening a ground operation was currently on the table." According to them, such an operation was far from certain, but that the operation's goal was to increase deterrence and deal Hamas a significant blow.
Hamas often portrays the 3 kidnapped teens as "soldiers" (Reuters photo)
In April 2012, CBS’s 60 Minutes broadcast one of the most biased pieces of reporting of that year (and a Dishonest Reporter Award finalist) on the status of Christians in the Holy Land. Bob Simon presented an unbalanced picture blaming Israel for virtually every difficulty experienced by Palestinian Christians.
The segment included an interview with Christy, a young Palestinian from Bethlehem, whose family home had been affected by Israel’s security barrier on three sides. Christy was forced to flee to the UK to escape persecution by Palestinians who disagree with her political views and sympathy for Israel’s case. At meeting in London in 2013, Christy explained to me how Bob Simon and CBS had, through selective editing, misrepresented her views on the security barrier and the situation of Christians in Bethlehem.
Christy greatly impressed me, both for her courageous stance and the intelligent manner in which she presented her side of the Palestinian issue in stark contrast to the anti-Israel propaganda that so dominates the discourse.
We were, however, unable to report Christy’s case on the HonestReporting site at the time due to the precarious situation that she and her family back in Bethlehem found themselves in.
Now, despite having experienced death threats both in Bethlehem and in the UK, Christy has very bravely put her story on YouTube in the form of a lecture given to a Swedish university and a personal appeal to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to hold to a promise given to her that a Palestinian state would respect fundamental human rights and democracy.
Christy gives us a view of life under the Palestinian Authority not often told, particularly from the media that all too often downplays or completely ignores the lack of freedom and internal violence within Palestinian society.
After weeks of speculation that convicted spy could be included as sweetner to Israel, Housing Minister Uri Ariel tells Army Radio that Pollard opposes such a 'shameful deal'.
In a development that is not sending shockwaves through the pro-Israel community, the “pro-Israel, pro-peace” advocacy group J Street has declared its support for the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. In a statement posted on the group’s website, executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami says that to “keep moving forward, both [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] now need to give a little.”Some more about J Street "advocacy":
Netanyahu, he says, must drop his insistence that Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish State because “it is simply unrealistic and unreasonable to expect any Palestinian leader to consent” to such a demand.
Ben-Ami never goes on to say what Abbas “needs to give.”
J Street’s advocacy for the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state follows a nearly unbroken period of advocacy for Palestinian and Iranian interests since the group’s founding in 2008. J Street took the Hamas position on Israel during Operation Cast Lead later that year, accusing the IDF of war crimes and promoting the discredited Goldstone Report. It lobbied for the Iranian regime’s position against Iran sanctions. It defended the terrorists who attacked IDF soldiers on the 2010 Gaza flotilla. J Street also took the Palestinian and Arab League position on a UN Security Council resolution on Israeli settlements in 2011.
- The J Street PAC received funds from the Saudi Arabian embassy’s attorney, Nancy Dutton.
- J Street joined with National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and opposed congressional efforts to impose sanctions on Iran. (J Street Director Ben Ami had the gall to lie in the Knesset and say that J Street had never opposed sanctions against Iran.)
- J Street PAC repeatedly took contributions from Mehmet Celebi, of Chicago. The Hillary Clinton presidential campaign dropped Celebi in 2008 when it learned he produced Valley of the Wolves, a viciously anti-American and anti-Semitic Turkish film.
- J Street joined with Churches for Peace in the Middle East, which supports the boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) efforts against Israel's sponsorship of a visit to Israel in February 2010.
- Morton Halperin, one of five directors of J Street, wrote a letter defending the false Goldstone report which savaged Israel over Operation Cast Lead, and J Street helped set up meetings for Goldstone on Capitol Hill.
- Daniel Levy, Ben-Ami’s partner in the formation of J Street, stated at a conference in Abu Dhabi that “the creation of Israel” was “an act that was wrong.”
- J Street welcomed BDS lobbyists to its national conference, where BDS ran a session on the boycott of Israeli products.
- J Street lobbied the US Congress against a resolution that condemned the blatant incitement in Palestinian school books and Palestinian media.
Fatah opens verbal fire on Hamas, claims its officials are meddling in Egyptian affairs and getting rich off their own citizens.
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Iran has signed a deal to sell Iraq arms and ammunition worth $195 million, according to documents seen by Reuters - a move that would break a U.N. embargo on weapons sales by Tehran. ... Some in Washington are nervous about providing sensitive U.S. military equipment to a country they worry is becoming too close to Iran. Several Iraqi lawmakers said Maliki had made the deal because he was fed up with delays to U.S. arms deliveries. ... "If true, this would raise serious concerns," said the U.S. official, who declined to be named. "Any transfer of arms from Iran to a third country is in direct violation of Iran's obligations under UNSCR 1747." ... The official documents seen by Reuters showed that six of eight contracts were signed with Iran's Defense Industries Organization to supply Iraq with light and medium arms, mortar launchers, ammunition for tanks as well as artillery and mortars. A final two contracts were agreed to with the state-owned Iran Electronic Industries for night vision goggles, communications equipment and mortar guiding devices. One of the contracts includes equipment to protect against chemical agents. An Iraqi army major with knowledge of procurement issues said that would include items such as gas masks and gloves, as well as injections. Baghdad has expressed fear the militants will use such agents against its forces. Officials from the Iraqi and Iranian defense ministries signed the agreements, according to the documents. They did not list a timetable for deliveries and it was not possible to confirm whether they had taken place. ...The Shiite axis is rising... yet another foreign policy failure by our dear leader. Is Obama hiding under a desk? Now that's leadership (not).
Turkey has become a principal financial hub for terrorists under the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government has helped Iran skirt sanctions, supported jihadi groups in Syria, and provided financial backing to Hamas, according to a new report by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Turkey, a key U.S. ally, “has turned a blind eye” to terror financing and is potentially on the verge of crossing the line to becoming an official state sponsor of terrorism, according to the Friday report, which cites the Erdogan government’s close ties to some of the world’s top terror organizations and operatives. The report comes just a day after 84 U.S. lawmakers and former government officials urged President Barack Obama to confront Erdogan over his harsh repression of political opponents. As Turkey’s support for terrorism expands, the Obama administration has remained silent out of fear of offending Erdogan, whom the White House considers a strategic asset, according to the report authored by FDD’s Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Treasury Department. The Obama administration “has remained on the sidelines, expressing relatively mild concern about the crackdowns on law enforcement officials and the jailing of journalists, while electing not to mention terrorism finance issues publicly,” the report states. “Washington’s silence stems from fears of a fall-out with Turkey, which has been a crucial ally over the years, and is situated strategically at the intersection of Europe and the Middle East,” according to the report. “But Turkey’s actions constitute a direct challenge to Washington’s sanctions regime.” ...
