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Israel facing ‘diplomatic tsunami’ with Arab neighbors

September 12, 2011 Comments off

mcclatchydc

JERUSALEM — The attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo has brought into sharp relief Israel’s increasing isolation in a still region grappling with the changes of the Arab Spring.

Israel was forced to evacuate its ambassador and most of its diplomatic staff from Cairo this weekend after hundreds of Egyptian protesters tore down a security wall protecting the Nile-side embassy, ransacked its files and burned an Israeli flag. It came less than a week after Turkey, Israel’s other major ally in the Muslim world, announced it was expelling the Israeli ambassador and downgrading its relationship to the lowest possible level after a deadly skirmish involving a Turkish aid vessel that was attempting to Read more…

Categories: Egypt, Israel Tags: , , , ,

Israeli envoy leaves Cairo after embassy attack

September 10, 2011 Comments off

 Protesters flee from tear gas during clashes in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo September 10, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

By Amena Bakr and Mohamed Abdellah

CAIRO (Reuters) – Israel flew its ambassador home from Cairo on Saturday after protesters stormed its embassy building, plunging Egypt’s military rulers into their worst diplomatic crisis since they took over from Hosni Mubarak.

Three people were killed and 1,049 wounded in clashes between protesters and police, the Health Ministry said.

The United States, which has poured billions of dollars of military aid into Egypt since it made peace with Israel in 1979, urged Cairo to protect the embassy after protesters hurled embassy documents and the Read more…

Categories: Egypt, Israel Tags: , , , ,

‘March of the Million’: Over 460,000 protest across country

September 4, 2011 Comments off

jpost.com

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv’s Kikar Hamedina take part in huge rally demanding social justice; Student Union chair to PM: “Let us live in this country”; Large demonstrations in J’lem, Haifa, Afula.

March of the million in Jerusalem Photo by: Marc Israel Sellem

An estimated 460,000 people gathered across the country on Saturday evening to protest for social change as part of the “March of the Million,” Channel 10 news reported.

Over 300,000 people were in Kikar Hamedina in Tel Aviv where a huge rally was taking place after a march through the streets of the city.

Student Union Chairman Itzik Shmueli called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to “Let us live in this country,” during a speech at the rally in Kikar Hamedina.

“Mr. Prime Minister, take a good look at us: We’re the new Israelis,” he told the hundreds of thousands of people who Read more…

Categories: Israel, Protests Tags: , ,

Report: Israel sends 2 warships to Egyptian border

August 31, 2011 Comments off

ynetnews.com

Military sources tell AP Israeli Navy sent additional warships to maritime border with Egypt following intelligence indicating viable terror threat. Meanwhile, Iran set to send 15th fleet to area as well as ‘to thwart pirate activity

The Israeli Navy (INF) has decided to boost its presence and patrols near Israel‘s maritime border with Egypt due to a viable terror threat in the area.

Israeli security sources told the Associated Press on Tuesday that two additional warships have been dispatched to Israel’s Red Sea border with Egypt. Another source stressed that the operation was routine, telling Reuters that “two naval craft have been sent to the Red Sea. This is not unusual.”

On Monday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Benny Gantz ordered that Read more…

Categories: Iran, Israel Tags: , , , , ,

Former head of Israel’s National Security Council (NSC): “Israel Prepares for War with Egypt in Sinai Desert”

August 22, 2011 2 comments

globalresearch

The former head of Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) urges military action by the regime in the Sinai Peninsula, following growing tensions with Egypt.

Uzi Dayan told Israel’s Channel 7 on Friday that Israeli military and security forces should prepare for a period different from the past in dealing with the new Egyptian government.

He claimed that the military effort would aim to target those that represent a threat to the Israeli regime.

“This is the time for the Israeli army to prevail its control inside Sinai,” Dayan went on to say.

Israeli troops are banned from entering the Sinai Peninsula under a 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.

Tensions have escalated between Cairo and the Tel Aviv regime after Israeli soldiers killed several Egyptian military and security personnel on Thursday.

Dayan also revealed that a meeting was held in the presence of Read more…

Categories: Egypt, Israel Tags: , , ,

PM would accept pre-’67 lines as baseline for talks

August 4, 2011 Comments off

jpost

Israel to negotiate using 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps, if Palestinians accept two states, one Palestinian and one Jewish.

With the Palestinians set to seek recognition of statehood at the UN in just a number of weeks, Israel said Tuesday it would be willing to accept the 1967 lines as a framework for talks as part of a package in which the Palestinians would recognize Jewish state.

Israeli officials said this framework would be a package deal whereby Israel would agree to entering negotiations using the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed upon swaps, as the baseline of talks; and the Palestinians would agree that the final goal of negotiations would be two states, a Palestinian one and Jewish one.

Israel raised the formula as officials from both parties, the US, EU and Russia are continuing to work on a document to provide a framework for a return to negotiations that could make a Palestinian bid at the UN superfluous.

According to this formulation, one official explained, each side would get something: The Palestinians would get the 1967 lines as the baseline, something they have long sought; and Israel would get Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

Israel, according to the official, has made Read more…

Categories: Israel, Palestine Tags: ,

Israel Protests: Has Israel Been Hit by the Arab Spring?

August 1, 2011 Comments off

 

As Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing the strongest wave of protests since he took office, he was forced to announce that members of his government would meet protesters to try and calm public discontent.

Reuters
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

In the last two weeks, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the rising living costs, putting pressure on Netanyahu and asking for reforms.

This week-end has seen the largest wave of protests hit the country when more than 150,000 protesters gathered at sites across Israel on Saturday night, which analysts say could have been inspired by anti-government protests in neighbouring Arab countries.

Israelis are growing concerned with the increasing gap between rich and poor, high taxes and food prices, the cost of education and call for greater state involvement.

On the other hand, the middle class is also unhappy and insist it has become a de facto minority.  Protests over Read more…

Categories: Israel, Protests Tags: , , , ,

Israel, US to hold massive missile defense drill next year

July 26, 2011 Comments off

jpost

Iranian ballisitic missile launched at war game. Photo by: Ho New / Reuters

Exercise aimed at improving operational coordination between countries’ defense systems in face of Iran’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In the face of Iran’s continued pursuit of a nuclear weapon, Israel and the United States will hold a large-scale missile defense exercise in the beginning of next year aimed at improving operational coordination between both countries’ defense systems.

Called Juniper Cobra, the exercise will be held in early 2012 and will include the Arrow 2 and Iron Dome as well as America’s THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and the ship-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. The exercise will likely include the actual launching of interceptors from these systems.

The Israeli Air Force’s Air Defense Division, the United States Missile Defense Agency and the US Military’s European Command (EUCOM) have held the Juniper Cobra exercise for the past five years. The upcoming exercise though is planned to be one of the most complex and extensive yet.

Last week, Air Force commander in the EUCOM Gen.Mark Welsh visited Read more…

Categories: Israel, military, United States Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Revealed: how Israel offered to sell South Africa nuclear weapons

July 25, 2011 1 comment

guardian

The secret military agreement signed by Shimon Peres and P W Botha

The secret military agreement signed by Shimon Peres, now president of Israel, and P W Botha of South Africa. Photograph: Guardian

Secret South African documents reveal that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid regime, providing the first official documentary evidence of the state’s possession of nuclear weapons.

The “top secret” minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in 1975 show that South Africa‘s defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel’s defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them “in three sizes”. The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the two countries that included a clause declaring that “the very existence of this agreement” was to remain secret.

The documents, uncovered by an American academic, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, in research for Read more…

Categories: Israel, nuclear technology, South Africa Tags: , , , , ,

Vice Premier: Iran, Hezbollah behind Lebanon protest over Israel sea border

July 11, 2011 Comments off

haaretz

The Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said at a meeting of cabinet ministers on Sunday that Iran and Hezbollah are behind the government of Lebanon’s petition to the United Nations concerning the maritime border with Israel.

martime border - Haaretz - July 10 2011 Schematic diagram of Northern Maritime Border.
Photo by: Haaretz

Ya’alon said that Iran and Hezbollah are purposefully trying to create a new source of friction with Israel.

“We signed an agreement with Cyprus that is in keeping with its agreement with Lebanon,” said Ya’alon. “When we announced our gas drilling, the Iranians and Hezbollah decided that it would be a good excuse for conflict with us.”

“They decided to sketch a new border south of the line that was agreed to in talks between Lebanon and Cyprus, and basically entered Read more…

Categories: Iran, Israel, Lebanon Tags: , , ,