Category: Israel

Canada says very worried by Israel’s move to legalise settlements

Canada is very concerned by Israel’s move to legalise thousands of settler homes on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which took power in late 2015, is more prepared to criticise Israel than the former Conservative administration, which adopted a resolutely pro-Israel policy.

Qatar Strongly Condemns Israeli Settlement Law In Palestinian Territories

Qatar strongly condemned Israel’s approval to build thousands of new settlement units in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem, Qatar News Agency reported. In a statement Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Israeli Knesset’s adoption of settlement legislation law is a flagrant violation of international resolutions and a blatant attack on the right of the Palestinian people.

Dozens arrested in ultra-Orthodox anti-draft protests

Ultra-Orthodox demonstrators during a protest against the jailing of Jewish seminary student who failed to comply with an army recruitment order, in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood, February 7, 2017. Some 50 people were arrested on Tuesday evening during a series of protests by ultra-Orthodox demonstrators against the arrest of a member of their community being held by military police for not presenting himself for army service.

Ticketmaster launches in Israel

The US entertainment company Live Nation announced it has acquired a stake in an Israeli concert promotion business and launched Ticketmaster Israel. The Los Angeles-based company purchased a majority stake in Tel Aviv’s Bluestone Entertainment, Billboard reported Tuesday, and the two companies have partnered on the launch of the popular ticketing site in the Jewish state.

Israeli leader presses UK to impose new sanctions on Iran

In this Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017, file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. Israel’s prime minister is moving ahead with a contentious law that would legalize dozens of settlement outposts in the West Bank, despite questions about the bill’s legality and a warning from the White House that settlement construction “may not be helpful.”

Israel pushes measure to make outposts legal

Israel is moving toward a vote on a bill intended to legalize dozens of settlement outposts in the West Bank, despite claims by experts that the bill is illegal and a warning from the White House that settlement construction “may not be helpful.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under intense pressure from members of his coalition to bring the bill to a vote, which has been scheduled to take place today in parliament.

Jeremy Corbyn calls on the PM to stand up for rights of Palestinian people

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is to visit 10 Downing Street on Monday for talks with Theresa May Jeremy Corbyn has called on Theresa May to stand up for the rights of the Palestinian people when she meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. The Labour leader said that it was “simply not good enough” for Mrs May to say that Israeli settlement building on occupied Palestinian land undermined trust in the Middle East peace process.

Move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and do it soon

With Donald Trump in the White House, speculation is mounting: Does he intend to act on his pre-election promise, dating back to January 2016 and reaffirmed both before and since his election, that he will transfer the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, in accordance with standard diplomatic practice and the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act? A plethora of pieces have argued against the move. For example, Talia Sasson’s Op-Ed in these pages, “Move the U.S. embassy at Israel’s peril,” argued against moving the embassy on the novel basis, among others, that “Never have the Palestinians given up Jerusalem as their capital.”

Israel Can’t Avoid the Settlement Talk Anymore

In his inimitable fashion, U.S. President Donald Trump has succeeded in beginning a national conversation about immigration. It is not the nuanced, cerebral discussion about the value of migrants versus the danger of terrorists that Americans need to have, but despite — or perhaps because of — the horribly amateurish rollout of his immigration executive order, the U.S. is at least beginning to talk.

U.S. tells Israel that West Bank settlements ‘may not be helpful’ to achieving peace

The White House on Thursday gently warned Israel that new or expanded settlements in the West Bank “may not be helpful” in achieving a Middle East peace, while insisting it has no “official position on settlement activity.” A statement issued by press secretary Sean Spicer said that although the administration does not believe settlements are “an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal.”

Trump embraces pillars of Obama’s foreign policy

President Donald Trump, after promising a radical break with the foreign policy of Barack Obama, is embracing key pillars of the former administration’s strategy, including warning Israel to curb construction of settlements, demanding that Russia withdraw from Crimea, and threatening Iran with sanctions for ballistic missile tests. In the most startling shift, the Trump White House issued an unexpected statement appealing to the Israeli government not to expand the construction of Jewish settlements beyond their current borders in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Theresa May Pastes Jeremy Corbyn

UK Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn went on the offensive against Prime Minister Theresa May during Prime Minister’s Questions, over Donald Trump’s immigration ban and protecting refugees. An Aussie immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave is founder and managing editor of Israellycool, one of the world’s most popular pro-Israel blogs He is a happy family man, and a lover of steak, Australian sports and girlie drinks “Well done and special thanks.

Benjamin Netanyahu pictured on a previous visit to Downing Street

Downing Street said Mrs May was expected to take the opportunity to restate Britain’s concern that settlement building in the West Bank is undermining trust in the Middle East peace process. But Mrs May’s spokeswoman stressed this was expected to form only a small part of discussions, which will focus on the bilateral relationship between the UK and Israel, including the potential for increased trade following Brexit.

Hurling guilt on top of rocks, Amona protesters target police’s hearts and minds

The night before police began clearing out the Amona outpost, protest organizers told the hundreds of religious teenage boys and girls who had made their way to the hilltop outpost to make the evacuation “as difficult as possible, as long as possible.” The protesters obliged, and the pushback against the evacuation operation – codenamed “Gan Na’ul,” or “Locked Garden” – was as much emotional as it was physical.

Lesley Heller Workspace Introduces a Room Behind a Room, 2/12-3/19

A Room Behind A Room: these windowless spaces or theaters which have for a century been portals to an expansive real world beyond or behind the room. But now such portals lead us elsewhere The ease in making motion graphics and visual effects allows many artists to move into realms of total fantasy circumventing the camera as a recording device, mixing animation with documentary footage.

Jewish settlers set tires ablaze at the Amona outpost, northeast of Ramallah, on Wednesday.

Hours after Israel approved 3,000 new settlement homes in the West Bank, Israeli security forces moved to evacuate settlers from an illegal outpost there, sparking scuffles. There’s been a clear uptick in the rate of settlement approval since Donald Trump was sworn in as U.S. president less than two weeks ago – and Trump is expected to be supportive of settlement expansion.

Rare Red Heifer Eligible for Third Temple Offering Found, And You Won’t Believe Where

A rabbi in a remote region of Mexico he went to a dairy farm to purchase milk, and was shocked when he saw a vital element of the Third Temple right in front of his eyes: a red heifer calmly chewing its cud under the Baja sun. “I’ve grown up with the stories, so I know how rare and valuable the red heifer is,” Rabbi Benny “Bentsion” Hershcovich told Breaking Israel News.

In Israel, It’s Build, Build, Build

Israel approved 3,000 more housing units in the occupied West Bank late Tuesday, the largest number in a wave of new construction plans that defy the international community and that open a forceful phase in the country’s expansion into land the Palestinians claim for a future state. Emboldened by the new Trump administration and internal battles at home, Israel announced plans for the new units in about a dozen settlements a week after approving 2,500 homes in the West Bank and 566 in East Jerusalem.

Settlers: ‘Don’t destroy our homes’

The High Court of Justice has ordered that both the Amona and Ofra homes must be demolished by February 8. HUNDREDS OF SETTLERS rally yesterday opposite the Knesset in support of the bill to legalize some 4,000 illegally built settlement homes. The government must save our homes, hundreds of settlers demanded on Monday as they rallied in front of the Knesset.

Trump Will Meet With Benjamin Netanyahu In February

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office December 25, 2016. REUTERS/Dan Balilty/Pool White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Feb. 15, in a Monday briefing with reporters.

Socialist primary winner in France had backing of prominent anti-Semites

A left-wing politician in France who handily defeated Prime Minister Manuel Valls in the Socialist presidential primaries was endorsed by the founders of the country’s Anti-Zionist Party. Benoit Hamon, who supports dramatically expanding welfare payments and has called for his party to support Palestinian causes to increase its appeal to Muslim voters, beat his hard-line challenger Sunday with 58 percent of the vote in the second and final round of the balloting.

Dining review: Putting it all on the table

For those looking to take their desire for a night out with friends to the next level, Table Talk could be just the right place. The 6 month old ‘cosmopolitan bistro’, Table Talk in the heart of Tel Aviv draws much of its inspiration from the 16th century European use of the restaurant’s name, which refers to a literary genre based on conversations and comments made by cultural figures, artists and politicians.

Israeli troops kill Palestinian in West Bank: medics

Palestinian protesters burn tires during clashes with Israeli security forces following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus, in the occupied West Bank on January 27, 2017. / AFP / JAAFAR ASHTIYEH

Councilman Randy Burkett says Facebook posts led to threats

Amarillo City Councilman Randy Burkett said Saturday that a Facebook exchange in which he was involved ended with threats made against him and that those threats are now being investigated by “law enforcement entities.” This most recent war of words involving the councilman, the third this month, stems from his responses to posts on a “friend’s” Facebook timeline.