- Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Gil76

Lebanese army dismantles 4 rockets near Israel

Gil — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:32:20 +0000

Lebanese troops found and dismantled four rockets near the border with Israel on Wednesday, a day after a brief flare-up across the tense boundary, a Lebanese military official said.

The Katyusha rockets, three of them ready to be fired, were discovered placed in a building under construction in the Houla area, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.

Israel-Sweden cross swords on organ harvesting Article

Gil — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:39:15 +0000

Reporting from Jerusalem - Israel, already on the defensive over European criticism of its policies, has picked a diplomatic fight with Sweden over an unsubstantiated newspaper “expose” suggesting that Israeli soldiers harvested the organs of Palestinians who died in army custody.

The article in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet on Aug. 17 drew little attention until Israel demanded, two days later, that Sweden’s government condemn it. Swedish officials refused, saying the newspaper has a constitutional right to free expression.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined a chorus of Israeli protest against the Swedish stance, saying it ignores the article’s potential to incite violence against Jews. Addressing his Cabinet, Netanyahu likened the report to “medieval libels that Jews killed Christian children for their blood,” said an official who was present.

Public clashes with US damaging Israel

Gil — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:12:45 +0000

A senior Israeli diplomat has warned that his government’s confrontational attitude toward the Obama administration is seriously harming Israel’s standing, according to a TV report broadcast Thursday.

The diplomat wrote an internal memo that was leaked to Israel’s Channel 10 TV. It said that Israel’s public clashes with Washington over the U.S. demand for a settlement construction freeze was causing “strategic damage to Israel.”

Channel 10 identified the diplomat as Nadav Tamir, Israel’s consul in Boston. The TV news report showed pictures of the leaked memo, which was written in Hebrew. A TV reporter read from it on the air.

“In the distance created between us and the U.S. administration, there are clear implications for Israel’s deterrent capabilities,” the diplomat said in the memo.

President Barack Obama has demanded a total halt to building in Israel’s settlements in the West Bank. Israel has publicly rebuffed the demand in rare public spats. Channel 10 rebroadcast an icy televised news conference exchange on the subject between Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman during Clinton’s recent visit to Israel.

Netanyahu turns to Nazi language

Gil — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:27:24 +0000

There are words with meanings corrosive as acid. Heavy with the stench of historic crimes. Words that damn those who use them. One such word is “Judenrein”, the Nazi-era word that means “cleansed of Jews”. It is a surprise, then, to learn that it is a word that has been appropriated by Binyamin Netanyahu to describe the Palestinian demand for the dismantling of the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. More shocking still, according to reports yesterday, it was used in talks between Netanyahu and Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier, foreign minister of a country still haunted by the guilt of its Nazi past – who was compelled to nod in embarrassed silence.

Israel strikes hard against Hamas

Gil — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:14:01 +0000

Yesterday morning, Israel launched a major offensive in Gaza against Hamas and its terrorist allies. Initial air strikes targeted Hamas training camps, police stations, and weapons storehouses, as well as the elaborate system of tunnels terrorists use to smuggle weapons. IDF artillery is positioned on the Gaza border, and reservists have been called up, suggesting that a ground assault may not be far behind.