(JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lecturing to Israeli ambassadors about regional concerns at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, said Palestinian claims of a “right of return” spell the end of Israel and prevent a peace agreement from being reached.
“Hamas could take over the Palestinian Authority any day, which is why we need solidified defense agreements and a diplomatic accord that ensures the recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, and a [Palestinian] declaration of the end of the conflict,” Netanyahu said Jan. 3.
Meanwhile, a New Wave Research poll conducted for Israel Hayom said the majority of the Israeli public supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with 53.5 percent in favor of the idea and 38 percent against it. However, when asked what the chances are that such a solution will, in actuality, come to pass, the results flipped: 40.6 percent think that a two-state solution is feasible, while 54.3 percent feel it is not possible.
Netanyahu also stated that Iran remains Israel’s “number one threat.”
“I drew a red line, and Iran has yet to cross it,” he said. “It is our ongoing duty to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.” The prime minister believes that in the short term, the Middle East “will continue to be shaken up, though in the long run I believe there is a chance for change if Iran is prevented from having military nuclear capability.”
Report: Israeli hospitals prepare for chemical attacks independent of Syria threat
(JNS.org) Independent of the implications of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons stockpile, the Israel Defense Forces has been equipping Israeli hospitals with the ability to deal with chemical attacks for three years now, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“We train a lot for chemical weapons,” the Post quoted an IDF Home Front Command source as saying. “This is our business, and only ours. There is no room for error.”
Hospital staffers are trained by the IDF to tackle incidents as severe as “mega-mass casualty incidents” involving 1,000 or more injuries—exercises that, according to the report, are unrelated to current events in Syria and elsewhere.
Israel-Egypt border fence that has already stemmed infiltration nearly complete
“In the past seven months, not one infiltrator has entered any Israeli city,” Netanyahu said.
The fence stretches from the Gaza Strip to Eilat. Israel has completed 143 miles of the fence, with the final seven miles near Eilat to be finished within the next three months. Overall, the project has taken half the amount of time that was originally anticipated.
A total of 2,153 illegal infiltrators crossed the Egyptian border into Israel in January 2012, according to Israel Hayom. By comparison, December 2012 saw only 36 illegal entries, all of whom were taken into custody.
“We must finish this work in other state borders where there is still the danger that infiltrators can trickle through,” Netanyahu said.
Al-Qaeda offers $160,000 bounty for Jewish U.S. ambassador to Yemen
The U.S. government considers AQAP to be the international terrorist group’s most dangerous branch and believes the group was behind the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in September that killed Amb. Christopher Stevens. One of the AQAP’s leaders was American-born Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a drone strike in 2011.
Feierstein’s religion is of particular concern in the latest threat. On numerous websites, much is made of Feierstein’s Jewishness, with the usual conspiracy claims of Zionist control of foreign countries and connections to the Mossad, according to the Jewish Press.
NJDC tells its interpretation of Pew Poll
(JNS.org) Commenting on a recent Pew Research Center for the People & the Press poll that showed 75 percent of Conservative Republicans sympathizing with Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians, compared with 33 percent of liberal Democrats siding with the Jewish state, National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) President and CEO David A. Harris, said “American Jews, who care deeply about Israel and follow current events closely, have seen the unprecedented, powerful support shown for Israel by President Barack Obama—and that displayed by Democrats throughout the House and Senate, and across our Democratic Party.” The same American Jews “have voted with their feet for decades and voted Democratic,” including on Election Day 2012, Harris said.
“The GOP may have one thing that the Democratic Party does not have— the complete fealty of the Evangelical and the far-right religious vote; but with it comes uncompromising support for a range of issues that are anathema to American Jews,” he added. “At the end of the day, it’s both domestic issues and trust in our Party’s strong pro-Israel bona-fides that keeps the vast majority of Jews voting Democratic.”
Strange bedfellows: Hezbollah reaches out to Christians amid Mideast upheaval
(JNS.org) While Middle East Christians increasingly fear the rise of Islamism amid the upheaval of the “Arab Spring,” one Muslim terrorist group seemingly acted out of character on Christmas. Experts, however, say not to be fooled by Hezbollah’s holiday cheer.
The ascendency of Sunni Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood is forcing Christians to seek help from other minorities like the Shi’a, who also face a common threat from the Sunni Islamists. Today this scenario is playing out in Syria and Lebanon. Christians fleeing the Syrian civil war are heading to Lebanon, where the Shi’a terrorist group Hezbollah dominates with some support of Christian groups.
Hezbollah, along with its benefactors in Iran, is locked in a regional struggle with the Sunnis and fears the loss of its Alawite ally in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad.
Consequently, reaching out to minority groups such as Christians makes strategic sense for Hezbollah.
On Christmas, Hezbollah’s new message was on full display, broadcasting displays of Christmas celebrations on its TV channel and even sending out a Christmas message.
“The teachings of Jesus Christ—which inspire every philanthropist—contradict what the region is witnessing in terms of injustice affecting our Christian brethren in Palestine and the region,” the terrorist group said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
However, Christians should not be lulled by the false sense of security projected by Hezbollah, according to experts.
“For Iran and Syria, their main backers, Hezbollah is mainly a strategic force against Israel. That’s the point—not creating an Islamic state or fighting a sectarian war,” Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Endowment Middle East Center, told the Christian Science Monitor.
“Hezbollah is a very top-down organization. If Iran decrees something else, something else will happen,” he said.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org