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Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Wednesday called US President Barack Obama's strong criticism of the building of additional Jewish homes in a Jewish neighborhood of the Israeli capital a position based on racism. Said Barkat: "Israeli law does not discriminate between Jews, Muslims, and Christians or between eastern and western Jerusalem. The demand to halt construction by religion is not legal in the United States or in any other free place in the world. I do not presume that any government would demand to freeze construction in the United States based on race, religion or gender and the attempt to...

Former US vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin disagrees with the Obama administration's demand that Israel halt settlement construction, although her reason for that opinion is puzzling to some (or at the least demonstrates she's not familiar with the term "natural growth" that much of the debate has revolved around). Palin debates Biden in St.... She told Barbara Walters on ABC's Good Morning America this week that she disagrees with the White House because all the Jews moving to Israel need a place to live. "I disagree with the Obama administration on that," Palin told Walters. "I believe that the Jewish...

Representatives from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia are scheduled to meet today in Brussels to discuss future steps to dissuade Iran from developing the capacity to build nuclear weapons. Our message to the world leaders: If you want peace, prepare for war.

TEL AVIV – A top Palestinian Authority negotiator told WND that the Obama administration won't stand in the way of a Palestinian threat to unilaterally ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state outside of negotiations with Israel. Despite widespread assumptions the U.S. would veto any such U.N. Security Council resolution, the PA negotiator said that in initial discussions, the Obama administration did not threaten to veto their conceptual unilateral resolution. "The U.S. told us that they prefer a negotiated settlement with Israel, but if we (Palestinians) insist on a resolution, the Americans will not necessarily reject it," the...

Once again, US President Barack Obama has demonstrated his intention of "putting light" between America and Israel. His hostility towards Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during the latter's visit to Washington this week was breathtaking. It isn't every day that you can see an American President leaving the Prime Minister of an allied government twisting in the wind for weeks before deciding to grant him an audience at the White House.

(IsraelNN.com) A top State Department official spelled out on Tuesday that the goal of the United States in its negotiations in the Middle East is to pressure Israel into expelling Jews from Judea and Samaria in order to "end the occupation that began in 1967." William J. Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, said in his address to the Middle East Institute Tuesday that he sees the U.S.mandate as one of "determined leadership" and that American must be straightforward about its intentions.

Senior US diplomatic sources have confirmed that the media blackout and shroud of secrecy surrounding Monday's meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama was the result of strained relations between the two leaders. Speaking to Israel's Army Radio on Wednesday morning, one unnamed US diplomat said the Obama Administration had become unhappy with what is viewed as Netanyahu's efforts to manipulate its policies during press briefings, and imposed the media blackout on Monday's meeting as a means of bringing the Israeli leader back in line. The official also accused Netanyahu of indirectly pressuring Obama via...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu left the White House after a one-hour and 40-minute meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama Monday night without speaking to reporters -- a rare occurrence. The meeting had been grudgingly scheduled early Sunday morning by the White House just a few hours before Netanyahu was to leave for the U.S. to speak at the 2009 General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. The ninth-hour appointment was a clear sign that relations between Washington and Jerusalem remain strained; Netanyahu had requested the meeting weeks ago. Also in attendance for part of the meeting was Defense...

Is Barack Obama a friend of Israel? 1. Yes. 2. No, he's an enemy. 3. No, but he's not an enemy.

egarding Hamas, Yadlin said the Gaza-based terror group now has a rocket with a 60-kilometer range that can reach Tel Aviv, and has already successfully test-fired it into the Mediterranean Sea. He said Hamas had also smuggled in Iranian-produced Fajr-style rockets, and overall has a better rocket capability than before the Gaza War last winter.

Middle East peace hopes were dealt a blow on Thursday when Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate Palestinian leader, announced he would stand down within weeks. He expressed frustration over shifts in the White House's policy on Israeli settlement construction as he told colleagues he was not prepared to seek a second term in elections in January. The loss of one of the Palestinian hierarchy's most conciliatory voices left President Barack Obama's Middle East peacekeeping efforts floundering and raised questions about his handling of negotiations in the region. Critics say the US president has fatally undermined Mr Abbas by conceding political ground...

MARRAKECH, Morocco – Trying to mute Arab criticism that the Obama administration had retreated from its tough stance on Israeli settlements, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday softened her praise for Israel's offer to restrain new housing in Palestinian areas. While Israel was moving in the right direction in its offer to restrict but not stop the settlements, Clinton said, its offer "falls far short" of U.S. expectations. Clinton said her earlier praise of Israel's offer, during a stop in Jerusalem, had been intended as "positive reinforcement." But her comment drew widespread criticism from Persian Gulf ministers...

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that countries opposed to Iran's atomic program should give up their own nuclear weapons, and attacked as "arrogant" the sanctions imposed on Ankara's neighbor. He also said he wanted the Middle East, and then the whole world, to rid itself of nuclear weapons. During a trip to Iran this week, Erdogan said he backed Tehran's "right to peaceful nuclear energy" and called its approach in nuclear talks with Western powers "positive." The trip added to Western concern that NATO's only Muslim member may be shifting its foreign-policy focus towards the Islamic world...

JERUSALEM – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is planning to press Israel over the weekend to cease Jewish construction in the eastern sections of Jerusalem, informed senior diplomatic officials told WND. Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem Sunday in her first official trip to Israel since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in March. According to the informed diplomatic officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Obama administration has been disappointed by a lack of progress on Israeli-Palestinian issues brokered by George Mitchell, the White House's envoy to the Mideast. Clinton is being sent by the White...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said Iran must agree to stop all uranium enrichment in any deal with world powers. The UN nuclear watchdog and world powers headed by the United States are trying to reduce Tehran's stockpile of enriched uranium in return for supplying a medical reactor. They hope the deal will build trust on the way to persuading Iran to give up uranium enrichment, which they fear is part of an atomic weapons program, even though Iran says the uranium will only fuel power stations. "The crucial thing is that the international community pressure...

(IsraelNN.com) A major meeting of the Jewish Agency is set for Sunday. The crowd will be addressed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and Natan Scharansky, the new chairman of the board of the Jewish Agency, will address the group for the first time. Discussions at the meeting will include the fate of Jewish education in the Diaspora, development of a a "new paradigm" relationship between Israel and the Diaspora, efforts to increase aliyah, and methods of helping to develop Israeli society.

Israel says PM did not consult Obama ahead of trip because meeting on peace process unnecessary. WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intention to visit Washington for the annual UJC General Assembly has surprised many on Capitol Hill and was apparently not coordinated with the Obama administration. An American source told Ynet Sunday that news of the visit had been received with reserved astonishment. The Obama administration has not yet responded to questions of whether a meeting with Netanyahu was forthcoming due to their surprise over the unscheduled visit. On the other hand, failure to invite Netanyahu to the White...

President George W. Bush, backed by a well-known neo-con crew as well as the gang in Tel Aviv, did all he could to formulate his war-loving foreign policy to force his successor manage a third military conflict in the Middle East. President Obama, meanwhile, has toned down the rhetoric since taking office and adopted a softer language, offering a glimmer of hope for direct diplomacy with Tehran — the two states have not had any diplomatic relations since the US Embassy take over in Tehran in 1980. Soon enough, the White House will have to come to terms with the...

The Obama administration appears to be welcoming the efforts of the left-leaning Jewish lobby in Washington, J Street. While Israel's ambassador to the U.S. will probably not be attending the group's October 25 conference, senior U.S. administration officials who have confirmed their participation include James Jones, national security adviser in the Obama administration. J Street was set up more than two years ago to offer an antidote to the large and powerful America Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC enjoys substantial support in both the Democratic and Republican parties and is identified with a more "rightist" line on the peace process....

Iran has warned it will take revenge against the US and Britain, accusing them of being involved in a suicide bombing that killed several Revolutionary Guard commanders. Six senior commanders and dozens of civilians died in the attack. The headquarters of the armed forces blamed the bombing on "terrorists" backed by "the Great Satan America and its ally Britain", the semi-official Fars News Agency reported. "Not in the distant future we (Iran) will take revenge." Earlier, Iranian state television said Sunni rebels carried out the bombing. It said the militant group Jundallah (Soldiers of God) had claimed responsibility for the...

The cancellation of the international air exercise with Turkey is no big deal. It harms the strategic interests and international standing of Turkey more than Israel. Even when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan explains his decision by saying the Israel Air Force killed children with phosphorous bombs during Operation Cast Lead, he is harming his country's security interests more than Israel's. During the battles against the Kurds in southern Turkey, to say nothing of the Armenians, the cruelty involved would not put Turkey on the list of candidates for the Nobel Prize in Mercy. But don't expect any television...

JERUSALEM – U.S. officials in recent days expressed to the Palestinian Authority that President Obama's administration is "disgusted" with Israel, a top aide to PA President Mahmoud Abbas told WND in an interview. Nimr Hamad said the White House was disgusted that Israel is refusing to halt all settlement activity as a precondition for re-starting talks with the PA over the creation of a Palestinian state. "Settlement activity" refers to Jewish construction in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem. Hamad repeated that the term "disgusted" was used more than once in recent meetings with U.S. envoys to describe...

JERUSALEM – The Palestinian president's political party says all hopes in the Obama administration have "evaporated," accusing the White House of caving in to pressure from the pro-Israel lobby and backing off a demand to freeze Jewish settlement. Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party also accused the U.S. of failing to set a clear agenda for a new round of Mideast peace talks, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday. "All hopes placed in the new U.S. administration and President Obama have evaporated," the document said. Obama "couldn't withstand the pressure of the Zionist lobby, which led...

TEL AVIV – Senior Palestinian Authority officials told WND the Obama administration offered their group guarantees that the U.S. would pressure Israel over a Palestinian state in exchange for the PA's withdrawal of support for immediate U.N. action over an investigation claiming Israel committed war crimes. The PA officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND the guarantees include pressing Israel to agree to a two-year timetable to negotiate a Palestinian state set along the pre-1967 lines – meaning a state in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem. The officials said the Obama administration hopes to...

A joint military exercise that Israel, the US, NATO, Turkey and Italy were scheduled to conduct this week, was taken off the table because of American disappointment with Ankara's decision to withdraw from the maneuver due to Israel's planned participation, Israeli defense officials said Sunday. Turkey informed Israel of the cancellation of the Anatolian Eagle exercise last week, saying this was because the planes that Israel was going to send likely bombed Hamas targets during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. According to officials quoted by Israel Radio, the cancellation of the exercise came after both...

Oslo decided to change its ways and begin giving out deferred Nobel Prizes: Win now, pay tomorrow. There's no other way to explain the bewildering, not to say bizarre, decision to grant the Nobel Prize for Peace to Barack Obama. Just like the reserved, esteemed Norwegians on the prize committee, we here, sweating and bleeding, were overjoyed with Barack Obama's election as U.S. president - black, eloquent, enchanting, striking and promising. Many an eye welled with tears, from Jerusalem to Rafah, at his unforgettable inauguration address, and even as late as his Cairo speech we still clung to his beautiful...

From the age of 20, Barack Obama has collected acclaim, awards and prizes not for his accomplishments (which have always been rather scanty), but for his potential. You would think with the guy nearing 50 and elected President that the prizes for "most promising young man" would cease. But no! The Nobel committee has just awarded him one more.

Is the U.S. stepping up preparations for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities? The Pentagon is always making plans, but based on a little-noticed funding request recently sent to Congress, the answer to that question appears to be yes. First, some background: Back in October 2007, ABC News reported that the Pentagon had asked Congress for $88 million in the emergency Iraq/Afghanistan war funding request to develop a gargantuan bunker-busting bomb called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). It's a 30,000-pound bomb designed to hit targets buried 200 feet below ground. Back then, the Pentagon cited an "urgent operational need"...

Navy to soon declare unmanned craft operational for patrols Oct. 4, 2009 Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST The Israel Navy plans to begin using unmanned naval craft in the coming months for patrols along the Mediterranean coast, senior IDF officers said on Sunday. Called unmanned surface vehicles, the ships are operated by remote control from a land-based station and are highly maneuverable, allowing them to conduct a wide range of missions, including patrols of the coast, without endangering navy personnel. One system that the navy has already purchased is the Protector, which was developed by Rafael Advanced Systems Ltd....

The president's approval rating has fallen to an astonishingly low 4 percent in the Holy Land. As his envoy jumpstarts peace talks, Richard Wolffe reports on Obama's plans to win the ally back. Is Obama surrounded by self-hating Jews? That was one of the most ridiculous—and yet perversely telling—stories to emerge from the last several weeks of Israeli media coverage. Not because the president is surrounded by Jewish aides who want to sabotage their own identity. Far from it. David Axelrod openly reveres the old Jewish deli in Chicago known as Manny’s. He has a sign in his West Wing...

The Obama State Dept. wants to discourage American citizens from traveling to Jerusalem, Israel this week during "Sukkot", also known as the "Feast of Tabernacles." This is the largest tourism event in Israel. According to this report in Jpost: "In an unusual move, the US State Department on Friday called on American citizens to avoid Jerusalem's Old City during the week of Sukkot, warning citizens of increased violence, crime and heavy traffic." Jews and Christians from all over the world have come to Jerusalem for decades to join in the Biblical celebrations without a problem. It is an occasion in...

A new American Jewish Committee (AJC) survey of American Jews shows that for the first time, a majority of them would support a U.S military strike against Iran, and an even larger majority would support such a move by Israel...

A majority of American Jews support military action against Iran to prevent the Teheran regime from obtaining nuclear weapons, a new study claims. Asked if they would support American military action, 56% of American Jews said they would, while just 36% opposed it, according to the American Jewish Committee's 2009 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion. An even greater number support Israeli military action against the Iranian nuclear program, with 66% in favor and just 28% against. The survey, which polled 800 representative American Jews and was conducted by Synovate between August 30 and September 17, also dealt with US-Israeli...

The crisis in relations with Iran escalated ominously yesterday after the leaders of the US, Britain and France accused the regime in Tehran of operating a secret uranium enrichment facility buried deep in a mountain bunker near the ancient religious city of Qom. Barack Obama called Iran's activity "a direct challenge" to the international community. The accusations were made public in an extraordinary joint statement by the US President, flanked by Gordon Brown and the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy before the start of the G20 economic summit in Pittsburgh. Iran had previously insisted that its plant at Natanz, which is...

<p>I suppose it’s disrespectful to say "If it walks like a duck…"</p> <p>In 1937, Islam attacked Israel on Yom Kippur. President Obama is following suit with his own Ramadan War on Israel. Oh, wait! Ramadan is a month of peace, right? A month that war is forbidden. UNLESS THE VICTIMS ARE UNBELIEVERS.</p>

Intelligence chief Sir John Scarlett has been told that Saudi Arabia is ready to allow Israel to bomb Iran's new nuclear site. The head of MI6 discussed the issue in London with Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Saudi officials after British intelligence officers helped to uncover the plant, in the side of a mountain near the ancient city of Qom. The site is seen as a major threat by Tel Aviv and Riyadh. Details of the talks emerged after John Bolton, America's former UN ambassador, told a meeting of intelligence analysts that "Riyadh certainly approves" of Israel's use of Saudi...

In a little noticed interview with the Daily Beast (presumably little noticed because serious people don't read the Daily Beast), Zbigniew Brzezinski suggests that Barack Obama do more than just refuse to support an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites -- the American president must give the order to shoot down Israeli aircraft as they cross Iraqi airspace: DB: How aggressive can Obama be in insisting to the Israelis that a military strike might be in America’s worst interest? Brzezinski: We are not exactly impotent little babies. They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going...

Tehran's new uranium enrichment plant will be operational soon, and "will blind the eyes of the enemies," Iran's semi-official news agency Fars reported Saturday, quoting a senior Iranian official. On Friday, Tehran acknowledged the existence of a second uranium enrichment facility near the Shia Muslim holy city of Qom. The announcement came ahead of a planned meeting October 1 between Iran and the five permanent United Nations Security Council members, plus Germany. "God willing, this plant will be put into operation soon, and will blind the eyes of the enemies," the senior official, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, said in a...

We now know that Barack Obama has sat for almost a year on the information regarding Iran's "secret" nuclear plant. His hand was forced yesterday by the Iranians who were the ones that went public with the information when it appeared to them that their security had been breached. This led to Barack Obama disclosing the previously withheld information regarding the plant. The Iranians kept the plant secret and Obama aided them by his silence. So much for the transparency promise.

WASHINGTON -- It's amazing how simple moral clarity slices through the toxic drivel that has come to define the United Nations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strode into the world's billion-dollar debating society yesterday and, in calm, deliberate tones, reminded us all of the real purpose for the UN's existence -- so long forgotten. The day before, the UN hosted the leech from Libya, Moammar Khadafy. His rambling rant would have made him a laughingstock, except that he remains one of the world's greatest terror enthusiasts. Then came Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- the Iranian leader's second marquee speech at the UN in...

Readers who are familiar with the Stockholm Syndrome will recall that it refers to a hostage-taking 1973 incident in that Swedish capital city. Over time, the hostages began to look to their captors as friends and protectors rather than the murderous kidnapers that they truly were. We are seeing something similar in what I call the Camp David Syndrome. President Obama has just announced the latest effort toward crafting a Middle East Peace Settlement. That grand-sounding title is Beltway-speak for “let’s lean on Israel to gain some street cred with the Euros.” He’s chosen Hillary Clinton as his negotiator. In...

A week ahead of crunch talks on Iran's nuclear program, the leaders of the U.S., France and the U.K. on Friday accused Tehran of building a covert uranium enrichment facility, a development they said directly challenges the world's non-proliferation rules. Later in the day, Iran publicly confirmed and strongly defended the nuclear fuel facility. Speaking at an overflowing news conference in New York Friday afternoon, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country has complied with rules of the U.N. nuclear agency that requires Tehran inform it of any new enrichment facility six months before any such facility becomes operational, the...

If Zbigniew Brzezinski had his way, the US would go to war against Israel to defend Iran's nuclear installations. In an interview with the Daily Beast Web site last weekend, the man who served as former US president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser said, "They [IAF fighter jets] have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? We have to be serious about denying them that right. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not." Brzezinski has long distinguished himself as...

If Zbigniew Brzezinski had his way, the US would go to war against Israel to defend Iran's nuclear installations. In an interview with the Daily Beast Web site last weekend, the man who served as former US president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser said, "They [IAF fighter jets] have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? We have to be serious about denying them that right. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not." Brzezinski has long distinguished himself as...

JERUSALEM – Both the Israeli government and the military here refused to respond to comments by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, who said the U.S. should confront Israeli jets if that nation chooses to take military action against Iran's nuclear installations. "We will not dignify Brzezinski with a response," a source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office told WND. Netanyahu's spokesmen and the Israel Defense Forces refused to provide an official reply. Discussing the possibility of an Israeli airstrike against Iran, Brzezinski declared in an interview with the Daily Beast website, "We...

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have been brought together in New York for their first face-to-face meeting since the Gaza war eight months ago. US President Barack Obama is keen for the men to discuss ways of achieving Middle East peace but neither the Israeli Prime Minister, nor the Palestinian President appeared to want the meeting at all. Mr Obama summoned both of them anyway and before the meeting began he made it sound like he was about to bang some heads together. "We cannot continue the same pattern of taking tentative steps forward and then...

Zbig Brzezinski, who enthusiastically campaigned for U.S. President Barack Obama, has called on the president to shoot down Israeli planes if they attack Iran. “They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?” said the former national security advisor to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in an interview with the Daily Beast. “We have to be serious about denying them that right,” he said.

President Obama will get his much-sought photo opportunity with two Middle Eastern leaders when he makes his UN debut this week — but he will spend the rest of the time avoiding two others. The White House has announced that Mr Obama will host a meeting of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, tomorrow as he makes his first appearance at the annual UN General Assembly session. Mr Obama is performing a carefully choreographed diplomatic dance. American diplomats have been busy behind the scenes trying to ensure that his star turn...

Author Joel Rosenberg spoke tonight at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit in Washington D.C. Rosenberg is the author of several best-selling fiction novels about intrigue in the Middle East (I’ve read all but the last one) and several non-fiction books about the Middle East. Rush Limbaugh highly recommends Rosenberg’s works, and his first fiction book (The Last Jihad) was somewhat prescient of the Iraq War. His father is Jewish and his mother is Gentile, by the way, and by his writings he seems to be a genuine Christian…with a LOT of knowledge of Jewish history. Rosenberg said these...

Former National Security Adviser to Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski who was a foreign policy adviser to President Obama during the campaign, has suggested that the United States should shoot down any IDF Plane on the way to attack Iranian nuclear facilities. Brzezinski was interviewed by the Daily Beast: