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Messages and Statements Statement Regarding the Israeli Military Interception of Gaza Flotilla from Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson On behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Lutheran World Federation, organizations that are deeply engaged with and committed to the Lutheran Christians and all persons living in Palestine and Israel, I express my deep sadness regarding events surrounding the flotilla seeking to deliver humanitarian goods to Gaza. We deeply regret the deaths and injuries that resulted when Israeli forces intercepted the boats. Our thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and the families of those killed or otherwise...

Military pressure may be needed to oust Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Saudi Arabia on Thursday. SNIP--- "Ultimately a combination of diplomacy and pressure will be needed to bring about a political transition. Military pressure particularly may be necessary given President Assad's reluctance to negotiate seriously."

New York (AFP) - CIA Director John Brennan said the United States does not want to see a chaotic collapse of the Syrian regime as it could open the way to Islamist extremists taking power. The spy agency chief said Washington had reason to worry about who might replace President Bashar al-Assad if his government fell, given the rise of the Islamic State group and other jihadists in Syria. "I think that's a legitimate concern," Brennan said when asked if the US government feared who might succeed Assad. Speaking at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations, he said...

June 07, 2010 SNIPPET: "His appointment to head the MIT immediately preceded the "humanitarian" flotilla organized by terrorist-linked Turkish organization IHH. Prior to being this most recent appointment he was central to moving Turkey into the Iranian camp."

Saudi ArabiaÂ’s Attempt To Create A Sunni Alliance Against Iran Will Fail And Mecca The Pride Of The Muslims Will Be Destroyed By The Muslims Themselves! By Shoebat Foundation on March 11, 2015in Featured, General By Walid Shoebat (Shoebat Exclusive) In the Middle East, everything could turn on a dime. Who would have imagined that powers such as Turkey and Iran, which both recognized Israel soon after it declared independence in 1948 would become now two of its arch enemies, while Arab states who were IsraelÂ’s arch enemies have come to realize that Israel is no longer their primary concern,...

Senior director at the National Security Council (NSC) Robert Malley, who was dismissed from President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign team when it was revealed that he met with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, has been named Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf Region.

Senior director at the National Security Council (NSC) Robert Malley, who was dismissed from President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign team when it was revealed that he met with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, has been named Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf Region. A former Middle East advisor for President Bill Clinton, Malley has a history of controversial statements that have criticized Israel.

Despite the 2012 Levy Report proving the legality of Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria under international law, the European Union (EU) has bitterly opposed that presence and even threatened sanctions—however, a new report reveals that it is in fact the EU that is guilty of “illegal settlement” in the region. Judea and Samaria was divided into Areas A, B and C in the 1993 Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority (PA); and under the agreements, Area C is under complete Israeli administrative and security control. However, the new report by Regavim, a NGO watchdog group for Jewish national...

The Subcommittee for Judea and Samaria of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee hosted on Sunday the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Major General Yoav Mordechai, for a discussion of illegal construction in Judea and Samaria. According to information presented to the committee, about 550 illegal structures were built by Arabs in Areas C in the course of 2014, as opposed to 150 illegal structures built by Jews. Bearing in mind that the Arab population in Areas C is smaller than the Jewish one – about 90,000 Arabs compared with about 400,000 Jews – the rate...

A leading Israeli NGO has slammed the European Union over its alleged role in financing illegal Arab settlements in Judea and Samaria, saying its direct attempts to “subvert” Israeli internal affairs amounted to a form of “colonialism.” The remarks, made by the grassroots Im Tirzu organization, came in response to an article in the UK’s Daily Mail, which cited figures showing how the EU has channeled European taxpayers’ money into building some 400 homes and other buildings illegally in Area C of Judea and Samaria. Under the 1993 Oslo Accords—signed not only by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but by...

Everyone knows that Jewish settlements are illegal under international law. This is one of the endlessly repeated mantras that reinforce the denigration of Israel as a loathsome pariah state. Imagine: since the Six-Day War the State of Israel has displayed the temerity to authorize the construction of settlements for Jews in the biblical homeland of the Jewish people. To be sure, that defines Zionism, the return of Jews to their ancient cities (Jerusalem and Hebron), hills and valleys (Judea and Samaria). To Israel’s legions of enemies and critics, however, settlement is the illicit conquest and colonization of someone else’s land....

British tax payers have been funding illegal Palestinian homes on the West Bank despite the area being under Israeli jurisdiction, a dossier of photographs has revealed. A report by NGOs, international lawyers and MEPs say the 400 homes erected in Area C of the West Bank, break international law; specifically the Oslo Accords to which the EU is a signatory, the Daily Mail reports. British charity Oxfam is at the centre of the scandal, with Israeli officials calling for an investigation into their involvement. The homes, which cost tens of millions of euro to build and come from a fund...

Official: Yassin Offered Israel a Truce Wednesday March 24, 2004 12:46 AM By MARK LAVIE Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM (AP) - Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, assassinated in an Israeli air strike, offered Israel a 30-year truce in 1997, the mediator who arranged Yassin's release from prison said Tuesday. Efraim Halevy, a former Mossad operative who was called in to resolve an Israel-Jordan crisis after a botched assassination attempt against a Hamas leader in Jordan in 1997, made the disclosure in an interview on Israel TV. Halevy was a confidant of Jordan's King Hussein, and he suggested releasing Yassin from...

WASHINGTON — President Obama said that he and other world leaders have offered Iran an “extraordinarily reasonable deal” that will test whether the leadership of the Islamic nation is serious about at last resolving the dispute over its nuclear program. Even as negotiators appear close to an agreement, Mr. Obama highlighted the challenge of what comes next: ensuring that any pact forged in Geneva can pass muster in Tehran, where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has expressed deep skepticism about a settlement with the outside world. “We have made progress in narrowing the gaps, but those gaps still exist,”...

President Barack Obama says the United States would “walk away” from nuclear talks with Iran if there’s no acceptable deal. Obama says any agreement must allow Western powers to verify that Tehran isn’t going to obtain an atomic weapon, and that even if Iran “cheated,” the U.S. and others would have “enough time to take action.” The president tells CBS that “if we don't have that kind of deal, then we’re not going to take it.” …

Germany has rejected a definition of anti-Semitism that labels the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) as anti-Semitic. Responding to a legislative questionnaire released Thursday by leading Green Party MP Volker Beck, the Merkel administration wrote that “there does not exist a general academic definition” of anti-Semitism. Beck, who heads the German- Israel parliamentary group in the Bundestag, sharply criticized the Merkel administration: “Here the federal government has cowered,” he said. “There is no doubt of the anti-Semitic motivation within the spectrum of the BDS campaign. BDS aims essentially against Jewish Israelis and is therefore anti-Semitic. Whoever aggressively boycotts Israeli...

Members of Eli Yishai’s Yachad—Ha’am Itanu party and Baruch Marzel with members of his Otzma Yehudit party took a tour of southern Tel Aviv on Sunday, where they surveyed how the massive influx of illegal immigrants from Africa has impacted the neighborhood, which suffers drastically raised crime levels. During the visit, which was guided by Otzma Yehudit member May Golan, who is chairperson of the “Hebrew City” movement and a longtime champion of Jewish rights in the area afflicted by infiltrator settlement, the group came across infiltrators who openly said they were in Israel illegally and were unapologetic about it....

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met Sunday with former Lebanese Prime Minister and the Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri in Cairo, discussing what they called Iranian “interference” in the region as well as other international and regional issues. Following the meeting, Hariri told media reporters that they tackled the Iranian “intervention” in the region, Veto gate reported Sunday. Iranian- led Shiite militia ( from Iran and Iraq) and Iraq army troops battled against the Sunni Islamic State (IS) group in outskirt of Tikrit city in Iraq in the past few days, a development that has stirred worries of Gulf...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel will not cede territory due to the current climate in the Middle East, appearing to rule out the establishment of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu's comments, which came as he sought to appeal to hard-liners ahead of national elections next week, rejected a key goal of the international community and bode poorly for future peace efforts if he is re-elected.

Egypt Roars for Its Christians: ‘They Have a Shield’ Egyptian society and its government have rallied in defense of the Copts, but the White House has declined to support Egypt’s military actions in defense of its citizens. http://m.ncregister.com/daily-news/egypt-roars-for-its-christians-they-have-a-shield/#.VOgHo4Y8Kc0