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Israel is sticking to its guns on a demand the United States allow it to integrate its own electronic warfare suite in Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, even though the Americans have given the green light to install other Israeli systems in the jet. Israel wants to buy an initial batch of 25 F-35s, enough for one squadron, in fiscal 2012 and would like to acquire another 50. The U.S. Department of Defense and Maryland-based Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor in the program, want to finalize a contract with Israel as soon as possible. The main holdup has been...

As Iran tests the capabilities of its air defense systems in nationwide exercises, the Israeli air force is reported to be planning special seminars to prepare its attack pilots to cope with heavy surface-to-air missile defenses. According to The Jerusalem Post, the sessions will encompass "future conflict with Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran" in which air force crews will "have to deal with an unprecedented number of surface-to-air missiles, most of them Russian-made." None of these adversaries is considered to pose an overwhelming air-defense threat, although Israeli intelligence believes that Iran has supplied some shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to the Palestinian...

According to the Saudi Network, al-Arabiya (via Ynet), Gilad Shalit, Kidnapped by Hamas over three years ago, may be coming home as soon as this coming Friday. It will be a four-stage deal. Israel will release 450 terrorists, custody of Shalit will be transferred to the Egyptian Government. Israel will follow up by releasing the another 650 terrorists and Egypt will transfer Shalit to the Israel. I assume that means that Hamas believes that one Jewish life is worth 1,000 Arab terrorist lives. Israel had agreed to release 1,000 prisoners months ago, within the group 450 specific prisoners were demanded...

A Gaza charity headed by the interior minister of Hamas yesterday offered $1.4 million to any Arab citizen of Israel who abducts an Israeli soldier. Palestinians have frequently called on Israeli Arabs to abduct soldiers, but this is the first time money has been offered.

How does Israel—with fewer people than the state of New Jersey, no natural resources, and hostile nations all around—produce more tech companies listed on the NASDAQ than all of Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, and China combined? How does Israel attract, per person, 30 times as much venture capital as Europe and more than twice the flow to American companies? How does it produce, for its size, the most cutting-edge technology startups in the world? There are many components to the answer, but one of the most central and surprising is the Israeli military's role in breaking down hierarchies and—serendipitously—becoming...

While Israel is interested in purchasing the fifth-generation stealth Joint Strike Fighter from Lockheed Martin, it will likely hinge its order on US acceptance of its demand that Israeli defense industries be allowed to participate in the aircraft's production, senior defense officials said Thursday. On Monday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and discussed potential Israeli involvement in the production of the JSF, also known as the F-35. In the past, Israeli aerospace companies have been integrated into the production of aircraft purchased by the IAF. During their meeting, as well as a meeting...

Israel must prepare itself for the fact that in a coming war, the IDF will not be able to block all incoming rockets from hitting civilian areas, despite the anticipated deployment of the Iron Dome system in 2010, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday morning. During the general periodical briefing to the powerful committee, the commander of the IDF focused heavily on Iran and Israel's security, offering cautious optimism regarding the efficacy of international sanctions, while warning that with Teheran's help, Hezbollah had amassed "tens of thousands" of...

The development schedule for a new U.S.-Israeli missile interceptor system is overly ambitious, and defense authorities likely will have to implement a backup plan if countries like Iran acquire a nuclear-tipped missile before the end of the next decade, according to defense experts. Advanced sensor and propulsion capabilities envisioned for the Arrow-3 interceptor likely will take significantly longer to develop than the five or six years estimated by Boeing Co., particularly given the program’s funding level, the experts said. “Look at any system that is developed — it takes 10 years from concept to deployment and there’s not much [funding]...

Israel's warnings that it will not tolerate an existential threat in the form of a nuclear Iran should be taken seriously, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned in an interview with the Britain-based Sky News on Friday. "The one who's bluffing is Iran, which is trying to play with cards they don't have," Ayalon told the news network. "All the bravado that we see and the testing and the very dangerous and harsh rhetoric are hiding a lot of weaknesses." ...

In 2000, I was asked by the Israel Defense Forces to join a group of philosophers, lawyers, and generals for the purpose of drafting the army's ethics code. Since then, I have been deeply involved in the analysis of the moral issues that Israel faces in its war on terrorism. I have spent many hours in discussions with soldiers and officers in order to better grasp the dilemmas that they tackle in the field, and in an attempt to help facilitate the internalization of the code of ethics in war. It was no wonder that, when the Goldstone Report on...

The Ethics of War Sarah Carlsruh, November 4, 2009 The U.N. Human Rights Council released a September report on their fact-finding mission on Gaza, often referred to as the Goldstone Report because Justice Richard Goldstone headed the mission. This report’s goal, it stated, was to “investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed” militarily during the winter 2008-2009 Gaza War. However, on September 16th Israel President Shimon Peres responded that it “makes a mockery of history.” Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Reserve Colonel Bentzi Gruber agreed with President Peres at an October...

(IsraelNN.com) Col. Shai Malka, who headed the IDF's Pillar of Fire artillery group, is leaving the unit to become Commander of Artillery in the Northern Command. Malka is unfazed by international condemnation of the IDF's attack on Gaza in the Cast Lead counter-terror operation. He says the IDF's artillery did not bring even half of its firepower to bear...

(IsraelNN.com) The IDF on Tuesday released video footage of Hizbullah terrorists smuggling missiles and other weaponry out of a warehouse where an explosion occurred Monday in the southern Lebanese town of Tayir Filsay. Lebanese Army soldiers and troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) raced to the scene, but terrorists had emptied the warehouse by the time they arrived - a secret activity caught on camera by IDF military intelligence

It was named one of Time magazine’s best inventions of 2008, but Raytheon’s Active Protection System (APS), formerly known as “Quick Kill,” was nowhere to be found on the floor of the Washington Convention Center at the Army’s annual conference this week. I asked the Raytheon folks about its status and the best they could come up with was that the program is “maturing”; there was no APS on display nor were there videos showing field tests of the system. By contrast, over at the Israeli Military Industries booth, the Israelis were showing video of their “Iron Fist” APS in...

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....

Israel gets two more German submarines (AFP) – 14 hours ago JERUSALEM — Israel has taken delivery of two German submarines ordered four years ago, a military spokesman said on Tuesday. "We have received two Dolphin-class submarines built in Germany," he said, on condition of anonymity. The submarines, called U212s, can launch cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads, although when it confirmed the sale in 2006 the German government said the two vessels were not equipped to carry nuclear weapons. The subs were ordered in 2005 and delivery was initially expected in 2010. Including the two new ones, Israel has five...

Last year Zbigniew Brzezinski, adviser to former US president Jimmy Carter, described the Bush administration's policy of maintaining the option of military action against Iran as "counterproductive." Now Brzezinski, who advises Obama on foreign policy, is calling for the US to shoot down Israeli jets. Brzezinski is known to be anti-Israel. The Weekly Standard Blog reported: 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...

Former IDF commandos secretly entered a Palestinian Authority village on Monday and rescued an American woman and her 2 1/2-year-old son from her Muslim husband, who had beaten and and held her captive for three years. The woman and child flew to the United States Wednesday night and are en route to her family’s home in Ohio. The Arab met the woman during a visit to the United States and enticed her to return with him to Israel and to the house where he lives with his first wife and several children, according to Voice of Israel government radio. “She...

A senior Hamas terrorist, involved in planning the 2002 suicide bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya, was arrested overnight Monday in the West Bank, security officials announced Tuesday. IDF soldiers detain a... IDF soldiers detain a Palestinian man (illustrative) Photo: AP [file] SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World Muhammad Harwish, head of Hamas's armed wing in Tulkarm, was apprehended along with his personal aide, Adnan Samara. The two were being interrogated by security forces. A Duvdevan special forces unit, along with personnel from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and special Border Police forces, arrested the pair after encountering...

Our sky's the limit Sep. 10, 2009 Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST The sirens blare throughout the base. Within seconds, four airmen - two pilots and two navigators - jump out of an office, scoop up their helmets hanging on a hook nearby and skip down a few stairs and into a waiting car which drives them down a short road to a nearby hangar. A minute later, they are aboard their two-seater F-16s, have switched on the ignitions and begin making their way to the base's main runway. A minute later they are already in the air. This...

BERKELEY — Six months after Tristan Anderson, a former UC Berkeley tree sitter and Bay Area activist, nearly died after being struck in the head with a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops, friends are holding a benefit Sunday to raise money for his recovery costs. Anderson, 38, remains at a rehabilitation hospital near Tel Aviv and continues to have setbacks and infections after skull surgery last month, supporters said. The operation came after doctors learned Anderson was suffering from post-traumatic hydrocephalus, a blockage of the ventricles — open spaces in the brain — that causes poor circulation of cerebral...

(IsraelNN.com) A secret IDF Intelligence (AMAN) assessment warned as early as 1993 that the Oslo Accords would likely end with The Rabin government 'completely ignored' IDF assessments. rocket attacks on Ashkelon, according to former AMAN Maj.-Gen. Yaakov Amidror. The politicians, however, were not interested. Amidror leveled the charges during a lecture at the Netanya College on Monday. According to Amidror, who headed the IDF's Research and Assessment Division responsible for preparing the National Intelligence Assessment, the decision to go ahead with the Oslo agreements between Israel and the PLO terrorist organization was made without taking into account the military implications....

F-16Is grounded for inspection after one suffers engine failure YAAKOV KATZ Israel Air Force commander Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan decided Wednesday night to temporarily ground all F-16I fighter jets from training operations after a jet experienced engine failure earlier in the day and made an emergency landing. The F-16I - called the Sufa (storm) in the IAF - is one of the most-advanced fighter jets in the air force, the last of which arrived in Israel earlier this year. The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon when the engine of an F-16I, on a routine flight, experienced an unusual engine malfunction. The pilot...

An Israeli Arab man has been indicted for allegedly working on behalf of Hezbollah in a plot to assassinate Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, a gag order lifted on Monday revealed. Tira resident Rawi Fuad Sultani, 23, was arrested by Shin Bet and Israel Police forces earlier this month and indicted at the Haifa District Court. According to the charge sheet, Sultani first made contact with Hezbollah agents at a multi-national Arab summer camp in Morocco organized by the Israeli Arab political party Balad. Lebanese Hezbollah agent Salman Harev, who also took part in the camp, spent...

The story of Sweden's blood libel against Israel gets uglier. Evidence mounts that Swden actually funded the ‘researchers" who charged the IDF with selling body parts of Palestinians. That Sweden was the focal point for this kind of vicious libel is not surprising. But the more important point is that each month now, it seems, new lines are crossed in what is deemed acceptable commentary on Israel in the world press. The demonization of Israel that is breaking out all over, closely resembles the demonization of Jews in Nazi Germany before World War War 2. It is the path to...

Do Israel Soldiers Eat Palestinian Babies? (photo) An Islamic man in a Nazi-esque Jew mask miming eating dead Palestinian babies during a UK protest. By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem, Israel ---- August 20, 2009 ..... It was reported this week by the Sweden newspaper Aftonbladet that Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed Palestinians in order to harvest their organs. If this is true, could it be that the IDF is now also eating these organs and even possibly selling kidnapped Palestinian babies to some of Israel's finest hotels to be served as "gourmet foods"? Jews and Israelis have been...

The Gentile world has tried to "pin" Blood Libels on the Jewish People for 3,500 years. It started in the land of Egypt: "Slaves were we to Pharaoh in Egypt," the Bible recounts. The 10th and final plague hit the firstborn sons of every Egyptian. However, by smearing the blood of a slaughtered lamb on the doorposts of the Jewish homes, the death passed over them. Since that day, the stain of Passover blood seemed to follow the Jews around. ...Sweden has taken the "Blood Libel" concept and transferred it from all the Jews to just the Israeli Jews. Most...

A leading Swedish newspaper reported this week that Israeli soldiers are abducting Palestinians in order to steal their organs, a claim that prompted furious condemnation and accusations of anti-Semitic blood libel from a rival publication. "They plunder the organs of our sons," read the headline in Sweden's largest daily newspaper, the left-leaning Aftonbladet, which devoted a double spread in its cultural section to the article.

IDF notes 'more motivation to join combat units' Jul. 29, 2009 Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST Amid growing efforts to curb the rising numbers of draft dodgers, the IDF on Wednesday noted a slight increase in motivation among youth to serve in combat units. The IDF started the August draft on Sunday. It will continue throughout next week, sending new recruits to almost all IDF field units. The draft-dodging numbers remained the same, with close to 25 percent of youth born in 1990 not enlisting - some dodging the draft, and others not serving due to religious and medical...

The IDF this week revealed a recruitment video produced by a Hamas terror "academy" in Gaza. The training included techniques for the abduction of IDF soldiers, a wide range of other terrorist activities, and the teachings of an al-Qaeda ideologue. As publicized by the government-sponsored Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, the hour-long video was discovered during Israel's counterterrorism operation in Gaza, Cast Lead, in 2008. Hamas produced and distributed the captured video in 2007 as a recruiting tool for a training academy it established the previous year, in an effort to improve its The battle they are to wage is...

(IsraelNN.com) Starting in late July, a group of Israeli combat veterans will be holding a training camp in New York to teach advanced self-defense techniques to Jews in U.S. communities. An increasing number of American Jews have expressed interest in the program following a wave of anti-Semitic incidents worldwide over the past year, organizers report. The group calls itself Kitat Konenut New York – a reference to the “rapid response teams” active throughout Judea and Samaria. Rapid response teams in Israel, comprised of local civilians who are IDF veterans, have often been the first on the scene of terrorist attacks...

Jesus supports the IDF and he wants his believers to be the best soldiers they can be. That was the message conveyed by members of the local Messianic Jewish community via sacred texts, prayer and talks, to a group of 18-year-olds who took part this week in a premilitary program called Netsor. "I am a soldier of God," said Boris, an intense redhead accepted to an elite combat unit, who is one of the 28 young men and women who participated in Netsor. "I will do my best during my service in the IDF to serve God spiritually and physically....

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's oldest son has begun his mandatory three-year military service. Netanyahu accompanied his son Yair to a military induction center in Jerusalem Tuesday to see him off. The 18-year-old Yair boarded a bus to another army base where he will be processed. He will then go through three weeks of basic training before joining the military spokesman's office. Yair will be the army's only private with a personal bodyguard. Netanyahu himself was an officer in an elite Israeli commando unit. The prime minister has another son, Avner, with his wife Sara and an older daughter, Noa, from...

Israel's foreign minister is heading to South America on a mission partly aimed at stemming Iranian "infiltration" on the continent, a senior diplomat said Monday.

Three Israelis were injured late Monday night after Palestinians hurled rocks at their car near West Bank settlement of Ariel, Israel Radio reported. One of the Israelis was moderately injured, while the other two were lightly injured. Four residents of the central Israel town of Elad reportedly made an unauthorized and uncoordinated prayer visit to the tomb of Joshua, located in the West Bank village Kefel Hares. Upon exiting the village the four were hit with stones thrown by local Palestinians. The driver's head was hit by a stone, subsequently causing him to lose control of the vehicle and crash...

Both the US and Israel believe Iran has the technical capacity to build one nuclear bomb within a year if it decides to do so, but both countries also believe the chances that Teheran will indeed make that decision are slim, according to assessments made known to The Jerusalem Post. According to these Israeli assessments, there is not much difference now between the US and Israel regarding a timeline for a "worst case scenario" on Iran's development of a bomb. At the same time, both Jerusalem and Washington currently believe that "worst case scenario is not likely to materialize." The...

(IsraelNN.com) IDF widows will be able to remarry without fear of losing their IDF pensions, according to a legislative proposal just approved by a ministerial committee. After a long public and internal Knesset struggle, the widows of IDF soldiers need no longer choose between remarrying – formally or otherwise – and retaining a major source of support. Mualem: “Stop asking how much it will cost, but rather, What does the State of Israel want to happen with IDF widows?" The widows of terrorism victims are not included in the new amendment at present.

Small ferry carrying medical supplies that set sail from Cyprus Monday with 21 peace activists, medical supplies intercepted off Strip's shore; passengers say army jammed boat's radio signals. At around noon Tuesday the Israeli Navy intercepted and took control of a boat that had set sail for the Gaza Strip with three tons of medical supplies, Palestinian sources said, adding that the Navy jammed the boat's radio signals. The IDF Spokesperson's Office confirmed the report. Israeli military sources said there was no violence after the small ferry, sailing from Cyprus with activists from the US-based Free Gaza Movement, was intercepted...

IDF developing battlefield robot snake A robot snake, capable of recording video and sound on the battlefield, is on the way to join the the IDF's hi-tech arsenal. According to a Channel 2 report - click here to watch the clip - the spying robot, which is about two meters long and covered in military camouflage, mimics the movements and appearance of real snakes, slithering around through caves, tunnels, cracks and buildings, while at the same time sending images and sound back to a soldier who controls the device through a laptop computer.

CAIRO – Egypt does not agree with Israel's point of view that Iran's nuclear ambitions are a higher priority for the region than Mideast peace, the presidential spokesman said Sunday. Israel is looking to rally moderate Arab nations around the idea that Iran is the common danger to the whole region. The comments from presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad, however, indicate that Egypt refuses to let Israel side step the issue of the peace process. His remarks come just ahead of President Barack Obama's visit to the region and a high profile speech expected to address the faltering

Israel Defense Forces IDF Homefront Command Instructions For Missile Attack By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Tel Aviv, Israel ---- May 31, 2009 ...... As a public service, the Israel News Agency is providing instructions from the Israel Defense Forces Homefront Command as to how to respond during a missile attack. On the eve of the Iraq Gulf War, missiles and rockets became a real and present threat to Israel. Many countries had to cope with the fact that the war had moved from the front lines to the hinterland because of the launchings of long-range missiles. As a result,...

Israel Air Force squadrons took part in a large scale drill simulating war on all fronts over the past four days, Channel 10 reported Thursday.

SNIPPET: "The Shin Bet security service warned Monday that hostile elements may try to contact Israelis through online social networks, such as Facebook, in order to gather intelligence and maybe even lure them abroad for the purpose of abduction. Recently the Shin Bet was informed of a number of cases in which terrorist elements approached Israelis through the various online social networks and tried to either recruit them or ask that they disclose classified information for a fee." SNIPPET: "The past few years have seen a number of Israelis detained after they had been recruited by terror groups through the...

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Iran is very close to acquiring nuclear weapons, the head of Israel's military intelligence was reported as telling a powerful parliamentary committee on Tuesday. "Iran is at the moment very close to getting a military nuclear arsenal," Amos Yadlin told parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, adding that "Iran can manage to stabilise its military nuclear programme by 2010."

(IsraelNN.com) The IDF is training troops to fight against Arab Israeli citizens, if they rise up during wartime as they did in 2000. According to Maariv/NRG, the army is training infantry battalions to seize control of the strategic Wadi Ara (Nachal Eeron) road in wartime, should the need arise. The battalions are currently employed in routine security in Judea and Samaria. However, should a northern war front develop, they will be attached to the Home Front Command and sent to Umm El Fahm to beat back any attempts by the Arabs there to block the road. They have been trained...

UNITED NATIONS, (AP) -- The U.N. chief on Tuesday accused Israel of lying about attacks on United Nations schools and other facilities during the Gaza military campaign — including one reported to have killed more than 40 people — and formally demanded compensation. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said a U.N. investigation found conclusively that Israeli weaponry — some containing white phosphorus — was "the indisputed cause" of attacks on several schools, a health clinic and the world body's Gaza headquarters. Israel denies that it intentionally struck the compounds, and says it was forced to act against militants using the buildings and...

IAF mulling purchase of 'stealthy' F-15s Apr. 19, 2009 Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST Facing soaring costs and American opposition to the integration of Israeli systems into the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Israel Air Force is reviewing specifications of a new and advanced model of the F-15 Eagle, which is claimed to have enhanced stealth capabilities. In March, Boeing unveiled the F-15 Silent Eagle (F-15SE), a new configuration of the F-15 which has undergone improvements and modifications that, according to media reports, give the plane a stealth capability that is effective in evading radars on enemy aircraft, but...

The Israel military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government. Among the steps taken to ready Israel forces for what would be a risky raid requiring pinpoint aerial strikes are the acquisition of three Airborne Warning and Control (AWAC) aircraft and regional missions to simulate the attack. Two nationwide civil defence drills will help to prepare the public for the retaliation that Israel could face. “Israel wants to know that if its forces were given the green light they could strike at Iran...

Israel said Wednesday, April 8, it will hold the largest military exercise in its history, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Jewish state may have to prepare for war with Iran and other rogue states. Netanyahu declared dealing with Iran's threats "a top priority" of his administration within a week of taking office. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has triggered outrage in the West by saying that Israel should be "wiped off the map", although he denies Iran is a threat. Israel's government disagrees. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) confirmed that it will be preparing to hold "the largest exercise...

The Home Front Command is preparing to hold the largest exercise ever in Israeli history, scheduled to take place in about two months, in hopes of priming the populace and raising awareness of the possibility of war breaking out.