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The basic duty of every state is to guarantee its security and protect its citizens, and the loyalty of citizens to their state constitutes an essential pillar in maintaining a mechanism that would safeguard our home. Therefore, no country in the world allows its citizens to travel to enemy states without a permit; moreover, no country allows those who act in a way that raises reasonable suspicion of undermining national security to be elected to Parliament. Israel, a state that is still fighting for its existence and liberty and which has a unique and complex character because of hostility abroad...

After decades of comparing Nixon to Hitler, Reagan to Hitler and Bush to Hitler, liberals have finally decided it is wrong to make comparisons to Hitler. But the only leader to whom they have applied their newfound rule of thumb is: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Even before that, upon arrival, Bush mentioned the Bush fooled everyone. President George W. Bush finally liberated himself from Condoleezza Rice. There's no question that for most of his presidency he'd been DUI, driving under the influence of his secretary of state, but finally, last week in Israel, he came out and revealed himself to be a Zionist Christian. In fact, that's exactly what Palestinian Arabs are saying, and without gladness. Bush mentioned the Palestinian Arabs only once in his 23-minute speech to the Knesset Jewish longing for Jerusalem, yes, Jerusalem, and if that didn't surprise the Israelis, it sure...

By any measure, President Bush’s speech to the Knesset last week on the occasion of Israel’s 60th birthday was nothing short of stunning. This paean to the bond between the United States and Israel, while personal in many ways, went beyond anything any U.S. president had previously said and expressed sentiments that all people of good faith and seekers of peace can relate to and embrace. The president’s message was that when it comes to Israel, the U.S. would never accommodate terrorist pressure or political importuning from any source, and those who think otherwise had better reevaluate their position. He...

Democrats haven’t done too well trying to win the White House by whining about Republican “attacks.” But now they’re fixing that. If whining doesn’t work, whine faster, louder and more often. Democratic train wrecks Michael Dukakis and John Kerry insist to this day that if only they had “responded to the attacks” fast enough, they would have won. Like his vanquished predecessors, Barack Obama remembers every part of the evil-Republicans-attacked-and-we-didn’t-respond narrative incorrectly. Both Dukakis and Kerry complained that their patriotism was under attack by Republicans, even though no one can find a single example of a Republican attacking the patriotism...

Democrats outraged by Bush "appeasement" remark. Bush said, “America stands with you in breaking up terrorist networks and denying the extremists sanctuary. And America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions. Permitting the world’s leading sponsor of terror to possess the world’s deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” And: “Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,” he said. “We...

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds fired back that Obama’s retort was a “hysterical diatribe in response to a speech in which his name wasn’t even mentioned.”

WATERTOWN, S.D. (AP) - Barack Obama has called President Bush's comments on appeasement "exactly the kind of appalling attack that's divided our country and alienates us from the rest of the world." Obama criticized Republican rival John McCain and President Bush for "dishonest and divisive" attacks in hinting that the Democratic presidential candidate would appease terrorists. Obama strongly responded Friday to the comments Bush made in Israel on Thursday and McCain's subsequent words. Obama told a town hall meeting, "That's the kind of hypocrisy that we've been seeing in our foreign policy, the kind of fear-peddling, fear mongering that has...

Pump up the Carly Simon. President George W. Bush spoke to the Israeli Knesset on Thursday morning, to mark the nation’s 60th anniversary. The president said: Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along . . . We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is —...

Israeli Knesset: No to a Golan Giveaway   By P. David HornikFrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, April 25, 2008 With Hamas and its colleagues mounting daily terror attacks from once-Israeli-controlled Gaza, with weapons flowing to the terror enclave through once-Israeli-controlled Sinai, with Hezbollah amassing an unprecedented quantity and quality of missiles in once-Israeli-controlled southern Lebanon, with only 24/7 Israeli military activity preventing a Hamas takeover of the West Bank—the push to get Israel to give up its remaining strategic assets continues.   This week President Bush met with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in what looks like an increasingly unhinged quest...

Arab Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) landed in Beirut Wednesday night despite an official travel ban on government representatives from visiting 'enemy states.' He had just wrapped up a visit to Yemen. This is not the first time Tibi has spent time in Lebanon. He was criticized during the Second Lebanon War for travelling to Beirut despite Hizbullah attacks being launched at Israel from Lebanese soil. The story mirrors that of of Former Knesset Member Azmi Bishara. He resigned his position last year after an investigation into his repeated trips to Syria and Lebanon found that he had...

(IsraelNN.com) "The day will come when we will banish you from this building and from the national home of the Jewish People," MK Eitam told Arab MKs during a Knesset session on Wednesday morning. Arab MK Jamal Zakhalka was thrown out of the plenum when he yelled repeatedly at Eitam in response. Eitam, an IDF Brig.-Gen. in the reserves and currently a Knesset Member of the National Union party, was referring to an anti-Israel protest held in the Israeli-Arab city of Umm El-Fahm last night, at which Israeli-Arab citizens burned an Israeli flag, carried flags of Syria and the Palestinian...

First floor of Knesset evacuated Published: 02.27.08, 17:51 / Israel News The entire first floor of the Knesset building in Jerusalem has been evacuated. No further details have been provided at present time. MK Shlomo Molla (Kadima) confirmed the evacuation: "Security officers came to us and demanded we clear the rooms at once. No explanations were offered.

The preliminary passage of legislation aiming to bar Israelis who visit "enemy states" from serving in Parliament has sparked heated exchanges. Israeli-Arab MPs said the plan showed the Knesset was "racist" and vowed not to abide by any eventual law. One of the sponsors defended the proposal, reportedly saying: "Enough of Arab Knesset members spitting in our faces and us saying it's raining." In April an MP who had visited Syria and Lebanon was accused of spying. Azmi Bishara fled Israel after facing charges of spying for the Lebanese group Hezbollah during last year's war. He says he is the...

(IsraelNN.com) In a Friday morning Haaretz article, former Minister and loquacious leftist spokesman Yossi Sarid called upon readers to cease making contributions to the Jewish National Fund. Following the Knesset's recent vote reaffirming that land owned by the JNF is for Jewish settlement only, Sarid told the big contributors : "don't give a shekel" to the JNF "until it begs" the Knesset not to ratify the law in its final readings. Sarid also wrote that there is no need for a national unity government because Israel already has one: "the Judaism of muscle and arbitrariness has a tremendous majority in...

Excerpt - Israeli Arab Balad party chair MK Azmi Bishara resigned from the Knesset on Sunday, submitting his resignation at Israel's embassy in Cairo. Bishara was quoted Saturday as saying in Egypt that he was considering staying abroad because he feared a long term jail sentence and an end to his political career. A court-imposed gag order prohibits publication of suspicions against Bishara or details of police investigations into the allegations. Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Shalom Cohen and his deputy, who were present when Bishara submitted the letter, confirmed that he had resigned. Bishara, a fiery nationalist Arab lawmaker, left...

Finally, after what seems to be the end of this war or at least the end of the latest round, the country's leaders seemed to acknowledge that some kind of accounting is called for. Defense Minister announced on Monday morning that he intended to "appoint a team that will conduct an intensive, comprehensive investigation of all the events leading up to the war and during the war." But he failed to say who will lead the team or even what its precise mandate would be. In his Knesset speech, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also admitted that "there were mistakes made,"...

We have gone from highs to lows over the last month as together we have watched Israel suffer. The people in the north of Israel have suffered deaths and injuries as well as losses of income and production in the billions of dollars, due to the rain of thousands of rockets that have fallen on their homes. All of Israel and those that love Israel around the world, have suffered through a month of the worse leadership in Israel’s history. This failure of leadership is not only on the part of the ruling government but extends to the total of...

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Knesset on Monday that UN Security Council Resolution 1701 "will change fundamentally our strategic situation on the northern border." The war in Lebanon has demonstrated that "we will respond with force to every terror act, from the north or the south, from land or sea ... and that the State of Israel won't suffer any harm to come to its sovereignty or citizens," Olmert declared. According to the prime minister, the resolution's main achievement was that "the entire international community agrees that the terror state in Lebanon must be annihilated," he said. "The Security...

NewsMax senior correspondent and Middle East expert Kenneth R. Timmerman is in Israel reporting on the conflict there. Timmerman reports from Kiryat Shemona in this exclusive interview with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. KIRYAT SHEMONA, Israel — Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found this northern Israeli city a ghost town today when he came to meet the residents officials. Those that stayed behind were few. They also were defiant – and so was he. In a town meeting behind the heavy steel doors and reinforced concrete of the city hall bomb shelter, Netanyahu came to reassure residents that...

<p>Three Arab Knesset members were removed from the Knesset on Monday after heckling government leaders during a session called to discuss the war on the northern border.</p> <p>Knesset member Ibrahim Sarsur called Defense Minister Amir Peretz a “war criminal” and together with two other Arab legislators, antagonized both peretz and opposition leader and Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu.</p>

Many Lebanese expatriate groups have roundly condemned the Hizbullah, Iran and Syria. Some of them are also calling for Israel to press ahead in its military campaign. The Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC), a coalition of organizations in Canada, has released a statement laying out its vision of what measures should be endorsed by the world community at an international conference on the ongoing warfare in Lebanon. The conference is to be held in Rome on Wednesday, pursuant to a recommendation issued by the United Nations Security Council on July 21, 2006. Among the measures the LCCC is recommending are...

The Knesset, July 17, 2006 Madam Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of Knesset, At the outset, I offer condolences, on my behalf and on behalf of the government, the Knesset and the entire nation, to the families of the victims - both civilian and IDF. I also send best wishes for recovery to the wounded, and a huge embrace for the families of those kidnapped and the boys themselves. Over the past few weeks, our enemies have challenged the sovereignty of the State of Israel and the safety of its residents - first in the southern sector, then on the...

Right-wing lawmaker Zevulun Orlev on Thursday accused Israeli Arab Knesset members of supporting Hamas in its activities against Israel and the military, Army Radio reported. According to the report, the National Union-National Religious Party MK called for his Arab colleagues to be deprived of their seats in parliament... Meawhile, MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra'am-Ta'al) on Thursday called the mass arrests of Palestinian lawmakers a "macho display by Israeli government," the radio said... The right-wing parties expressed satisfaction Wednesday at the Israel Defense Forces operation in the Gaza Strip, while lawmakers from the left of the political spectrum leveled criticism for the...

An e-mail written by Supreme Court President Aharon Barak made justifiable waves last week - but for the wrong reason. What grabbed headlines was Barak's citation of Justice Minister Haim Ramon's prediction that were the Knesset to extend the current Citizenship Law unchanged, the High Court of Justice would overturn it. That, however, was hardly news to anyone who read last week's 6-5 ruling upholding the law, since one of the majority justices stated explicitly that he considered the law unconstitutional, and refrained from striking it down only because it expires in two months anyway. What was truly noteworthy about...

Rabbi: Torah law above Knesset Contrary to previous years, no high-profile politicians attended Merkaz HaRav Jerusalem Day events this year. We don't want Olmert, army officers here, yeshiva students say. Kiryat Arba rabbi states in speech no law stands above the Torah Neta Sela In the shadow of the realignment plan: Jerusalem Day celebrations at the Merkaz HaRav yeshiva, the spiritual flagship of the religious Zionist public, bore a different character than usual this year. While in previous years, presidents, senior politicians and army officers used to attend the yeshiva's ceremony, this time around no high-profile figure took part in...

Arafat-advisor made deputy Knesset speaker Liberal trend progressively undermines institutions of Jewish state By Stan Goodenough May 18, 2006 A former advisor to PLO chief Yasser Arafat and one of the most virulent of Israel-hating Arab parliamentarians was Wednesday selected for the influential position of Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. Ahmad Tibi had Dalia Itzik, Labor Party member turned Kadima Party member, to thank for his appointment. Itzik, in turn, was elected Knesset Speaker earlier this month by the new Kadima-led government, which heaped praise upon itself for choosing a woman to fill that post for the very first time....

Moshe Sharoni (Pensioners party) suggests abolishing kashrut on food products to make them more affordable During Knesset session on Monday regarding the price increase of bread, MK Moshe Sharoni of the Pensioners party suggested a unique idea – to totally abolish kashrut on food products in order to make them more affordable, according to Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. "Everyone here talks about the increase of bread prices," he said, "and everyone screams 'gevalt'. They also talked about meat. Why don't we simply cancel the kashrut of meat and diary products and in-turn they will be inexpensive? Food products will...

The support United Arab List-Ta’al Knesset members have shown for the Hamas members whose Israeli citizenship was revoked has infuriated politicians across the political spectrum. Some have called on Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to investigate whether the visit UAL-Ta’al members paid to Hamas representatives in east Jerusalem this week doesn’t legally qualify as treason. Others have demanded that UAL-Ta'al MK Taleb el-Sana be immediately kicked out of the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee. MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima) said that the “Arab MKs proved once again that their loyalties lie with the Palestinian Authority and its leadership, and not with...

With the results of Tuesday’s election still coming in, incoming and outgoing Knesset Members were quick to assign blame and take credit for the results. Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu said he would remain as party head and work to reform the party despite the “harsh blow” it was dealt at the polls. Netanyahu also laid part of the blame at Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s doorstep, saying that “Sharon left us with a broken party” when he left to form the victorious Kadima faction. Likud MK Michael Eitan said of his party’s decline, "There is no doubt that we deserved a...

Excerpt - Exit polls released as polls closed at 10 P.M. Tuesday showed Kadima gaining from 29 to 32 seats, Labor from 20-22, and the Likud 11-12. ~ snip ~

What are your predictions for the results of Israel's election to the 120-member Knesset? Mine are as follows: Kadima 28 Labor 20 Likud 17 Yisrael Beitenu 14 NU-NRP 13 Shas 11 United Torah Judaism 7 Arab parties 6 Meretz 4

Last update - 20:44 26/03/2006 Poll: Kadima on 36 seats, Labor on 18, Likud on 14 By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent A day and a half before polls open for the 17th Knesset, the latest Haaretz-Channel 10 poll puts Kadima on 36 seats, Labor on 18 and the Likud on 14. The number of undecided voters has risen to 22 percent of those polled, meaning there are 28 Knesset seats still up for grabs. The Labor Party, headed by Amir Peretz, has seen no change in the number of predicted seats since last week's poll. The Likud, however, has dropped...

Israel's pro-marijuana reform (Green Leaf, or marijuana) Ale Yarok Party is poised to win a pair of seats in the Knesset in elections set for the end of this month, the Associated Press reported. Two years ago, the party came within 7,000 votes of winning a seat, and this year, according to some pollsters, it could go over the top. Headed by 47-year-old Boaz Wachtel, Green Leaf's platform is centered on legalizing marijuana, but also calls for legalizing gambling and prostitution. The party also calls for overall drug policy reform. And Green Leaf takes a dovish stance toward the Palestinians,...

The Promise of Kadima By Guardian Unlimited / World news 12:07pm The elections here are just under three weeks away. If the polls can be believed, Kadima, Ehud Olmert's party, will get the largest number of seats and form the next government. Since November, surveys have shown Kadima well in the lead, and it has remained there despite the seemingly incredible turns of event - from Ariel Sharon's debilitating stroke to Hamas's unexpected victory in the Palestinian elections. I, for one, am not surprised. I come from a long-time Labor family. During the '90s I supported the Oslo accords and...

Knesset Begins Inquiry into Amona Violence 16:58 Feb 27, '06 / 29 Shevat 5766 By Hillel Fendel The Knesset Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry into the violence at Amona has convened for its first meeting. It will call Olmert, Mofaz and others to testify - but cannot force them to appear. Committee Chairman Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) said that the purpose of today's meeting was to determine the manner in which it would function and how testimonies would be heard. The first testimonies will be heard on Wednesday. The committee is to investigate the violence at the destruction of nine homes in...

Knesset Establishes Commission to Investigate Amona Violence 19:04 Feb 08, '06 / 10 Shevat 5766 By Ezra HaLevi The Knesset voted Wednesday to establish a commission of inquiry into alleged police brutality at Amona last week. The commission was established despite the objection of Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima Party, as well as the Labor Party, who dropped their initial call for an investigation after advisors said it would harm them in the polls. Defense Minister Sha’ul Mofaz, speaking prior to the vote, said that he sees no reason to establish a committee of investigation into the events at...

MKs: Gaza residents abandoned Knesset members call on government to immediately work to reinforce near-Gaza communities, act with determination against rocket terror. Olmert and Mofaz abandoned the citizens of Israel, Likud MK says Attila Somfalvi Responding to the recent Qassam attack on kibbutz Karmiya Friday, which left four people – including one baby – injured, Knesset members from across the political spectrum called on the government to act with determination against terror. Friday's Attack Baby hurt in rocket attack / Hanan Greenberg Qassam strike: Four people, including baby, hurt after Qassam hits their mobile home in kibbutz Karmiya south of...

Katzav Condemns Amona Violence; ýSpecial Knesset Session Called 16:53 Feb 02, '06 / 4 Shevat 5766 By Hillel Fendel President M. Katzav has criticism of both sides in yesterday's Amona violence, B'Tselem calls for an investigation, and the Knesset Speaker has agreed to a Likud/Shas request for a special session. President Moshe Katzav said that "red lines" were crossed yesterday, and that what happened in Amona is "intolerable." He said that the police must explain why they used horses and clubs, and chastised the settlement enterprise leaders for organizing the protest without controlling the protestors. Katzav said he accepts Labor...

Tel Aviv - Israeli police and the Shin Bet internal security organization have arrested the former head of a local council in the Galilee on suspicion of spying for Iran, local media reported Friday night after a ban on publication was lifted. Jaris Jaris, 57, head of the Fasuta local council from May 2001 to November 2003, was detained on December 12, after police discovered that he had been recruited by Iran and asked to use his political contacts to infiltrate the Israeli political system. Police said Jaris fled Israel for Lebanon in 1970 after being caught operating a cell...

Cleared for publication: Security forces arrested a 58-year-old man on suspicion of being recruited by Iran in order to infiltrate Israel's political system. The man resides in a northern Israel village mostly populated by Christians.

MK Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) says that Egypt’s arms buildup over the past few years has focused on the possibility of future war with Israel. In a radio interview broadcast on Arutz 7’s Hebrew internet site Tuesday night, Shteinitz, a former professor of political science at Haifa University who chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that Egypt has already become a major supporter of terrorism against Israel. Shteinitz said that Egypt has been allowing terrorist groups operating out of the Gaza district to smuggle missiles into Gaza. Those groups intend to use the missiles against Israeli targets....

Knesset Member Azmi Bishara in Lebanon: We are original inhabitants of Palestine, not ‘those who came from Poland, Russia; says Israelis should leave, take their democracy with them Israel is the 20th century's greatest robbery, carried out in broad daylight, Arab Knesset member Azmi Bishara (National Democratic Assembly) told a Lebanese audience last week during a speech at an Arab book fair in Beirut. "I will never recognize Zionism even if all Arabs do," he said. "I will never concede Palestine. The battle is still long." Bishara, who recently launched his campaign for an additional term in the Knesset, left...

Major opinion polls released on Tuesday showed that if elections to the 17th Knesset were to be held now, Ariel Sharon would win a third term in office as prime minister, and could set up coalitions with as many as 71 seats in the 120-seat house. The Haaretz-Dialog survey, conducted by Prof. Camil Fuchs Monday night among a representative sample of 600 Israelis from all sectors of the population, showed that Sharon could set up a center-left coalition with Labor, Shinui and Meretz-Yahad with a margin of 66 seats. Sharon would also be able to set up a coalition with...

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet Israel's president on Monday to request a snap election he hopes to win as head of a new centrist party intent on pursuing peacemaking with the Palestinians. In a move described by the Israeli media as a political earthquake, Sharon will ask President Moshe Katsav at their 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) meeting to dissolve parliament and call an election within 90 days, Israeli officials said. Then Sharon will announce that he will quit the right-wing Likud party that he helped found to head a new centrist party in a move that is expected to...

AP) JERUSALEM In a bold gamble, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday asked Israel's president to dissolve parliament, pushing for a quick March election just hours after deciding to leave his hardline Likud Party and form a new centrist party . Sharon's decision to leave Likud sent shock waves through Israel, redrawing the political map, finalizing his transformation from hardliner to moderate and boosting prospects of progress in peacemaking with the Palestinians. His confidants say Sharon felt Likud hardliners, who tried to block this summer's Gaza pullout, were imposing too many constraints and would prevent future peace moves. Palestinian officials...

(IsraelNN.com) Moments ago, the Israeli parliament voted to dissolve itself with no objections. The final vote was 84 in favor of a motion to dissolve the 16th Knesset, with zero opposed. The vote spares President Moshe Katsav the necessity of deciding to declare the Knesset disbanded as a result of a request from the acting prime minister, Ariel Sharon. New national elections will take place in the month of March, 2006.

Jerusalem -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will quit his ruling Likud party to run separately in national elections and will ask Israel’s president to dissolve parliament for a snap poll, a source in Sharon’s office said on Sunday. Sharon is to visit President Moshe Katsav on Monday and ask him to dissolve the Knesset, said Shariv, the media advisor in Sharon’s office, adding this would set off a process that would lead to elections in 60 days, unless a Knesset (parliament) member succeeds in forming a new coalition within the next three weeks. Israel began moving toward early elections after...

AP) JERUSALEM Israel's dovish Labor Party voted Sunday to pull out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government, and Sharon reportedly decided to quit his Likud Party to set up a new movement — beginning a campaign for elections expected in March. Sharon is expected to take several prominent Likud Cabinet ministers with him to his new party, along with some from Labor — possibly including its ousted chairman Shimon Peres. Advancing Israel's election from the original November 2006 date would likely sideline Mideast peace moves and counter whatever momentum was gained from Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and part of the...

If Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is considering whether to split the Likud and form a new party, he may want to draw his attention to a recent poll that found that he would defeat his main challenger, MK Binyamin Netanyahu, by over 30 percent. The poll, which was commissioned by Channel 10 and conducted among Likud voters, found that nearly 49% would vote for Sharon, while only 19.4% would support Netanyahu. Rebel leader Uzi Landau received 11.7% of the vote. Meanwhile in Wednesday's Likud faction meeting in the Knesset, Sharon said that he was unimpressed with the fervent calls for...