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Some of the thousands of surface-to-air missiles that have gone missing since the collapse of the Gadhafi regime in Libya have now turned up just miles from the Israeli border. U.S. officials say there were 20,000 Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles in Libya before the uprising, and thousands have disappeared in the looting of Moammar Gadhafi's arm caches. According to the Washington Post, many of those Russian-made anti-aircraft weapons are being sold in Egyptian black markets, and so many are available the price has dropped from $10,000 to $4,000. Egyptian officials told the paper they have intercepted looted Libyan weapons, including anti-aircraft...

The continuing turmoil in the Middle East makes it crucial that Israel finds ways to communicate with other nations in the region if it's ever going to enjoy peace and stability, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned in a blunt assessment. Speaking to reporters on Sunday as he traveled to the Mideast and Europe, Panetta said the Jewish homeland is becoming increasingly isolated in the region. He said Israeli leaders need to restart negotiations with the Palestinians and work to restore relations with Egypt and Turkey. "There's not much question in my mind that they maintain that (military) edge," Panetta said....

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Sunday that Israel was at risk of becoming isolated and more vulnerable if it did not take steps to repair ties with neighboring countries and restart negotiations with the Palestinians. The U.S. remains committed to helping Israel maintain its "qualitative military edge" in the Middle East, Mr. Panetta said. But he added that genuine security would not come through military hardware, but by returning to peace negotiations. "The question you have to ask is: 'Is it enough to maintain a military edge if you are isolating yourself in the diplomatic arena?'" he said. "Real...

The invisible economic war against Israel has already begun. Some countries are planning to impose new sanctions against Israeli products, while others will raise tariffs and make trade more difficult. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called this week for the nations of the world to “put pressure” on Israel to force them to make concessions in the name of peace. This is a deliberate attempt to destroy Israel’s economy. This is new warfare for the modern age—before the rockets fly and the tanks roll, and the boycotts and economic sanctions fall. The OPEC nations are using their vast oil wealth...

Secretary of State Clinton, in a sharp departure from her stance when she was a senator, is warning that any American action, even symbolically, toward recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel must be avoided for the reason that it would jeopardize the peace process. Her warnings were issued in a brief she has just filed with the Supreme Court — in which she is arguing that a law she voted for when she was Senator is unconstitutional because it could require the U.S. government to give to an American citizen born at Jerusalem papers showing the birthplace as Israel.

Thursday in which it said that the results of the incident in which Israel intercepted a flotilla trying to break the naval blockade of Gaza "place us at the beginning of the Gog and Magog process where the world is against us, but which ends with the third and final redemption." The statement explained that while secular Zionism always wants Israel to be beloved by other nations, “the legitimacy of our people is not derived from the nations of the world and their poisonous traditions, rather from the Torah of Israel which teaches us that [Israel] 'is a people that...

The United States is trying to convince undeclared members of the U.N. Security Council to deny the Palestinians the votes they need for a controversial statehood application, as the council meets behind closed doors Monday afternoon. The U.S. has the power to quash the bid in the Security Council just by using its veto power, and has announced its willingness to do so. However, amid warnings that a U.S. veto would damage America's reputation in certain parts of the world, U.S. officials are hoping to avoid that outcome. On the Security Council, it takes nine "yes" votes to approve the...

On Thursday, President Obama had a conference call with 900 rabbis. On Friday, one rabbi, Dr. Richard L. Rubenstein, gave this account (Hat Tip: Dan F). Agudat Israel, the Orthodox rabbinic group, was included but they were at the bottom of the list so that none of their rabbis had a chance to ask a question. This is hardly a surprise since Orthodox rabbis are least likely to be in Obama’s corner. Two questions were selected, one on the economy and the other on the Middle East. There were no surprises. It was an electioneering effort by the President which...

The New York Times ran a banner front page headline on September 14, 2011 titled “U.S. Scrambles to Avert Palestinian Vote at U.N.” The Times headline should have read, “The Obama Administration Scrambles to Avoid Its Own Self-Fulfilling Prophesy.” Next week, the United Nations General Assembly will almost certainly approve an upgrade of the status of the Palestinian Authority from nonvoting “observer entity” to “observer state,” placing it on par with the Holy See. This will happen whether or not the Palestinians try for full UN member state status, which would first require approval by the Security Council. President Obama...

he Israel Defense Forces are preparing for the possibility of Palestinian Authority Arab riots beginning September 20, when the PA will bring its statehood bid to the United Nations. Israel's military will begin to call up its reserves, probably starting this Sunday, September 18, sources said Thursday. Arutz Sheva has been informed that the residents of the Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria have warned the Arab residents of PA-controlled areas that if they approach the security fences surrounding their towns, the response will be “unequivocal.” The warning comes in the wake of threats by PA Arabs to march on...

Dem Party leaders mobilizing to solidify president's standing with Jewish voters to counter image Obama not friend of Israel... NYT setting story for lead Thursday, newsroom sources tell DRUDGE... Comes after shock defeat of Dem candidate... DEVELOPING...

In seeking to impose a Palestinian state on Israel, the Obama Administration, European Union, and western media have displayed a cynical contempt for history that is astounding in its breadth and scope. Pressure is brought to bear solely on Israel, who is expected to sacrifice sovereignty and security in the name of an ideal that is premised on a repudiation of the Jews' right to self-determination in their ancient homeland. The Palestinians are expected to concede nothing — not even their oft-stated goal of the phased destruction of Israel. Nothing illustrates the hypocrisy better than a comparison of their demand...

Ankara's Star Gazete says country's new F-16 radar system modified to recategorize Israeli targets as hostile. Order said to come directly from PM Erdogan's office; naval, submarine radar systems to be changed next Turkey has developed a new radar system for its US-made F-16 fighter jets that will allow them to fire at Israeli targets, Ankara's Star Gazete reported on Tuesday. The orders to modify the system reportedly came directly from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office. The new radar system – Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) – is a defensive command and control system developed by Turkey's Military...

“The main, immediate beneficiaries of what is known as the ‘Arab spring’ are Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip,” Israeli military analyst Ron Ben-Yishai reported on Ynet the other day. His and similar reports haven’t attracted much attention, and perhaps it’s understandable. There’s been a mass murder in Norway, and, in Israel, raucous public protests over housing prices. But the deterioration in Gaza is surely worthy of note, and, for Israelis, likely to be more significant than the cost of flats. Ben-Yishai, noting the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt since Mubarak’s downfall, says “the group’s influence...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Libya has become a new source of smuggled weaponry for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday. With eastern Libya largely held by rebels who rose up against Muammar Gaddafi in February, arms were being brought across the border, through neighboring Egypt, to the Islamist Hamas-ruled territory, Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon said. "Weapons are available in Libya as a result of the unstable situation there, and Hamas has exploited it to buy weapons from Libyan smugglers," he told foreign journalists in a briefing, without elaborating on the kind of munitions involved.

The Obama administration is about to make another concession to Russia on missile defense by concluding an agreement with Turkey to base a radar there that would monitor Iranian missile launches. The deal is raising questions about whether the administration gave in to a Turkish demand that no missile-tracking data from the radar be shared with Israel. The demand was based on the Turkish government’s increasing Islamist and pro-Iranian policies. Earlier concessions by the Obama administration included canceling plans to deploy 10 long-range missile interceptors in Poland in favor of its less-capable “phased adaptive approach” that relies on untested missile...

Given how Obama has treated Israel, it would have come as no surprise if this had been intentional. In any case, the initial report was widely denied and dismissed as inaccurate; however, now Morton has confirmed that it was true, and says it was an error. An error that happens to coincide with the sitting president's consistent stance toward Israel, but apparently he can't be this open about it yet. "U.S. says Israel’s inclusion on terrorist watch list was a mistake," by Ron Kampeas for the Jewish Telegraph Agency, July 6 (thanks to all who sent this in): WASHINGTON (JTA)...

The United States has decided to resume formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, in a step that reflects the Islamist group’s growing political weight but that is almost certain to upset Israel and its U.S. backers. “The political landscape in Egypt has changed, and is changing,” said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It is in our interests to engage with all of the parties that are competing for parliament or the presidency.” The official sought to portray the shift as a subtle evolution rather than a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has decided to resume formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, in a step that reflects the Islamist group's growing political weight but that is almost certain to upset Israel and its U.S. backers. "The political landscape in Egypt has changed, and is changing," said the senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It is in our interests to engage with all of the parties that are competing for parliament or the presidency." The official sought to portray the shift as a subtle evolution rather...

In an implicit admission that Israel is so threatened by terrorism that it is not only surrounded by countries and territories that produce terrorists but also unwillingly harbors terrorists within its own territory in a way the most other nations in the world do not, the Obama administration is currently listing Israel among 36 “specially designated countries” it believes “have shown a tendency to promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations or their members.” Also included on the list--separately from Israel--are the Palestinian