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JERUSALEM (AFP) - An Israeli government minister warned on Monday that Israel would respond to any Iranian attack by destroying that country, public radio reported. "An Iranian attack against Israel would trigger a tough reaction that would lead to the destruction of the Iranian nation," National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said in remarks of rare virulence. "Iranians are aware of our strength but continue to provoke us by arming their Syrian allies and Hezbollah," he said during a meeting at his ministry. Ben-Eliezer, a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's security cabinet, stressed however that the Iranians were unlikely to...

Last update - 14:16 19/10/2006 Min. Ben-Eliezer: Israel accepts Egypt's plans for Shalit's release By Avi Issacharoff , Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said on Thursday that Israel accepts many of Egypt's ideas on how to conduct negotiations over the release of an Israel Defense Forces soldier being held by a Hamas-linked group. "We are looking forward to and we have accepted the framework that has been crystallized by the Egyptians," Ben-Eliezer told reporters after talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. But it was not immediately clear if Mubarak had floated any proposals beyond those...

Jan. 23, 2005 22:03 Ben-Eliezer joins Labor chairman race By TALYA HALKIN Speaking Sunday evening before hundreds of Labor party activists in Herzeliya, Minister of National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer formally announced his candidacy for chairman of the Labor party. "We are intending to lead the party once again in order to recapture political power," Ben-Eliezer said. He added that Labor entered the government for the sole purpose of disengagement, and declared his party to be "the only body Prime Minister Sharon can fully count on for total support." Devoting much of his speech to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ben-Eliezer stressed...

European Union Foreign Police Coordinator Javier Solana told Mohammed Dahlan, Saeb Erekat and representatives from the Fatah who met him in Gaza on Sunday night, that he is glad to learn that there has been a lot of progress in turning the intifada into a non-violent campaign. His direct impressions from the field matched the reports sent to Solana's office in recent weeks by European representatives here, led by MI-6's Alistair Crooke. According to those reports, the concept of "non-violence," which was totally foreign to the Palestinians, is gradually sinking into broad strata in their leadership. Yesterday morning, upset by...

Sep. 6, 2002Ben-Eliezer: Israel has information that Syria is hosting Al-Qaida terrorists By THE JERUSALEM POST INTERNET STAFF Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel has some information about Syria approving the station of Al-Qaida fighters in Lebanon, Israel Radio reported. The Defense Minister was speaking in a special New Year's interview with an Israel Radio reporter. "We have some information," Ben-Eliezer said. "I don't think it should surprise anyone ... Syria has now become one of the worst terror hosting countries in the world, the radio said."

Terrorism as a form of entertainment This week we're featuring images and movies from www.qassam.net, in honor of the ISP's attempt to block us from accessing the site. Today's 'episode' is The Road Bomb. It goes like this: first they bury a bomb in a road. Then they retreat to a nearby hillside with a video camera. When an Israel truck drives over the bomb, they blow it to pieces, killing the occupants, and capturing the whole thing on tape. The tape is broadcase on Arab television, and then is uploaded to their webside, so they can share it...

The first time Brent Scowcroft impinged on my consciousness was in December 1989, six months after the massacre of young Chinese patriots in Tiananmen Square. The particular way he impinged was by being photographed in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, smiling and raising a toast with Li Peng, one of the main organizers of the massacre. Like many others, I was shocked and baffled by this spectacle, and read with great interest the justifications for it offered by the Bush-41 administration. The principal justification was that it was "important to keep the lines open," and to "keep China...

(IsraelNN.com) Heavy exchanges of gunfire continue in Gaza at this hour. Early reports from the scene of the battle, mainly in the vicinity of N’vei Dekalim, indicated that an Israeli has been seriously injured. More details will be published as they become available.

Amid scathing international criticism of the Gaza air strike that killed the commander of the military wing of Hamas but also killed 13 civilians including nine children, senior officials said Wednesday that had Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer known that innocents were in the vicinity of the attack, they would have put off the assassination of the man who headed Israel's most-wanted list. On Tuesday, hours after the Monday night Air Force bombing that targeted Hamas military chief Saleh Shehadeh, Sharon termed the operation a "great success", although he voiced regret at the deaths of...

Israel's Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told the cabinet Sunday that he is chairing brainstorming committees staffed by senior officials from throughout the security forces - army, police, Shin Bet - to formulate a response to the suicide bombing phenomenon. According to Haaretz, the brainstorming sessions include analysis of deterrents ranging from expelling bombers' families from the West Bank to Gaza, arresting religious leaders who speak out in favor of suicide bombing, demolishing the homes of suicide bombers, disrupting financial channels that provide money to the families of suicide bombers and undermining the civil infrastructure of the Islamic charitable organizations. The...