Free Republic

Israel, Saudis and U.A.E. Support Military Moves The U.S.'s closest Middle East allies are undercutting American policy in Egypt, encouraging the military to confront the Muslim Brotherhood rather than reconcile, U.S. and Arab officials said. The parallel efforts by Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have blunted U.S. influence with Egypt's military leadership and underscored how the chaos there has pulled Israel into ever-closer alignment with those Gulf states, officials said. A senior Israeli official called the anti-Muslim Brotherhood nations "the axis of reason." The Obama administration first had sought to persuade Egyptian military leader Gen. Abdel Fattah...

Israeli company uses nanotechnology to develop paint that makes planes disappear off radar Imagine for a moment what the battlefield will look like in the future. Unmanned planes flying through the air; robots fighting on the ground; smart missiles hunting down targets. Now imagine that none of this can be detected on radar screens. It may sound fictional, but it's happening. An Israeli company called Nanoflight is currently developing a special paint that makes drones, missiles, or war craft simply disappear. Or, to be more precise, they become very difficult to detect. The critical stage in developing the paint, which...

Remember the cloaking device used by the Klingon war ships in those old Star Trek television programs? Science fiction, right? Not any more. Meet the Black Fox Active Adaptive IR Stealth System, created by Israeli start-up firm Eltics Ltd., a company that produces electronic warfare systems in Ashkelon. The new technology can make a helicopter, tank or ship, vanish into thin air. Or at least, that is how it appears. The system, financed by private investors, made its debut on Channel 10 TV last week. It comes with a FLIR camera that takes a snapshot of the environment in which...

Prime Minister's Office confirms Wall Street Journal report stating Netanyahu conveyed to Obama rejection of demand for construction freeze in east Jerusalem Israel standing its ground. US administration officials met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aides in Jerusalem, amid American pressure on Israel for gestures and concessions to enable indirect peace talks with the Palestinians. The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported that Netanyahu conveyed a message to US President Barak Obama last week according to which Israel rejects the US demand for a full construction freeze in east Jerusalem. Sources from the Prime Minister's Office confirmed the report, which...

US president tells Time Magazine Israel, Palestinians unwilling to make the bold gestures. Mitchell's visit to region clouded by tough statements from both sides accusing the other of cynicism President Barack Obama said his administration overestimated its ability to persuade the Israelis and Palestinians to resume meaningful peace talks. Obama said both parties have been unwilling to make the bold gestures needed to move the process forward. If the US had anticipated that earlier, the American leader said he might not have raised his expectations so high. "Both sides — the Israelis and the Palestinians — have found that the...

Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer yesterday announced an interest rate hike for September 2009, thus becoming the first central banker throughout the developed world to raise interest rates since the economic crisis began last year. The increase isn't big: Fischer is raising the Bank of Israel's overnight lending rate to banks by 0.25%, to 0.75%. A rate of 0.5%, which had been in place for five months, is all right for an economy in deep recession, a top official at the Bank of Israel told TheMarker yesterday. But Israel isn't in deep recession: Enough indicators show improvement to warrant...

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...

I was on vacation with my family in Iceland when my office called and shared the terrible news of Michael Jackson's passing. My wife and children were with me in the van. We could scarcely believe what we had heard. The children all remembered Michael fondly. He had given them their dog Marshmallow who is a member of our family until today. My daughter teared up. And while I was heartsick at the news, especially for his three young children, I was not shocked. I dreaded this day and knew it had to come sooner rather than later. In the...

NBA star to crowd: Election day ‘is the most important day of our lives’ CLEVELAND - On his home court, LeBron James tried to swing some votes toward a guy who loves to play basketball nearly as much as he does. The NBA superstar hosted a free concert Wednesday night by Grammy-winning hip hop star Jay-Z for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, a former high school hoop star who still enjoys lacing up his sneakers and playing ball when he isn’t on the campaign trail. Nearly 20,000 fans filled Quicken Loans Arena for the “Last Chance for Change” rally, which...

Jackie Mason rips Sarah Silverman (the Yenta) a new one... Jackie Mason rips SilvermanThe video above is a response to this video: An arrogant Silverman goes after the Jewish vote

WASHINGTON – While Israel has formally refuted allegations it was involved in the assassination of Hizbullah 'operations officer' Imad Mugniyah in Damascus on Tuesday, former CIA official Bruce Riedel says all signs seem to indicate the Mossad was behind the killing. Riedel, who spent over 30 years with the CIA before serving as a senior advisor on South Asian and Middle East affairs under three US presidents, said Israel has already carried out similar operations in Syria Currently a senior fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute, he says Mugniyah's assassination proves Israel has...

(IsraelNN.com) Americans' support for Israel in the conflict with the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza remains extremely high, with 62 percent of Americans considering themselves supporters of Israel and only 9 percent as "supporters of the Palestinians." These are some of the findings of a new bipartisan poll commissioned by The Israel Project (TIP). By a similar margin (61 to 10), Americans believe the U.S. should support Israel in the conflict with the Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. TIP says this is in stark contrast to a 2002 poll, when fully 68 percent of Americans thought the U.S....

Even after sharing his personal health problems with the general public, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is still seen as the country's most corrupt government minister, according to a poll released Wednesday evening at the Sderot Conference for Society, which took place Tuesday and Wednesday in the southern border town. However, while coming out at number one last year, too, with 42 percent of those questioned saying that Olmert's public behavior was corrupt to very corrupt, this year more than half (56%) took that position. Olmert had stiff competition for the number one spot, however, from former finance minister Avraham Hirchson,...

Senior American commander stationed in Gulf tells The Independent he was 'surprised' British marines, sailors captured by Iranian forces were not more aggressive A senior American commander has said he was "surprised" the British marines and sailors captured by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf over the weekend had not been more aggressive. Lt-Cdr Erik Horner, who has been working alongside the task force to which the 15 captured Britons belonged, told The Independent that his men would have fired on the Iranian Republican Guard rather than let themselves be taken hostage.

Iranian government source warns captive British soldiers will not be released until Britain issues formal apology to Iran. Iranian students call on government to demand release of former Undersecretary of Defense General Ali Reza Asgari in exchange for captives. Chairman of Iran's Parliamentary Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy, Alaa Al-Din Boroujerdi, expressed his support on Saturday for the capture of 15 British soldiers by Iranian forces. Boroujerdi called the act "appropriate" and "legal" and said that it was a necessary step "so that foreign forces in Iran's neighboring countries will see that Iran is a powerful country in...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday expressed doubt that the Holocaust occurred and suggested Israel be moved to Europe. His comments, reported by the official IRNA news agency from a news conference he gave in the Saudia Arabian city of Mecca, follow his call in October for Israel to be "wiped off the map," which sparked widespread international condemnation. "Some European countries insist on saying that Hitler killed millions of innocent Jews in furnaces and they insist on it to the extent that if anyone proves something contrary to that they condemn that person and throw them...