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As part of a 10-year U.S.-Israel security aid agreement, the Israeli government has signed a letter promising to give back any additional money that Congress appropriates, effectively preventing Congress from giving Israel any more money than President Obama wants it to have. The White House will sign today a new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Israel that would increase U.S.-Israel security aid from $3.1 billion a year to $3.3 billion, starting in 2018. The deal would also include, for the first time, $500 million of annual missile defense funding, bringing the annual total to $3.8 billion. But Congress, in...

Israeli officials once again begin talking about "military option." The smiles that accompanied the announcement Thursday of parameters for an Iranian nuclear agreement in Lausanne between the world powers and Iran are detached from reality, International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz said in Jerusalem's initial reaction to the developments. The reality, Steinitz said, is that Iran refused to make any concession on the nuclear issue and continues to threaten Israel and all other countries in the Middle East. Even before the press conference in Lausanne where the announcement was made, the Prime Minister's Office posted the following message on twitter: “Any...

As Iran and the P5+1 world powers struggle to eke out a deal on Tehran's nuclear program in Switzerland, Israel says it will do everything possible to prevent a nuclear Iran. Speaking on public radio Thursday, Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said that all options were on the table in the face of the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. This, he added, includes military action. Iran has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction. Most recently on Tuesday, senior Iranian military official, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said "Israel's destruction is non-negotiable" and that the Jewish state should be "wiped of the...

When Israel’s Prime Minister Told Joe Biden: I Am Not A Jew With Trembling KneesPosted By Ronn Torossian On April 2, 2015 @ 12:20 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | No Comments While the Obama Administration continues their pressure on Israel, for at least Joe Biden, it is not the first time that there has been animosity with an Israeli leader.  The reality is that while some of the names change, this conflict is about Israel’s refusal to surrender to a Palestinian Arab enemy who seeks to destroy the Jewish nation.The United States is wrong to pressure Israel – yet,...

Dennis Ross and David Makovsky in Israel’s Drive Toward Self-Destruction, argue that Netanyahu must offer up hope to Palestinians or face a revived de-legitimization movement. They’re certainly right to point out that the delegitimation movement will grow, but they are wrong to suggest that the answer is for Israel to offer hope to the Palestinians. How facile is that? They argue that what Israel needs to do is begin capitulating even before the negotiations commence, let alone, conclude. They want Israel to give up its bargaining chips for nothing in return. The Palestinians don’t hope to be given a state,...

Journalist and writer Caroline Glick, author of the book "The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East", says Israel should annex Judea and Samaria now, in response to President Barack Obama’s statements that the United States will “re-evaluate” its support for Israel at the United Nations. Seeing as Obama is planning to change American policy and “force Israel into completely indefensible borders”, Glick told Arutz Sheva, “the time has come for Israel to come out with an alternative policy, and the alternative policy that we have to put out is applying Israeli law and sovereignty to...

As talks over a nuclear deal with Iran continued past self-imposed deadlines, Israel’s intelligence minister has warned that the military option is on the table–and noted that Israel does not need U.S. cooperation to carry out a pre-emptive strike. According to the Times of Israel, Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio Thursday: “…if we have no choice we have no choice… the military option is on the table.” He reminded listeners that Israel had attacked Saddam Hussein’s Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981 without help from then-President Ronald Reagan (who actually condemned the attack).

Head of the IDF Planning Directorate Maj. Gen. Nimrod Sheffer tells Israel Hayom that “Israel will do whatever is best for Israel” if it feels Iran threatens its existence, even if it means defying the U.S. • “Any true partner would accept that,” he says. When asked whether he could feasibly envision a situation in which Israel’s air force bombs an Iranian nuclear facility contrary to U.S. directives, Maj. Gen. Nimrod Sheffer told Israel Hayom that “since it has happened in the past, I have no reason to believe it won’t happen again.” Sheffer, the head of the Israel Defense...

There was a time when Israel did not deal with existential threats by urging the Americans to do something. That time was fairly recent. When Saddam decided he wanted to have his own nuclear reactor, fourteen Israeli Air Force jets put an end to his dream. The year was 1981. The Reagan Administration supported a UN resolution condemning Israel which stated that it was in "clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international conduct" and which fully recognized "the inalienable sovereign right of Iraq, and all other States, especially the developing countries, to establish...

Israel Sharon Suffers Serious Stroke, Olmert in PowerSharon Is Fighting For His LifeBy Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem----January 5.....Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been rushed to hospital this evening suffering from a major stroke. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has now assumed the powers of Israel Prime Minister. The Jewish nation is watching the events unfold on Israel television and praying for Sharon's speedy recovery. A speedy recovery may not be realized as doctors and Israel TV are describing the situation as life threatening with Sharon presently undergoing an operation for a cerebral hemorrhage. There are reports that...

IDF expands humanitarian officers program By JOEL LEYDEN It's 2 p.m. at the Kalandia checkpost on a boiling summer's day. A long, crowded line of Palestinians wait to enter Ramallah. Young Israeli combat soldiers are positioned in front of them, standing behind grey concrete barriers and above on a dusty hilltop sweating inside guard towers. The 18-year-old troops appear ready for anything. They have been trained for terrorism and war and keep a watchful eye out for the unusual. It could be a car with a sniper, a young boy holding a package or a women suicide bomber just waiting...

US President George W. Bush, through Secretary of State Colin Powell, has given notice to Israel that, should Saddam attack Israel and should Israel respond, Israel would forfeit all international support.(1) The United States has given Israel the privilege of receiving, in real time, whatever electronic intelligence that the U.S. is generating. The report did not say what Israel was supposed to do, or allowed to do, if Saddam’s attack was non-conventional, such as NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical). I presume that Bush and Powell would expect to be notified if Israelis were to suddenly die en masse, as did...