Syria urges UN to sanction Israel over Damascus airstrikes

December 8, 2014 By administrator

Syrian officials demanded that UN impose sanctions on Israel after Tel Aviv conducted airstrikes near Damascus Airport. They say the attack was a heinous crime against their sovereignty by a country which doesn’t hide its policy of supporting terrorism, Russia Today reported.

Tel Aviv committed a heinous crime against Syria’s sovereignty, said Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry in two identical letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and to the Chair of the UN Security Council, SANA news agency reported.

The attack aimed to support armed terrorist groups in Syria, especially after Damascus made some progress in the cities of Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and Daraa, say Syrian officials.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry called for UN officials to impose sanctions on Israel, whose authorities“don’t hide their policies in supporting terrorism.” Damascus also urged UN to take all necessary procedures to prevent Israel from repeating such attacks in accord with UN Charter.
The letter asserts that Israel is trying to divert the world’s attention from the collapse of its own coalition government, which continues “its occupation of the Arab territories and violates the international legitimacy.”

Despite the Israeli attacks, Damascus will not stop its efforts to combat terrorism in all its forms, types and tools and on Syrian soil, added the letter

Israeli President backtracks on Armenian Genocide recognition

December 5, 2014 By administrator

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, formerly an outspoken advocate of Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide, decided not to renew his signature on an annual petition calling for Israel to officially recognize the mass killings as genocide.

According to The Times of Israel, those responsible for the petition were surprised by Rivlin’s change of stance, Israel’s Channel 10 News reported on Thursday, Dec 4 night, which was ascribed to the heightened sensitivity of his position since Rivlin was elected president earlier this year. The TV report said Rivlin was apparently concerned not to further harm Israel’s strained relations with Turkey.

Ties have been all-but frozen in recent years, notably as a consequence of the 2010 killings of nine Turkish citizens by Israeli naval commandos who were attacked when they intercepted the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara as it sought to break Israel’s security blockade of Hamas-run Gaza.

The 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide will be commemorated on April 24, 2015.

Beit Hanassi, the president’s official residence, confirmed that Rivlin had not signed the petition, Channel 10 said. It said unnamed Foreign Ministry officials welcomed the president’s “statesmanship.”

Israel has avoided formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the political arena for years, for fear of straining diplomatic ties with Turkey, which was Israel’s closest ally in the Muslim world until the deterioration under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, an open supporter of Hamas who has issued a stream of highly critical statements about Israel.

In years past, Rivlin on numerous occasions encouraged Israeli lawmakers to reject the politicized discourse that has dominated the discussion of the issue.

“I’m aware of the sensitivity, but I’m not blaming modern-day Turkey,” Rivlin told Knesset members last year, when he was still an MK himself. “The government that committed these acts was overturned by Turkey itself,” he said during a special session on the topic.

“I’m sure Turkey will be an ally. I think a solution needs to be found for this crisis, but it’s unthinkable that the Knesset ignore this tragedy,” Rivlin said. “We demand that people don’t deny the Holocaust, and we can’t ignore the tragedy of another nation.”

During an interview with Israel Army Radio in 2013, Rivlin highlighted the differences between the Holocaust and the murder of the Armenian people. But without blurring those differences, Israel must find a way to “fulfill its moral obligation of remembering wrongs done to others,” he said.

Photo: Haaretz

Israel claims ‘foiled Hamas attacks’ were planned in Turkey

November 27, 2014 By administrator

REUTERS / JERUSALEM

Israel said on Thursday it had foiled plans by Hamas to attack Israelis in Jerusalem’s largest football stadium, other parts of the city and the occupied West Bank, though Hamas said it had no information on the allegations.

Israel’s Shin Bet security service claimed it had arrested 30 members of the group in September, some of whom had received weapons and explosives training from Hamas militants in Jordan and the Gaza Strip.

Planning for attacks against Israeli targets, including Jerusalem’s Teddy football stadium and the city’s light railway, was carried out by Hamas officials in Turkey, Shin Bet added in a statement.

In the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is dominant, a spokesman for the group said: “We have no information about these Israeli claims … It is clear Israel wanted to create a new story to divert the world’s attention away from the escalation in Jerusalem.”

Violence has surged in recent weeks in Jerusalem amid high tensions over access to a holy site in an Israeli-annexed part of the city where Al-Aqsa Mosque now stands and Biblical Jewish Temples once stood.

On Sunday, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian near the border, the first such fatality since a 50-day Gaza war ended in August. The man’s family said he was searching for songbirds to sell in local markets.

Israel has long designated areas near the frontier a no-go zone for Palestinians. The Palestinians seek Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza — lands captured and occupied by Israel after the 1967 war — for their future state. Already troubled peace talks between the two sides broke down in April.

Palestinian Authority accuses Hamas of plotting against it from Turkish headquarters

November 22, 2014 By administrator

By Paul Alster

Hamas supporters rally in the West Bank, where Palestinian Authority officials say the terror group is seeking to undermine it, with help from an operative in Turkey. (Reuters)

Israel and Egypt have Hamas pinned inside Gaza after destroying hundreds of tunnels leading out of the Palestinian enclave, but the terrorist group is coordinating its efforts in the West Bank with logistical help from a command center more than 500 miles away in Turkey, according to Palestinian Authority officials.

The PA and the Jewish State are mutually convenient bedfellows in their opposition to Hamas, which has conducted a campaign of terror against Israel and seeks to destabilize the West Bank. While the PA officially remains Hamas’ so-called “governing partner” in the Palestinian territories, new accusations that Hamas’ efforts are guided by its Turkey-based commander Salah al-Aruri have exposed the growing and violent rift between the two groups.

Now, the PA has gone on record as accusing al-Aruri of planning multiple attacks that have been foiled recently by Israel, resulting in the arrest of dozens of Hamas operatives in the West Bank. Those arrests, likely coordinated with PA security services who themselves allegedly foiled a planned coup by Hamas in the West Bank this summer, may have included the cell which, it was revealed on Thursday, had been planning to assassinate Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman in August in an RPG missile attack.

“The officials added that several Hamas operatives connected to the recently uncovered network were also being held in PA detention facilities.”

– Times of Israel

“The officials accused Turkey as well as Qatar — the current home of Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal — of enabling Hamas to operate freely within their territories to carry out attacks against Israel and undermine the Palestinian Authority,” Friday’s Times of Israel revealed. “The officials added that several Hamas operatives connected to the recently uncovered network were also being held in PA detention facilities.”

Despite the recent serious escalation in lethal incidents in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and further afield in Israel, including this week’s brutal murder of four rabbis and a policeman at a synagogue in the capital, Israeli and Palestinian Authority security forces still have shared mutual interests in combating radical Islamist terrorists groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others.

“There is regular cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian police which is continuing despite the terrorist attacks that have taken place,” Mickey Rosenfeld, spokesman for the Israeli Police, told FoxNews.com.

It was Al-Aruri who on Aug. 20, speaking at the World Conference of Islamic Sages in Turkey, admitted that Hamas had instigated the “heroic action carried out by the al-Qassam Brigades [the military wing of Hamas], which captured three settlers in Hebron.” The three teenage boys were kidnapped and brutally murdered by Hamas operatives, an incident that triggered the spiral of violence – including the retaliatory murder of a Palestinian teenager by Jewish settlers – that led to the vicious 50-day war in Gaza this summer.

Hamas appears to have been given a free hand to operate out of Turkey and Qatar, both of whom are close U.S. allies, and neither of whom deem Hamas a terrorist organization. Regional critics say the Obama administration has allowed its efforts to broker peace in the Middle East to be consistently undermined by its own Turkish and Qatari allies, who provide safe haven for Hamas leaders and funding for terrorists bent on undermining a negotiated settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

Talking to the Al Monitor website in August, a Turkish diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that Turkey’s support for Hamas is basically because the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed diplomatically some time ago to influence its neighbors in the region, so has decided to find other ways in which to wield power.

“Trying to be a major actor in the Middle East and having felt betrayed multiple times, the Erdogan administration decided we have to be Middle Eastern, which means non-state entities should be considered as serious actors, partners, enemies, and allies.” Al Monitor’s Turkish correspondent, Pinar Tremblay, added, “Turkey’s support for Hamas – along with Qatar – hampers Israel’s ability to isolate Hamas. The Turkish government has been rather frank and “proud” of its engagement with the organization, despite all [the] financial and political repercussions.”

The policy of siding with Hamas, experts suggest, may also be a way for both Turkey and Qatar to continue their campaign against Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has clamped down hard on the Muslim Brotherhood, parent organization of Hamas, declaring the Brotherhood an illegal organization and arresting countless of its members.

El-Sisi has taken firm action against Hamas in Gaza, closing the key Rafah crossing and establishing a buffer zone on Egypt’s northern Sinai border with Gaza in an attempt to stop infiltration into Egypt by Hamas terrorists – backed by Turkey and Qatar – and the trafficking of weapons, missiles, and Islamic extremists in both directions.

Paul Alster is an Israel-based journalist. Follow him on Twitter @paul_alster and visit his website: www.paulalster.com.

Pew poll: Israel most hated country in Turkey

November 3, 2014 By administrator

86% of responders have an unfavorable opinion of Israel, while only 2% view it positively; Turks also harbor a strong dislike to terror organizations – 80% dislike Hamas, 85% dislike Hezbollah. report ynetnews

Israel is the country most hated by Turkish citizens, a Pew Research Center poll released last week found.

Responders were asked whether they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of a selection of states (US, China, Brazil, Russia, Iran, Israel) and entities (such as the European Union and Nation).

Israel was found the most disliked country of the offered options, with 86 percent of responders saying they have an unfavorable opinion of Israel and only 2 percent seeing Israel in a positive light.

There is of course no reason to be surprised of the negative view Turks have of Israel. A diplomatic rift was opened between the two countries during the 2008-9 Operation Cast Lead. At the height of the still-ongoing conflict was the Israeli commando raid of the Turkish “Mavi Marmara” ship that was attempting to break the blockade on Gaza. The incident left 10 Turkish citizens dead.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan often attacks Israel, publicly accusing it of “genocide” of the Palestinians.

Still, it’s interesting to learn just how much the Turkish public dislikes Israel.

Other than having a favorable opinion of their own country (78 percent, according to a 2012 poll), the Turks don’t think highly of any of the countries or entities asked about.

The Turks have a lot opinion of the European Union (66 percent unfavorable opinion, 25 percent favorable), China (68 percent negative views, 21 percent positive), the United States (73 percent negative views and 19 percent positive), Russia (73 percent negative, 16 positive), Brazil (65 percent negative, 20 percent positive) and Iran (75 percent negative, 14 percent positive).

Saudi Arabia, however, another Sunni state, is the most liked of the countries asked about, but even then, only 26 percent of Turks have a favorable opinion of it, while 53 percent have an unfavorable opinion of it)

Opinion: Israel must not sell arms to Azerbaijan

October 27, 2014 By administrator

In light of the increased manifestations of hatred in Azerbaijan against the Armenians, Azerbaijan’s increasing military strength and the rise in internal tensions there, it is feared that if war breaks out again between Azerbaijan and the Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh, there will be massacres against the Armenian population in that region, says a piece by professor Yair Auron in Israeli daily Haaretz.

For 25 years, prof. Auron has been researching Israel’s attitude toward the genocide of other peoples. In November 2014, the Open University will hold an international conference marking the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.

And yet, the author says, despite the handwriting on the wall, last month Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon flew to Azerbaijan to meet with the heads of its military and state, including the president.

As far as the Armenians are concerned, the conflict with the Azeris is a fight for survival, a fight for their right to live in the Nagorno Karabakh region. Next year will mark 100 years since the genocide against the Armenian people. An Azeri assault, if one takes place, could be a sorrowful reminder of the events of those days. But perhaps it is not too late to prevent escalation. Israel has a moral obligation in this matter, beyond its international obligations. It would be very serious if it turned out that Azerbaijan’s security forces committed war crimes and crimes against humanity using Israeli weapons, Auron says.

In early August, prof. Auron reminds, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev visited the front and told the soldiers, “We have weapons we have purchased from foreign sources, which meet the highest standards in the world.”

Russia and many other countries, among them the United States and France, have condemned the escalation, and said that the only solution to the conflict is diplomatic.

With the outbreak of the war, in 1992, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe asked its member states to ban export of weapons to those involved in the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh. Britain and Germany prohibit the export of weapons to Azerbaijan and, as far as we know, the United States does not permit the export of weapons to that country over concerns that it could be used against Armenia, prof. Auron says.

According to reports in the foreign press, in recent years Israel is one of the leading exporters of weapons to Azerbaijan – if not the primary one. Together with Russia, Israel is openly ignoring the weapons embargo. In February 2012, media reported that Israel signed an agreement to supply $1.6 billion-worth of weapons to Azerbaijan. At least two Israeli drones have fallen in Nagorno-Karabakh, the latest one this past August.

This is not the first time Israel has supplied weapons to a country that is committing genocide. Israel sold weapons to the Serbs during the Balkan war in the early 1990s, during which time the United Nations had imposed an embargo. The sale of weapons to a government committing genocide is like the sale of weapons to Nazi Germany during World War II, the Israeli professor says.

Source: Haaretz. Israel must not sell arms to the Azeris

Israel must refrain from such acts also because we are a people of Holocaust survivors. A tragic crime and humanitarian disaster could take place in the centennial year of the Armenian Genocide, which continues to go unrecognized by most countries, he concludes.

Israel accuses Turkey of aiding Hamas coup plan against Mahmoud Abbas in Judea and Samaria.

October 25, 2014 By administrator

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has implied that Turkey was responsible for Hamas’ alleged preparations for a coup against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “Turkey is playing a cynical game,” Ya’alon told US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on Oct. 21, criticizing Turkey for the support it provides to Hamas. “Hamas moved its terror headquarters from Damascus to Istanbul, in Turkey, a NATO member, where it is represented by Saleh al-Arouri, who orchestrates terrorist attacks against Israel from there and attempted to instigate a coup against Mahmoud Abbas in Judea and Samaria.” report Al monitor

Fadi al-Husseini, Palestinian Embassy spokesman in Ankara, however, told Al-Monitor that the Palestinian side has no knowledge of any Hamas coup preparations against Abbas. “We also heard about this alleged coup preparation from the media. The Israeli media also link the death of three Israeli teenagers to Arouri, but there is so far no evidence that Hamas was involved in these incidents,” Husseini said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly blamed Hamas for the teenagers’ deaths. “These teenagers were kidnapped and the kidnapping was carried out by Hamas members. Hamas denials do not change this fact,” he said June 15.

Netanyahu also said, “Those who perpetrated the abduction of our youths were members of Hamas — the same Hamas that Abu Mazen [Abbas] made a unity government with. This has severe repercussions.” Indeed, Israel began its Gaza operation in July 2014, killing more than 2,000 Palestinians.

“We see that Israel is increasingly sliding away from the peace process. They do not trust the Palestinian side as a real peace partner, nor do they have any trust in the United Nations body — specifically the UN Human Rights Council,” said Umut Uzer, an associate professor at Istanbul Technical University’s department of humanities and social sciences. “It is no longer even possible to expect a return to a more balanced politics toward Israel. Neither side has any trust left. Turkey has clearly sided with the Palestinians, but the current government here has also taken the side of the Palestinians favoring Hamas.”

Uzer said that although the Turkish government clearly sides with Hamas and considers it the legitimately elected representative of the Palestinian people, it conveniently forgets about Hamas’ terrorist activities. Uzer explains this approach as a part of the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) ideological and emotional attachment to the group.

“Having said that, frankly speaking, it is a misconception to suggest that the Turkey-Israel relationship soared due to [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan coming to power. One needs to admit that this relationship has no real counterpart on the Turkish streets. It was put together with a bureaucratic intention considering the country’s interests,” Uzer said. “Yet Turkey’s liberal, left and secular crowds are also sensitive about the Palestinian cause. They see the Palestinians as victims of World War II, and they would like to see their suffering come to an end. It is to say that, even if Erdogan were not in power, the relationship between these two countries would not show any real progress in the absence of a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians resolving this issue once and for all.”

In the meantime, Ankara has kept quiet on Ya’alon’s accusation that Turkey was indirectly aiding Hamas’ preparations for a coup against Abbas. If proven, it would strike a significant blow to Erdogan’s strong condemnations of coup attempts, whether in Turkey, Egypt or elsewhere.

Since the deadly 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, Turkey and Israel’s political and diplomatic ties have soured. Some have speculated about a potential finalization of a deal, whereby Israel would give significant financial compensation to the families of those killed on board the Mavi Marmara. In turn, the countries would then reinitiate diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level. Ya’alon’s statement makes it clear that we are nowhere near that day.

Uzer argues that Turkey turning a complete blind eye to Hamas’ terror activities is not good for peace efforts in the region. “The United States is certainly the real partner that could influence Israel and move things around. Turkey could have helped things with its soft power, just like the AKP did in its first years,” Uzer said. “On the other hand, Israel is increasingly becoming isolated. … The political right is getting stronger in Israel, and that means there is currently no strong peace camp there.”

Embassy spokesman Husseini said that, in hindsight, Turkey and Israel’s soured political relationship does not serve the best interests of the Palestinian cause. “We wish to see more of our friends to carry our messages and talk to Israel,” Husseini said. “A good relationship between Turkey and Israel would have benefited the Palestinian cause and help end the conflict.”

By Tulin Daloglu

Columnist

Israel shoots down Syrian warplane

September 23, 2014 By administrator

The Israeli army says it has shot down a Syrian warplane that crossed into Israeli-controlled airspace over the Golan Heights. Military sources say the incident is the first of its kind in three decades. report dw.com

The Syrian aircraft was intercepted Tuesday by an Israeli surface-to-air Patriot missile after it infiltrated an Israeli-occupied area, Israel’s military said.

“A warplane that penetrated Israeli territory was successfully shot down a short while ago by the air defense systems along the Syrian border,” the army said in a statement.

Israeli military spokesman Aryeh Shalicar told German press agency DPA it was the first such incident to take place since the 1970s.

According to Israel army radio, as quoted by press agency AFP, the MiG-21 fighter jet was struck as it approached the Israeli sector of the Golan, and its wreckage landed on the Syrian side of the plateau. It added that the circumstances surrounding the incident were being investigated.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Israel would not allow elements, whether “a terror group or a state, to threaten our security and breach our sovereignty.”

Accusations of supporting IS

Syrian state TV, meanwhile, quoted a military source who confirmed the downing of the jet and described it as an act of aggression within “the framework of (Israel’s) support for the terrorist (Islamic State) and the Nusra Front” and coinciding with US-led air strikes against “Islamic State” (IS) in Syria. The US and partner nations across the region, announced that they had commenced airstrikes against IS in Syria on Tuesday. Israel did not participate.

Since Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, much of the Golan Heights to Israel’s northeast has been taken over by rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al Assad. In recent weeks the plateau has been the site of intense fighting between the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and Assad’s forces, and the regime has conducted frequent airstrikes – some of them close to Israeli positions – in an attempt to recover lost ground.

Disputed territory

It’s not unusual for stray rocket fire to land on Israel’s side, but there have also been instances of targeted attacks, for example, in which an Israeli teenager was killed in June.

Israel took control of around 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of the Golan during the Six-Day War of 1967. In 1981, it annexed the area in a move that was opposed by the international community, while some 510 square kilometers, or about a third of the region, remains under Syrian control.

nm/es (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

Israel build Turkey’s military industrial complex now they are building Azerbaijan military by sailing Iron Dome.

September 15, 2014 By administrator

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon met with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev at ADEX 2014 Baku-hosted defense industry exhibit.

As haqqin.az reported citing Israeli media, at the event, Israeli side demonstrated the Iron Dome air defense system. Besides negotiations with the president, consultations with several ministers were held.

Iron Dome is a mobile all-weather air defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 kilometres to 70 kilometres away and whose trajectory would take them to a populated area. Israel hopes to increase the range of Iron Dome’s interceptions, from the current maximum of 70 kilometres to 250 kilometres and make it more versatile so that it could intercept rockets coming from two directions simultaneously.

Iron Dome was declared operational and initially deployed on 27 March 2011 near Beersheba. On 7 April 2011, the system successfully intercepted a Grad rocket launched from Gaza for the first time. On 10 March 2012, The Jerusalem Post reported that the system shot down 90% of rockets launched from Gaza that would have landed in populated areas. By November 2012, official statements indicated that it had intercepted 400+ rockets. 5 Israeli companies participated in the exhibit, with no interest in other Israeli made ammunition expressed. Earlier, Baku purchased over $ 1,6 billion worth of weaponry from Israel.

Iran Says Purported Israeli Drone Came From North

August 27, 2014 By administrator

TEHRAN, Iran — Aug 27, 2014,

An Iranian general said Wednesday that a purported Israeli drone shot down near a nuclear facility in the Islamic Republic flew in from a northern country that once was part of the Soviet Union. report by associated press

The semi-official Fars news agency, close to the Revolutionary Guard, quoted Gen. Masoud Jazayeri making the allegation. It reported that Jazayeri, the deputy chief of staff in Iran’s armed forces, said the country must make “compensatory actions” or else be publicly named.

There are three former Soviet republics immediately north of Iran: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. Iran in the past had criticized Azerbaijan for its close ties with Israel and the country does operate drones like the one Iran said it shot down.

On Sunday, Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said it shot down the purported Israeli drone near the country’s uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, some 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital, Tehran. State television aired footage of the purported drone Monday and identified it as a Hermes 450 drone, which is manufactured in Israel.

Israeli officials have not commented on the incident.

Questions immediately arose about the drone after Sunday’s announcement, including how the aircraft could have flown all the way into Iran from Israel. It could have made the trip from one of Iran’s northern neighbors, however.

Fars quoted Jazayeri as saying Iran’s response will not be limited to shooting down the drone.

“We will respond to the enemy in the occupied lands,” he said, without elaborating.

Iran does not recognize Israel and supports militant groups like Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which both have fought wars against Israel.