March 7, 2018
Netanyahu to AIPAC: ‘We must stop Iran! We will stop Iran’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing a crowd of 18,000 at the annual AIPAC conference in Washington Tuesday (6th), stressed the Iranian threat and the need to prevent Iran from ever developing nuclear weapons.
“The bad things are getting worse, and they’re very bad. The forces behind so much of what is bad is this radical tyranny in Tehran. We must stop Iran,” he declared.
“Darkness is descending on our region. Iran is building an aggressive empire: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, and more to come. Now Iran is seeking to build permanent military bases in Syria, seeking to create a land bridge from Tehran to Tartus on the Mediterranean. And in addition to moving its army, its air force, its navy to Syria to be able to attack Israel from closer hand, it’s also seeking to develop, to build precision guided missile factories in Syria and Lebanon against Israel.”
“I will not let that happen. We will not let that happen. We must stop Iran. We will stop Iran,” the Israeli leader vowed.
(worldisraelnews.com)
Netanyahu: ‘Israeli technology is driving the world’
Despite the doom and gloom, Netanyahu told AIPAC about Israel’s unprecedented success in recent years.
“Israeli technology is driving the world,” he proclaimed, citing the start-up nation’s astounding innovation successes, helping countries around the world in various fields, including, agriculture, water technology and cyber security.
“Israel’s population of roughly eight million comprises one-tenth of one percent of the world’s, and “gets a whopping 20 percent of global private investment in cyber,” Netanyahu said. “We’re punching 200 times above our weight.”
“It’s the countries who don’t have relations with Israel that will suffer,” he said. “They want to boycott us? We’ll boycott them.”
“We are coloring the world blue,” he said, pointing to Israel’s blooming relationships around the world.
Netanyahu, who received thunderous applause, ended by saying, that “the beautiful alliance Israel and the US have together is made up of our shared values.”
(worldisraelnews.com)
Haley to AIPAC: Our push to end UN anti-Israel bias is really a demand for peace – Eric Cortellessa
U.S. insistence on fair treatment for Israel at the UN is “actually a demand for peace,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told AIPAC on Monday (5th). The UN’s bias against Israel has “long undermined peace by encouraging an illusion that Israel will simply go away.” But Israel “is not going away. When the world recognizes that, then peace becomes possible” because all sides will then “be dealing with realities, not fantasies” and “reasonable negotiated compromises can prevail over absolutist demands.”
(timesofisrael.com)
2 victims from Sunday’s ramming attack released from hospital
A 51-year-old civilian and one of the soldiers wounded on Sunday’s (4th) vehicular attack in Acco have been released from the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
Another soldier and a Border Guard remain hospitalized , while the injuries to the suspect in the case are described as moderate.
(israelnn.com)
IDF: Improving conditions in Gaza depends on Hamas returning captive Israelis – Judah Ari Gross
Improving living conditions in Gaza is contingent upon the return of two Israeli civilians and the remains of two slain IDF soldiers, Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir, head of the IDF Southern Command, said Monday (5th). During the 2014 Gaza War, Hamas captured the remains of two Israeli soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul. In the following year, two mentally ill Israeli civilians, Abera Mengistu and Hisahm al-Sayed, entered Gaza, and were taken captive by Hamas.
(timesofisrael.com)
Palestinians increase payments to terrorists to $403 million
The Palestinian Authority increased its payments to terrorists and their families in 2018 by nearly $56 million, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Avi Dichter said on Monday (5th), when a bill to discourage the practice passed a first reading.
Dichter pointed out that Chairman Mahmoud Abbas authorized the 2018 PA budget on Sunday (4th), and that there is a PA law that says 7% of each budget must go to paying terrorists, or their families if they are killed in a terrorist act.
(jpost.com; reuters.com)
More Turkish Jews seek new life in Israel – Sibel Ekin
I learned that my Jewish friend, Izak, 32, had left Istanbul, where he had spent his whole life, to become one of the 400 Turkish Jews who settled in Israel last year – more than double the 164 who moved there the year before. Izak explained to me, “I thought about it for two years. Then when the coup attempt in July 2016 happened, I made the decision that it was right to leave Turkey without wasting more time.” On July 15, Izak (a pseudonym) looked at Twitter to find hundreds of posts by Turkish users blaming the coup attempt on Jews.
(ahvalnews.com)
UN Rights investigator decried Iran clampdown, torture, floggings – Stephanie Nebehay
Iran has arrested activists and political opponents in a clampdown on freedom of expression as use of torture continues, a UN report said on Monday (4th). The report was compiled by Asma Jahangir, a Pakistani lawyer serving as UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran who died suddenly last month. Jahangir called for a halt to floggings and amputations.
(reuters.com)
Iran can resume nuclear enrichment to 20 percent purity in 2 days
Iran can resume enriching uranium to 20% purity in less than two days, Behrooz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Monday (5th). “We are able to return to the former state and even to a new state several times better than the previous one….We can speed up enrichment by new machines,” he said.
(tehrantimes.com)
Athens Holocaust memorial vandalized
A memorial to the Holocaust in the Thiseio area of Athens was recently vandalized, according to local media.
The vandals destroyed the memorial tablets bearing a quote from Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel in three languages, which says, “Just remember. For by remembering we honor their deaths, and we save them from dying again in oblivion.” The memorial has been vandalized a number of times in recent years. Previous to this incident, was one in December, 2017.
(israelnn.com)
