Report: Jewish Home Presents Social, Economic Demands to Likud

By David Lev, INN

Negotiations continued Tuesday between the Likud and the Jewish Home Party over the possible entry of the latter into a coalition being cobbled together by Binyamin Netanyahu. The negotiations have been going on for the past few days, with Jewish Home MKs presenting what they expected from a government that they would agree to be a part of.

The discussions have revolved around issues such as negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and the role of Tzipy Livni as head of those negotiations, as well as the extent of integration of the hareidi yeshiva population into the IDF.
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By Chana Ya’ar, INN

The European Union has formally recommended its 27 member states “prevent” Israeli activity in Judea and Samaria through an economic boycott of Jewish communities in those regions.

The EU’s latest boycott recommendation came to light in the publication of the EU’s Jerusalem Report 2012, released Wednesday, in which the European body recommends its members avoid financial transactions with Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, AFP reported.

In the report, the EU suggests its member states “prevent, discourage and raise awareness about problematic implications of financial transactions, including foreign direct investments from within the EU in support of settlement activities, infrastructure and services.” The recommendation followed an internal report which alleged that Israel had used construction in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to prevent the possibility of a two-state solution.
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By Joby Warrick, The Washington Post,

The Israeli tourists on Arkia Airlines Flight 161 from Tel Aviv could not have known it, but their arrival in Cyprus July 6 was watched closely. A pair of trained eyes counted each passenger as the group exited the plane and boarded a shuttle, headed for resorts that had also been carefully studied and mapped.

The bearded foreigner who silently tracked the Israelis had done his work well. He knew where the visitors would sleep, shop and eat. He knew how many security guards patrolled their hotel parking lots and how long it would take police to arrive from the station down the street.

But the watcher was being watched. When Cypriot police picked him up, the Hezbollah operative quickly acknowledged what he was doing, although he claimed not to know why. Read more…

By Evelyn Gordon, JINSA Fellow

When massive protests forced Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon in 2005, it seemed that Lebanon had finally been liberated from foreign domination. But the liberation proved illusory: The country remained in thrall to Hezbollah, which took its orders from Iran and Syria. Hezbollah’s dominance was dramatically demonstrated in 2008, when it staged an armed takeover of Beirut to keep the government from dismantling its telecommunications network and ending its control of airport security. The resulting “reconciliation” agreement granted it veto power over all government decisions. 

Now, an opportunity has finally arisen to finish what the Cedar Revolution began – and also to seriously weaken an organization that some U.S. officials have dubbed “the greatest threat to American national security.”Hezbollah’s dominance depends on a constant supply of arms and money. But the collapse of Syria’s Assad regime could significantly reduce the first, while European Union (EU) designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization – now a real possibility thanks to both Bulgaria’s recent announcement that Hezbollah was behind last July’s terror attack in Burgas and the trial of a self-confessed Hezbollah operative in Cyprus – could significantly reduce the second.  Read more…

Putin, Khamenei Are Co-Victors

March 5 has been set as the date for peace talks to open in Moscow between the Syrian opposition and the Assad regime, 

DEBKAfile reveals here exclusively.
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A gathering of the tortured in Geneva shames the UN Human Rights Council by giving victims not perpetrators a platform to tell their story

Daniel Schwammenthal, COMMENTATOR

The speakers were never meant to live and tell their stories. Their torturers expected them to either submit or die. But somehow these men and women managed to escape from their dungeons and concentration camps to gather at the seat of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

By Pinhas Inbari, WJC ANALYSIS –

Over the past few days the West Bank has witnessed growing unrest and violence related to the hunger strike staged by four terrorist prisoners held in Israel. Two of the prisoners were previously released in the deal to free Gilad Shalit on condition of never returning to terrorist activities, a condition they had breached and therefore landed in prison again.

The unrest over the prisoners strike has been emboldened by the economic plight of the bankrupt Palestinian Authority (PA). The Arab states have lost interest in the PA. The Persian Gulf States and Saudi Arabia have not shown any signs of care for the Palestinians, while Qatar is actively supporting rival Hamas in Gaza. Egypt has been taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood and is embroiled in its own internal crisis that has overshadowed any rivalry between Hamas and Fatah.
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