ABBAS WON’T DROP HARDLINE DEMANDS, THREATENS MORE VIOLENCE!
(Israel Today News)

“Moderate” Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel published on Sunday that he will not drop his demand for a total Jewish building freeze in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and warned that if Palestinian demands are not met, additional violence could be on the horizon.

Abbas indirectly acknowledged that he increased Palestinian preconditions in response to US President Barack Obama’s electoral victory in 2008, and the belief among Middle East Muslims that the new American leader would favor them over Israel and pressure the Jewish state to surrender to their demands.

“I was initially very optimistic after (US President Barack) Obama won the election. His Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, kept coming to us and promised to urge the Israelis to stop settlement construction completely,” said Abbas. “The American government suddenly backed away from this position in September.”

But the Palestinian leader still has some hope that Obama will “convince the Israelis to announce a complete freeze on construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem” so that a Palestinian state, which “Obama said…constitutes a vital American interest,” can be established.

Abbas insisted that his regime long ago implemented all its current peace obligations [Ed. Note - reports of ongoing incitement in the Palestinian media would suggest otherwise], and that it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is the obstacle to peace by repeatedly stating that Jerusalem will remain undivided under Israeli sovereignty.

Abbas concluded by warning Israel and the world to “not drive the Palestinians to the point of total hopelessness.” The Palestinians used a similar excuse to justify their seven-year terrorist onslaught from 2000-2007, known locally as the “Oslo War” or the “Al Aqsa War.”

IRAN RAMPS UP NUCLEAR PROGRAM, THREATENS ISRAEL!
(Israel Today News)

On the same day that Iran announced it would begin enriching its uranium stockpile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei declared that not even the might of the West can save Israel now.

Iranian media cited Khamenei as telling the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement on Sunday that Israel’s destruction is imminent according to the will of Allah, and that the support of America and certain European nations could do nothing to thwart the Jewish state’s downfall.

Also Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization to begin enriching the nation’s uranium stockpile to a level of 20 percent and to build an additional 10 uranium enrichment facilities.

The move was seen as a rejection of a Western diplomatic deal whereby Iran’s uranium would be enriched abroad to ensure it did not reach weapons grade. US and European leaders said they were becoming fed up with Iran’s defiance, though they have proved in the past that such threats have no teeth.

The looming threat is escalating the likelihood that Israel will be forced to intervene militarily to at least set back Iran’s nuclear program, lest it face a very real existential threat.

But Iran is nearly prepared to repel an Israeli air raid thanks to an expected delivery of advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft missile batteries. Iranian and Russian officials last Thursday confirmed that Moscow, despite Israeli objections, will honor its contract to deliver the S-300 missile systems to the Islamic Republic very soon.

HAMAS: WE DED NOT APOLOGIZE FOR HITTING CIVILIANS!
by Gil Ronen

Hamas officials said Saturday that contrary to media reports, its reply to the Goldstone commission contained no apologies for targeting Israeli civilians with rocket fire, nor for the abduction of Sgt. Gilad Shalit.

Hamas justice minister Muhammad Faraj Al-Ghoul told reporters “there were no apologies,” and added that “the Israeli occupation was held accountable for any claims of civilian casualties because they committed the assault and the holocaust of the people in Gaza.”

Reuters reported that the document Hamas sent the Goldstone commission had addressed the Israeli public, saying: “We hope the Israeli civilians understand that their government’s continued attacks on us were the key issue and the cause.”

The document further noted that “the Palestinian resistance… is not an organized army that possesses developed technological weapons… It may target a military site or a tank position and their fire goes astray … and hit a civilian location, despite their efforts to avoid hurting civilians.”

Regarding Gilad Shalit, the document claimed that his abductors took responsibility for his capture and provided audio and video evidence that he was in good health. Allowing Red Cross visits would involve revealing his whereabouts, it said, and this would “endanger his life because Israel would likely bomb the place.

Al-Ghoul said that the document was submitted by the government in Gaza, and not by the Hamas movement or any of the resistance factions. “There is a difference between these elements,” he said.

Al-Ghoul added that the ‘Palestinians’ have a right to resistance, and said that as long as the Israeli “occupation of Palestine” continued, the missile fire would go on.

ISRAEL SPACE PROGRAM CHIEF: IRAN IS BLINKING!
by Gil Ronen
(Arutz Sheva News)

Israel Space Program Chief, Maj. Gen. (res.) Prof. Yitzchak Ben-Yisrael, believes that a statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently shows that he understands that his country must back down from its hardline stand on its nuclear program.

Speaking on Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew service, Ben-Yisrael was asked what caused Ahmadinejad to say that his country is ready to send its enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment, as required to do in a deal offered by western powers. Ahmadinejad told state TV that Iran would have “no problem” if most of its stock was taken out of the country and held for several months before being returned as fuel rods.

Ben-Yisrael – a two-time Israel Security Prize winner – said that Iran is starting to feel the pressure, as the US removes all obstacles toward effective sanctions against it. “I imagine that Ahmadinejad thinks that if he says something like this, he will get a few months’ respite, but as I understand the American side which is leading the West in this matter – they will not let him off the hook,” he said.

The United States, said Ben-Yisrael, has made several moves that have placed Iran in a corner. It has enlisted India’s support for its moves against Iran by signing agreements with India that recognize it as a nuclear power. As for Russia – the US has brought it on board its Iranian sanctions train by agreeing several months ago to scrap plans for a missile shield in eastern Europe.

With regard to China, the United States adopted a “stick” after the “carrot” approach failed: the US said it would arm China’s nemesis Taiwan and President Barack Obama met Tibetan leader Dalai Lama – two moves that caused great consternation in China. As a result, he said, there is a good chance that the Chinese will also understand that “they must give something.”

Ben-Yisrael added that Israel should not become complacent following Ahmadinejad’s statement. “I hope that it is business as usual with us and that we continue to prepare for truly confronting Iran’s nuclear program.”

SYRIA STOKES THE FLAMES OF WAR WITH ISRAEL!
(Israel Today News)

The Syrian leadership is pushing the region toward full-scale war, and threatened to devastate Israel’s cities if it dares to use military force against terrorist threats such as Lebanon’s Hizbullah.

In a meeting with visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, Syrian President Bashar Assad said, “All the facts point that Israel is driving the region toward war, not peace. Israel is not serious about wanting peace.”

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem added at a press conference following the meeting that Israel knows “that war at this time will reach your cities. If such a war breaks out … it will indeed be total war, whether it begins in south Lebanon or Syria.”

Late last month, a pan-Arab newspaper reported that Syria and Hizbullah were mobilizing their forces for war with Israel, while telling the rest of the Arab world that the Jewish state was about to attack.

Meanwhile, Israel’s defense establishment is actually pushing for a renewal of peace talks with Syria, even if Damascus continues to push hardline preconditions.

Addressing senior Israeli army officers on Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that if peace talks didn’t resume soon, war could break out. In the aftermath of such a conflict, the peace talks will be about the same things they are today, insisted Barak, questioning the need for war and hostile rhetoric.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained cool to the idea of restarting talks at this time, noting that Syria continues to place obstacles by demanding preconditions, like a guaranteed full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

OBAMA MENTOR EDLEY SLAMS RAHM EMANUEL!l
by Gil Ronen

(IsraelNN.com) One of US President Barack Obama’s most respected mentors, his former professor at Harvard Law School, Chris Edley, has issued scathing criticism of the Obama administration, and especially of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

“What I fear is that having made history, having won a Nobel prize, having been celebrated around the world, a measure of complacency may have set in,” Professor Edley told The London-based Times Online. “I don’t mean that the effort is not there, but that the discipline of self-criticism has perhaps faded,” he explained.

“I wouldn’t give Obama as high a grade as President as I gave him when he was my student. I know he can do better,” added Professor Edley, who worked in previous Democratic Administrations and is now Dean of the Law School at the University of California, Berkeley.

He was especially harsh regarding Emanuel: “You’re not going to reinvent Barack into somebody who delights in pummeling a policy opponent, so his staff need to do that for him. And as far as one can tell from the outside, that is precisely what Rahm Emanuel has failed to do,” he said.

As for the possibility that the Democrats would suffer losses in the mid-term elections, Professor Edley added: “It’s almost as if Rahm Emanuel cares more about the re-election prospects of his friends on Capitol Hill than he does about scoring policy victories that reflect Obama’s values.”

Attorney Mark Zell, Chairman of the Republican Party in Israel, told Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew service Wednesday that Emanuel is “the strongest Chief of White House Staff in history” and that many see him as responsible for Obama’s failures.

However, he said, the real failure is Obama’s. “Obama is a man whose character is removed from the people. He tried to connect during the elections but as soon as he entered the White House his character came into play.”

MIKE HUCKABEE PRAISES ISRAEL, URGES US TO REFOCUS ON IRAN!
by Malkah Fleisher, Yoni Kempinski

Ex-Governor of Arkansas and former presidential contender Mike Huckabee was honored at a special Knesset event hosted by Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Danny Danon (Likud), in which Huckabee said he would be a voluntary ambassador for Israel.

Baptist pastor Huckabee, who was a Republican presidential nominee in 2008, is currently leading a week-long trip of 170 people touring throughout Israel. He will attend private meetings with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

This is Huckabee’s third visit to Israel in less than two years.

Speaking in the Knesset’s Negev Hall, Huckabee said he was “disturbed” by the way the United States is handling the increasing nuclear capabilities of Iran. “A nuclear device, in the hands of a madman like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is simply unacceptable, and the world – not just Israel, but the rest of the free world – must make it clear that that cannot and will not happen, under any circumstances, at any time.” Huckabee recalled a speech made by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in which he warned Israeli legislators, “This is 1938. And Iran is Germany.” He expressed his support for this outlook, telling attendees that Iran must be stopped.

He offered criticism of the administration of President Barack Obama, which he said has misplaced its priorities in the region. “It pains me that I hear more concern from this administration of our country, talking about the building of a baby’s nursery in a Jewish-owned community in Israel, than about the construction of a nuclear bomb in Iran.”

Huckabee’s statement was received with vigorous applause.

Huckabee spoke with warmth and friendship in regard to the relationship between Israel and the average American, between the Jewish people and Christians around the world. He said he hopes Jews and Christians can hope for each others’ continuing strength and partnership.

In an interview with INN TV’s Yoni Kempinski, Huckabee expressed a high opinion of the Jewish State. He told Kempinski that he enjoys coming to Israel with those who have never visited before because he gets to witness what he called the “Aha factor”, a deeper understanding and relationship to the issues they only hear about in the news back in the US.

He also heaped praise on the country for “its extraordinary level of economic and technological depth and power.”

He credited the national Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, for opening his eyes to the importance of a Jewish state.

“I just came from Yad Vashem, I spent the morning there,” Huckabee told Kempinski. “How can anyone go through Yad Vashem and not understand that the Jewish people were on the brink of extinction, not because they were fanatic religious people, but because they were Jewish? Israel was established to give the Jewish people a place of refuge and safety – is that too much to ask, especially when they’re occupying 8,000 square miles, that’s it, on the entire planet?”

“I don’t think anybody rationally can say ‘well, they just have too doggone much territory, they have too much land.’ Too much of what? They have to pump their water in every way possible and squeeze every possible benefit of every drop! They essentially took over a desert, they turned it green, they’ve fed themselves and fed half the world from it, their technology is unbelievable, number two in patents worldwide. If anything, the world should say ‘thank you Israel’ for establishing not just a place of refuge but a place really that has been an influence to the rest of the world.”

Huckabee’s closing statements in the Knesset were offered in prayer. “My hope and my prayer is that not only will you sense our gratitude for your hospitality and for your candor in sharing with us the perspective you have brought to us today, but I also would sincerely want to express that it is our desire to go back to our home, not only as good and faithful and loyal Americans, but also as voluntarily ambassadors for our friends in Israel, that we might always pray for the peace of Jerusalem, that we might always work for the stability, the safety, and the security of this land, and these people, our friends, our family. G-d bless you.”

A January poll by Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling showed that if elections were held on the day of the poll, Huckabee would defeat incumbent Barack Obama.

PM’s Office: JERUSALEM TO REMAIN UNDIVIDED, NO PA OFFICES TO OPEN!
by Hana Levi Julian

The United States government is allegedly helping the Palestinian Authority re-establish an official foothold in Jerusalem, according to a report published this week by WorldNetDaily – but Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insists the report is inaccurate.

According to a senior official in the office of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas quoted in the report, Israel has silently agreed to allow the PA to open official offices in the eastern section of the capital. The report alleged that in recent months, the PA government has opened a number of offices, including PA ministry offices, in eastern Jerusalem, in defiance of an Israeli law banning the opening of any official PA institution in the capital city.

The previous PA headquarters in Jerusalem, Orient House, not far from Damascus Gate, was closed by the Israeli government in 2001 following a series of terrorist attacks in the capital. Security officials said at the time that Orient House had been a locus of operations for planning and funding the attacks.

The report claims the U.S. has also been helping the PA develop infrastructures within the Jerusalem municipal boundaries, specifically in Arab neighborhoods such as Kfar Akeb, Kalandiya and Samir Amis, all in eastern and northern parts of the city. One road sign, bearing the USAID emblem (U.S. Agency for International Development), even proclaims, “Rehabilitation of Ramallah-Jerusalem Road. This project is a gift from the American people to the Palestinian people in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority and PECDAR. July 2007.”

Fatah: No PA State Without Jerusalem

Dmitri Ziliani, a spokesman for the Jerusalem division of Fatah, allegedly confirmed that the PA holds regular official meetings in Jerusalem in anticipation of a future PA state that would encompass the eastern portion of the city. Ziliani was quoted by WND as saying, “Our political program, as Fatah, dictates that there will be no Palestinian state if these areas – all of east Jerusalem – are not included.”

When asked about the PA’s claims, the Prime Minister’s spokesman told WND, “The Prime Minister’s position on Jerusalem is clear. Jerusalem will remain the united capital of Israel.”

But an official from Netanyahu’s office, who was not named, allegedly confirmed that the Prime Minister “did acquiesce to a U.S. request to allow the PA to open institutions in Jerusalem.” The official said that U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell and U.S. National Security Adviser Jim Jones had recently met with and pressed Netanyahu to freeze construction in the eastern part of the city as a “confidence-building” measure to re-start talks with the PA.

Abbas has said that he will not re-enter negotiations with Israel until all Jewish construction is completely frozen in every part of Judea, Samaria and areas of Jerusalem that were restored to the city in the 1967 Six Day War. Netanyahu did not agree to a construction freeze in any part of Jerusalem, and last month coalition members announced modifications – “clarifications” — to the 10-month freeze imposed on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria. Nevertheless, the “modifications” have yet to be honored, and field inspectors have appeared to be unaware of them.

Regev Firmly Denies!
“You show me one credible source that can point to a single official PA office really opening in Jerusalem,” challenged Regev after being contacted by Israel National News. “Then you can talk about whether there is a need to deny the story.”

Asked to specifically clarify whether the Prime Minister has acquiesced, silently or otherwise, to the opening of PA offices in Jerusalem, he reiterated that there is no intention to divide the capital, now or in the future.

Regev: “The Prime Minister’s position is clear and unchanged. Jerusalem is the united capital of Israel and will remain such in the future.”

INN: “Does that mean that no neighborhoods will be removed from Israeli sovereignty?”

Regev: “That’s exactly what I said. It will remain such in the future.”

ISRAEL FINDS FLOATING BOMBS ON LOCAL BEACHES!
(Israel Today News)

Police are on high alert along Israel’s southern Mediterranean coast after three barrel bombs washed ashore over the past few days.

The barrels were filled with about 40 pounds of high explosives and dropped into the sea from Palestinian fishing boats from the Gaza Strip.

Two such barrels were found on public beaches in the southern towns of Ashdod and Ashkelon on Monday, and a third washed ashore at the popular Palmachim beach on Wednesday. On Saturday, two floating barrels were detonated close to an Israeli naval ship patrolling near Gaza.

Islamic Jihad claimed credit for the barrel bombs, claiming that it dropped eight in the waters off Gaza. Israeli security officials also believe Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement was involved.

STAUNCHLY PRO-ISRAEL ITALIAN PM HONORED BEFORE ISRAEL’S KNESSET!

Italy’s staunchly pro-Israel Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, was invited to address Israel’s Knesset on Wednesday, an honor bestowed on very few world leaders. Before his speech, Berlusconi was lavishly praised by Israel’s leadership.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labeled Berlusconi a man of courage and conviction, but noted his upbringing could not have produced anything less. Netanyahu recounted how during World War II, Berlusconi’s then-pregnant mother had, at great risk to herself, argued with a Nazi officer for the freedom of a captured Jewish woman, and had won the argument. Wednesday was the second anniversary of the passing of Rosa Bossi Berlusconi, the Italian leader’s mother.

Netanyahu concluded his introduction by telling Berlusconi: “We appreciate you. We embrace you. We love you.” The two leaders then embraced, and Berlusconi was forced to brush away tears.

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni also took the podium, highlighting Italy’s consistent strong support for the Jewish state: “When Israel is facing difficult times, it sees those who remain silent, ignore, or criticize - as well as those who are doing the right thing without hesitation or vacillation, and you are one of the few who has expressed, in a clear and strong voice, the deep cooperation between Italy and Israel.”

During his speech, Berlusconi lambasted the UN’s Goldstone Commission for trying to “incriminate Israel for its legitimate response” to incessant Palestinian rocket fire during last year’s Gaza war, and fully sided with Jerusalem on the demand for much stronger international action against Iran’s nuclear program.

A day earlier, Berlusconi and his top ministers held a joint cabinet meeting with their Israeli counterparts in Jerusalem. The Italian Prime Minister said he dreams of winning Israel membership in the European Union so the two nations may work even more closely together.