Israeli 'spitter' being carried away by Israeli authorities and left unpunished Father Samuel Aghoyan, a senior Armenian Orthodox cleric in Jerusalem’s Old City, says he’s been spat at by young haredi and national Orthodox Jews “about 15 to 20 times” in the past decade. The last time it happened, he said, was earlier this month. “I was walking back from the Church... 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the cabinet’s approval of a plan to change Israel’s map of national priority areas to include more West Bank settlements did not signify a permanent stance on the future of these areas. “We will determine the future of settlements only within the framework of a permanent agreement [with Palestinians],” Netanyahu said, according... 

There is an amazing story in Ha’aretz today on the “pro-Israel” Litmus test that determines who is permitted to serve in the United States government. Here’s the sort of lede you’re not likely to read in the New York Times or Washington Post: Every appointee to the American government must endure a thorough background check by the American Jewish community. In the case... 

Iran’s ambassador to UN demands Security Council take steps against comments made by Ephraim Sneh, who said Israel would attack Iran if sanctions weren’t in place by Christmas. Iran’s ambassador to UN demands Security Council take steps against comments made by Ephraim Sneh, who said Israel would attack Iran if sanctions weren’t in place by Christmas Iran’s ambassador... 

Iran warned Switzerland on Saturday of “consequences” over a referendum banning the building of new mosque minarets and urged Bern not to enforce the ban, the official IRNA news agency reported. The vote went “against the prestige of a country which claims to be an advocate of democracy and human rights,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Swiss counterpart Micheline... 

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Both Israeli and European officials believe the conclusions on the Middle East expected to emerge from Monday’s EU foreign ministers’ meeting will be different from a Swedish draft text calling for east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. However, what remains unclear after nearly a week of internal EU wrangling and heavy lobbying by both Israelis and Palestinians is... 

The Haaretz newspaper said on Friday that Moscow refused an American overture calling on the international quartet to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and give it the right to annex the major settlement outposts in the West Bank to its borders. The newspaper said that US secretary of state Hillary Clinton proposed during telephone calls a week ago with the quartet members to issue a joint statement... 

Time is running out for Iran to avoid sanctions over its nuclear program, Reuters quoted White House spokesman Robert Gibbs as saying on Thursday. He added that Teheran’s deadline is still the end of the year for responding to international demands. Iran has ignored a deal offered by the Western powers that would have Iran sending its low-enriched uranium abroad for processing into uranium for... 

Israeli authorities deny Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin permission to visit the impoverished coastal sliver of Gaza which has long been under an Israeli siege. Speaking at the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs on Friday, Martin said no substantive reason had been given for the refusal. “I just wanted to go in myself and see Gaza,” he said according to the Irish... 

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has joined a chorus of international criticism of Switzerland’s ban on minarets, saying it refelects an increasingly racist and fascist stance in Europe. The Swiss foreign minister said the vote may pose a threat to the country’s security. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Switzerland’s vote to ban the construction of minarets... 

Israelis talk often and loudly about their desires for peace. But its never been clear precisely what peace concept it is they desire. In particular, Israeli notions of peace have never gone so far as to grant the Palestinians the same national rights that Israelis claim for themselves. Well, according to a new poll by Israeli National News (disclaimer: its a right-wing rag, sample size “more than... 

British soldiers secure the site where a military vehicle was destroyed in the southern city of Basra in 2006 The deep hostility of Britain’s senior military commanders in Iraq towards their American allies has been revealed in classified Government documents leaked to the Daily Telegraph. In the papers, the British chief of staff in Iraq, Colonel J.K.Tanner, described his US military counterparts... 

The Israeli army has been forced to open an investigation into the conduct of its troops in Gaza after damning testimony from its own front line soldiers revealed the killing of civilians and rules of engagement so lax that one combatant said that they amounted on occasion to “cold-blooded murder”. The revelations, compiled by the head of an Israel military academy who declared that he was “shocked”... 

JERUSALEM – A Jewish rabbi has issued a book giving Jews permission to murder non-Jews, including babies and children, who may pose an actual or potential threat to Jews or Israel. “It is permissible to kill the Righteous among non-Jews even if they are not responsible for the threatening situation,” Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro, who heads the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the Yitzhar settlement in the...