Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a very hard warning Monday to the members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
The nuclear deal the United States is planning with Iran could threaten the very existence of the nation of Israel.
“As prime minister of Israel, I have a moral obligation to speak up in the face of these dangers while there’s still time to avert them,” Netanyahu told a cheering audience.
Netanyahu downplayed conflicts between the White House and Israel.
“My speech (to Congress) is not intended to show disrespect for President Obama and the office that he holds,” Netanyahu said. “I deeply appreciate all that President Obama has done for Israel.”
The White House tried to sound a conciliatory tone after Netanyahu’s speech, saying the U.S. and Israel are united in the goal of a non-nuclear Iran.
A Greek Orthodox seminary in Jerusalem was burned Thursday and anti-Christian graffiti was sprayed on a nearby wall.
Police in the area say it’s clearly a hate crime.
The bathroom and corridor of Dormition Abbey was set on fire around 3 a.m. by unknown assailants. As firefighters extinguished the flames, they saw the crudely written graffiti mocking Jesus Christ.
A court has issued a gag-order for most of the details of the crime but a witness shared what they saw about the attack.
“Two people who were hiding their faces came from the east side of the structure near the cemetery and the Catholic church,” he said. “From there they threw flammable liquid at the seminary’s bathroom.”
Israeli President Reuvin Rivlin was outraged by the attack.
“It is inconceivable that an act like this could happen in a house of prayer,” Rivlin said in a statement.
“This is a heinous crime, there must be an investigation and those responsible must be brought to justice. Such criminals not only threaten to set fire to places of worship holy to all of us, but ignite the regional powder keg upon which we all sit.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned down an invitation to meet privately with Senate Democrats during his visit next week to Washington.
Netanyahu said that holding the meeting would “compound the misperception of partisanship” regarding his trip. The White House has accused Republican leaders in Congress with inviting Netanyahu in an attempt to undermine their negotiations with Iran.
Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Monday invited Netanyahu to meet in a closed-door session with Democrats during his visit.
“I regret that the invitation to address the special joint session of Congress has been perceived by some to be political or partisan,” Netanyahu wrote. “I can assure you that my sole intention in accepting it was to voice Israel’s grave concerns about a potential nuclear agreement with Iran that could threaten the survival of my country.”
More than a half dozen House and Senate Democrats said they will skip the joint session of Congress out of loyalty to President Obama. Vice President Biden has also said he will not attend the joint session of Congress.
A court has ruled that two Palestinian groups are responsible for terror attacks that killed Americans.
The Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization were found liable by a jury in Manhattan for supporting six terrorist attacks within Israel between 2002 and 2004.
The jury awarded the families of the victims $655.5 million dollars under a special terrorism law.
The case has been running through courts for a decade in an attempt to hold the Palestinian Authority responsible for funding and supporting terrorism within Israel and the surrounding region.
The ruling is a big win for Israel as well as the victims, because Israel can now claim the groups that many Western governments have claimed are the “moderates” in the region are actually funding and supporting terrorism.
The Palestinian groups said they plan to appeal the verdict.
Archaeologists believe they have found the city of Libnah, an ancient city mentioned multiple times in the Bible.
The scientists have been studying the remains of a ancient village since 2009 at a site 20 miles southwest of Jeruslaem. The site, Tel Burna, is on a strategic borer region between ancient Israel and the Philistines in the west.
“The identification of the site has been debated for more than a century,” Dr. Itzhaq Shai, director of the Tel Burna dig project, told Popular Archaeology. “There are scholars who have claimed that Tel Burna is biblical Libnah, which was mentioned several times in the Bible. This identification was based mainly on geographical and historical arguments.”
Libnah was visited by the Israelites as they fled Egypt according to Leviticus 33. Joshua and the Israelite army conquered the city as they went to the Promised Land (Joshua 10).
“The site of Tel Burna is located in the Shephelah region, which served as a border between the kingdoms of Judah and Philistia in the Iron Age,” explains The Tel Burna Excavation Project’s website. “A fertile area that supported agricultural production, the region became known as the breadbasket of the south. … Survey finds from the 2009 season indicate that the city was an important entity in the Bronze and Iron Ages.”
The study is the latest in discoveries in Israel that prove the Bible.
A group of Israeli divers are being hailed as heroes after uncovering what one government agency calls the “biggest ancient coin find in the nation’s history.”
The divers said they first found what looked like a toy coin from a children’s game on the ocean floor. Curious to see how it came to rest there, they discovered that the coin was part of a treasure trove of coins with Arabic writing.
The coins were dated to the 11th century when the Fatimid Islamic dynasty was the dominant power of the Middle East.
“(This is) a great treasure from a (vessel) that was probably taking the hoard, possibly tax revenue, to Cairo but sank in Caesarea harbour,” Jacob Sharvit of the Israel Antiquities Authority told Reuters during a visit to the site.
“Perhaps the treasure of coins was meant to pay the salaries of the Fatimid military garrison which was stationed in Caesarea and protected the city,” Sharvit added.
The value of the gold is around $240,000.
Archaeologists that have studied the coins say they have found tooth marks and bent edges that indicate the coins were tested as part of trading.
After the terrorist attack outside a Jewish synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling for Jews to move to Israel.
“Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe,” Netanyahu said in a statement. Netanyahu made a similar statement to French Jews after the Charlie Hebdo and kosher deli attacks.
“Extremist Islamic terrorism has struck Europe again… Jews have been murdered again on European soil only because they were Jews,” Netanyahu said in the statement. “To the Jews of Europe and to the Jews of the world I say that Israel is waiting for you with open arms.”
Israel is working on a $45 million plan to “encourage he absorption of immigrants from France, Belgium and Ukraine.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sent his condolences to his Danish counterpart saying Israel “appreciates Denmark’s cooperation in maintaining the security of Israelis and Jews in Denmark.”
An anonymous member of the White House has launched criticism of Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. to the New York Times.
The member of President Obama’s inner circle told the Times that Ambassador Ron Dermer is repeatedly placing Prime Minister Netanyahu’s political fortunes over their relationship with the United States.
The White House took issue with Ambassador Dormer working with House Speaker John Boehner to work out the arrangements on Netanyahu addressing a joint session of Congress.
Dermer said he had no regrets advancing his country’s interests.
“My understanding was that it was the speaker’s prerogative to do, and that he would be the one to inform the administration,” Mr. Dermer said to the Times. “The prime minister feels very strongly that he has to speak on this issue. That’s why he accepted the invitation, not to wade into your political debate or make this a partisan issue, and not to be disrespectful to the president.”
The White House says that Dermer should have told Secretary of State Kerry about the invitation during a meeting held before the announcement of the speech.
The Israel Air Force launched a strike against a Syrian army unit Tuesday night in response to a rocket attack on the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon.
“The IDF views the Syrian regime as responsible for what occurs in its territory, and will act at any time and any way it sees fit to protect the citizens of Israel,” the IDF said in a statement to Jerusalem Post.
The response from the IDF came after two rockets struck the northern Golan Heights Tuesday. Local residents and over a thousand visitors to the Mount Hermon ski site fleeing into shelters or other cover.
“The time has come to bring back Israelis’ sense of security – personal and social. One depends on the other,” Labor leader Isaac Herzog said while speaking to students at Sapir College in Sderot. “We need to be determined and enlist the world to Israel’s side for the good of our security interests, because we cannot make a living without security, and there is no security without being able to make a living The IDF has over the past several days been on alert across the north, deploying air defense, armored units, infantry, and artillery guns.”
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that Iran is seeking to attack Israel through any means possible including using Syrian forces.
President Obama will not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he comes to Washington to address a joint session of Congress.
The White House stated that it is due to the close proximity of the Israeli elections.
“As a matter of long-standing practice and principle, we do not see heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections, so as to avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan stated.
House Speaker John Boehner exercised his right at Speaker of the House to invite a foreign leader to address Congress. In this case, Boehner wants Netanyahu to speak to the Congress about problems with Iran and the need for stronger sanctions against that nation.
President Obama is working to ease sanctions against Iran.
Netanyahu will speak to Congress on March 3rd and being asked to appear in January. The Israeli leader had previously planned to be in the U.S. for a conference in Washington on the March date so the speech was rescheduled to fit that trip.
Boehner said that he wants to move forward quickly on sanctions against Iran and that the speech from Netanyahu will allow members of Congress to understand what’s at stake in the region.
“Let’s send a clear message to the White House — and the world — about our commitment to Israel and our allies,” he said.