Jewish & World News

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul negates Israel 's right to exist, Eric Dondero, who served as a senior aide to the 76-year-old Texas congressman for over 12 years, said on Monday. In a blog posted in Rightwing News, Dondero said that while Paul was, in his opinion, neither a racist nor an anti-Semite, he is very much anti-Israel.

The future of Jerusalem is considered one of the core issues in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and one of the most significant obstacles to a permanent agreement between the two sides. However, it appears that on the Palestinian side, those who live in Jerusalem have already made their decision on the matter – and the Palestinian Authority leadership in Ramallah may not like it. A public opinion poll carried out by American Pechter Middle East Polls for the Council on Foreign Relations together with the head of the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, Dr. Nabil Kukali, showed that if Jerusalem were divided as part of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, east Jerusalem Arabs would prefer to live under Israeli sovereignty. The poll, which comprised the residents of east Jerusalem's 19 Arab neighborhoods, also pointed out that their opposition to Jerusalem's division is so intense that they would rather move to a new home within Israel's borders rather...

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday night that in the future Palestinian state "there will be no Israeli presence." While touring Ramallah, Abbas rejected the possibility that Israeli soldiers would remain stationed along the borders of the future Palestinian state or will be a part of an international force that will deploy there.

Contrary to popular belief, Palestinian Authority terrorists are motivated by religious and national ideology, not personal suffering, a PA researcher has found. The researcher, Bassam Yousef Banat, found that most terrorist killers were educated.

Ahmad Tibi, a member of Israel's parliament, talks about why he thinks democracy in Israel applies only to Jewish citizens, why he'll never accept Israel as a Jewish state and why he'll never leave. Israel - Reporting from Jerusalem As one of Israel's few Arab lawmakers, Ahmad Tibi knows how to fight to be heard, even when colleagues don't want to listen.

Italy's prime minister has called for empathy for all victims, whether of the Holocaust or Israel's  war on Gaza. Silvio Berlusconi's link between the Holocaust and the plight of the Palestinians could land him in hot water with his Israeli hosts, who have given him a warm welcome. In a speech in Jerusalem, Berlusconi said Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza last year was justified self-defense. But during a stop in the West Bank, he later explained this does not rule out sympathy for the war's victims. some 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the fighting. Berlusconi said, "Just as it's right to cry for the victims of the Shoah, it's right to show pain for what happened in Gaza." Shoah is the Hebrew word for Holocaust. Berlusconi first arrived in Ramallah, where he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The two then toured the city of Bethlehem, where the Italian premier visited the Church of the Nativity. 'Unilateral declaration...

United States special Mideast envoy George Mitchell has urged Europe to step up pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an attempt to kick-start stalled peace talks with Israel, the London-based A-Sharq-al-Awsat reported on Tuesday. "The time has come to stop finding excuses for avoiding a return to the negotiating table," the London paper quoted Mitchell as saying, citing French officials. Mitchell believed the Palestinians were showing little enthusiasm for talks because as inaction was safer than reentering dialogue when the outcome was so uncertain, the paper said.     President Barack Obama's envoy is said to blame Abbas for frustrating his most recent attempt to coax the two sides into renewed discussions during a trip to the region in January. According to A-Sharq al-Awsat, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner defended Abbas, urging the envoy to recognize the risk to the Palestinian leader of returning to talks without international guarantee...

A sermon calling for the genocide of Jews was broadcast Friday by PA TV, which is under the control of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The speech called the Jews the enemies of God and humanity, and compared Jews to Nazis. In a recent interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Abbas proudly declared that there is no more incitement in the mosques: "They [Israel] said there is a problem with incitement in speeches in mosques during Friday prayers. Today there is no more incitement at any mosque," he [Abbas] said." [Haaretz, Dec. 16, 2009] The following is the transcript of excerpts of the hate speech in a mosque broadcast on PA TV: "The loathsome occupation in Palestine - its land and its holy places - by these new Mongols and what they are perpetrating upon this holy, blessed and pure land - killing, assassination, destruction, confiscation, Judaization, harassment and splitting the homeland - are clear proof of [unintelligible word - Ed.] hostility, of incomp...