Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surprised many observers during his trip to London when he announced he would be willing to have immediate peace talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
“I want to say here in 10 Downing Street, and reaffirm again, that I am ready to resume direct negotiations with the Palestinians with no conditions whatsoever to enter negotiations, and I’m willing to do so immediately,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said he would meet and enter negotiations “without any preconditions, any preconditions whatsoever, to sit down with President Abbas and negotiate this peace.”
The talks between Israel and Palestinian officials have been essentially stagnant since April 2014.
The statement by Netanyahu comes as rumors are getting persistent that Abbas is considering stepping down from his position because of the lack of movement in the peace talks and the path for Palestinian statehood.
Several members of the British parliament used the visit by Netanyahu to call for the nation to put immediate sanctions on Israel, citing the stalled peace process.
Two terrorist attacks were carried out against Israel in the last 24 hours, resulting in a stern response from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
The first was a car attack against Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. Three soldiers were standing along a road in the northern West Bank when the Palestinian driver drove straight into them. Two of the soldiers were seriously wounded with the third suffering slight injuries.
“We welcome the brave attack that was carried out against the Zionists,” a Hamas spokesperson said, according to the Hebrew-language Maariv website.
“We demand from our people in the West Bank to carry out more attacks, in order to teach the occupation a lesson,” the Hamas statement continued.
Then Friday two rockets were fired by Hamas toward Israel that landed in the Gaza Strip. The rockets never made it across the Israeli border and no reports of damage or injuries were reported by Hamas.
However, the Israeli Defense Forces struck against Hamas, continuing the policy that Israel will retaliate for any attempted attack upon them by the terrorist group.
“The IDF, by means of Israeli air force aircraft, attacked the Hamas terror organization’s infrastructure in the central Gaza Strip a short time ago,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced in a press release.
“The attack was executed in response to the rocket fire at Israeli territory earlier in the afternoon,” the military said. “Hamas is the party responsible for what takes place in the Gaza Strip.”
The IDF reported a direct hit against their target.
An attack on two Palestinian homes in the West Bank that burned the homes and killed an 18-month-old boy is causing a major increase in the region’s tension.
The buildings were marked with graffiti that lead authorities to believe it was carried out by Jewish terrorists. A star of David was painted on one building along with the message “Long live the Messiah.”
The family of the murdered boy has been hospitalized in critical condition, including a 4-year-old-boy.
“I am shocked by the murder of Ali Dawabshe,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement released on Facebook. “This is a reprehensible and horrific act of terrorism in every respect. The State of Israel takes a strong line against terrorism regardless of who the perpetrators are. I have ordered the security forces to use all means at their disposal to apprehend the murderers and bring them to justice forthwith. The Government of Israel is united in its strong opposition to such deplorable and awful acts. On behalf of the citizens of Israel, I would like to share in the sorrow of the family of Ali Dawabshe and wish a quick recovery to the family members who were injured.”
The Palestinian Authority said they will take the Israeli government in front of the International Criminal Court and say that the action is a war crime by the Israeli government.
Other nations around the world condemned the attack but welcomed Israel’s position they will go after the terrorists and bring them to justice.
“[The U.S.] condemns in the strongest possible terms last night’s vicious terrorist attack in the Palestinian village of Duma. We convey our profound condolences to the Dawabsha family and extend our prayers for a full recovery to those injured,” US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
“We welcome Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s order to Israel’s security forces to use all means at their disposal to apprehend the murderers for what he called an act of terrorism and bring them to justice.”
Both Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuben Rivlin visited the family at the hospital and told them they would seek swift justice to whoever carried out the attack.
Palestinians have already begun to carry out acts of terrorism in response to the Thursday night action. Israelis across the nation are reporting various acts of arson by Palestinians. Israeli cars have been hit by gunfire and at least one policeman was wounded in an attack at the Temple Mount.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas is fostering “vilification of Jews” with his calls for boycotts of Israeli companies in the West Bank.
“Yesterday Palestinian President Abbas called for the labeling and boycotting of Israeli products. This is definitely not the language of peace,” Netanyahu said during a meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna. We will continue to resist boycotts, defamation, de-legitimization. We’ll do that internationally, we’ll do that locally if we need to, and our hand will remain stretched out for peace for any partner that wants to have peace with us.”
“I say that to the foreign minister of a free proud and independent Poland, on whose soil the defamation of the Jewish people happened when the Nazis controlled Europe,” Netanyahu said. “The attacks on the Jews were always preceded by the slander of the Jews. What was done to the Jewish people then is being done to the Jewish state now. We won’t accommodate that. In those days we could do nothing.”
The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign is designed to shut down Israeli companies in an attempt to force the Israeli government to give in to Palestinian demands.
The European Union is looking to put in place rules that would require all products from the West Bank to be labeled.
A leading British student group has voted to join the anti-Semitic boycott of Israel spurred by the Palestinian authority.
The UK’s National Union of Students voted 19-12 to join the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign” started by the Palestinians as a way to attack Israel on the world stage. The NUS is the umbrella student organization for the nation with over 7 million students represented in 600 schools.
The motion also calls on the British government to stop arms sales to Israel.
The Jewish Chronicle reports that the vote was taken by secret ballot, so it’s impossible to know which members of the group voted in favor of the anti-Semitic action.
A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the vote is really insignificant given the group’s previous anti-Semitic leanings.
“Instead of expressing hatred, British students would benefit from studying history and understanding that the distance between conveying hate language and prejudice to committing despicable crimes is not that great,” the spokesperson said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed a boycott campaign by Palestinians that he says is an “international campaign to blacken” Israel.
“We are in the midst of a great struggle being waged against the state of Israel, an international campaign to blacken its name. It is not connected to our actions; it is connected to our very existence. It does not matter what we do; it matters what we symbolize and what we are,” Netanyahu said.”I think that it is important to understand that these things do not stem from the fact that if only we were nicer or a little more generous — we are very generous, we have made many offers, we have made many concessions — that anything would change because this campaign to delegitimize Israel entails something much deeper that is being directed at us and seeks to deny our very right to live here.”
The focus of Netanyahu was a Palestinian attempt to get Israel thrown out of the world’s international soccer federation because of Israeli treatment of Palestinians.
“It is important to understand that these things do not stem from the fact that if only we were a little nicer or a little more generous that anything would change,” the prime minister said, according to a statement released by his office, “because this campaign to delegitimize Israel entails something much deeper that is being directed at us and seeks to deny our very right to live here.”
Netanyahu pointed out that the Palestinians in their push used historically invalid complaints used to smear the Jewish people.
“Now, this is a phenomenon that we have known in the history of our people. What hasn’t been said about the Jewish people? They said that we are the focus of all evil in the world. All of these things are being said about us today as well. It was not true then and it is not true today. This does not have a shred of truth,” Netanyahu said.
Several key leaders in FIFA were furious about the Palestinians’ actions, saying that they were attempting to politicize the world soccer body when the group notoriously has remained neutral in all political matters.
Palestinians are attempting to get Israel thrown out of FIFA, the world’s body over international soccer competition, claiming that Israel unfairly treats Palestinian athletes.
“Negotiations are still going on but they are very complicated,” a top FIFA official told AFP. “There may not be a solution until the final hours.”
Officials inside FIFA said that the only way the vote on Israel’s removal can be stopped is if Palestine pulls their demand.
The head of the Palestinian Football Association has refused to withdraw the motion, which would require 3/4 of the 209 member federations to approve. They want Israel banned from international competition and for clubs in the Jewish West Bank settlements to be banned from any competition.
The head of FIFA is vehemently against the action, saying that it is bringing politics into the Federation. Sepp Blatter said that he met with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to try and stop the vote from taking place.
Blatter said that Israel has done nothing to violate the FIFA statutes and that they should not face any kind of negative action from the group if they have violated no statutes.
However, Israeli officials have noted the head of the Palestinian group has violated FIFA statutes by calling for violent attacks on Israelis and supporting terrorist organizations.
Rockets were fired toward Ashdod and Lakhish on Tuesday night.
An army source told the Jerusalem Post said that sirens went off in the areas before the rockets headed toward the cities.
Various Israeli media outlets reported five rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward the country but that only one rocket actually landed inside Israeli territory. Initial reports had said that three had landed inside the country.
Sources in Gaza told the Times of Israel that Islamic Jihad fired the rockets toward Israel. There are disputes inside the organization that led to kidnappings in northern Gaza and ended with the rocket launches into Israel.
The IDF said they are investigating the launch and attempting to confirm the launches were the result of in-fighting among Islamic Jihad.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented his new cabinet in Jerusalem on Tuesday and vowed to fight Islamic extremists that he says are backed by the Iranian government.
“This government has been established at a time of great challenges and opportunities,” Netanyahu said. “Our first challenge is to ensure the security of Israel in the face of accumulating threats around us. Radical Islam is lapping at all our borders, nearly all in the form of factions and forces led by Iran and other radical elements.”
Netanyahu made a surprise allusion to Sunni-led Arab nations in the region in saying that Israel would seek partnerships against Iran in that country’s quest for nuclear weapons.
“Many states in the area have joint interests with us and see eye to with us on the dangers. We will make every effort to translate that partnership into peace,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also said that he would seek “a responsible political settlement with the Palestinians.”
Netanyahu also said Jerusalem would not return to a “divided and wounded” city. The meeting of the new cabinet was held at the Israel Museum to celebrate Jerusalem Day and the 50th anniversary of the Museum.
A Palestinian terrorist attacked two Israeli soldiers with a knife on Wednesday, stabbing two before he was killed by one of the wounded soldiers.
One of the soldiers is in critical condition after being wounded in the neck. Both wounded soldiers remain hospitalized in Jerusalem.
The attack happened 30 miles north of Jerusalem in the town of Shilo. The attacker came from the nearby Palestinian town of Sinjil.
While Israel endured a series of attacks last year during the Passover holiday season last year, this attack highlighted the overall lack of attacks this year.
Israeli leaders praised the wounded soldier who shot and killed the attacker for his bravery and quick response.
“This should be the fate of anyone who harms innocent Jews,” Cabinet Minister Naftali Bennett told reporters. “This is how such a serious incident must end.”
