Semaine 30 / 2012

         Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney arrived in Israel Saturday night on the second leg of a three-country tour that began in London where he badly annoyed his hosts by questioning whether the city was ready for the Olympics. The tour to England, Israel and Poland is largely meant to build up the foreign policy credentials of the candidate, who has served one term as the governor of Massachusetts and has little foreign policy experience. Romney's foreign tour got off to a rough... [Lire la suite]

          US President Barack Obama has announced he is releasing an additional 70 million dollars in military aid for Israel. The stepped-up American aid, first announced in May, will go to help Israel expand production of the Iron Dome rocket defense system, which has proved successful at intercepting rockets fired from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israeli towns and cities. Obama announced the new military assistance on Friday as he signed a bill in the Oval Office expanding military... [Lire la suite]

         The Olympic Games opening ceremony was to get underway in London Friday amid ongoing protests over the International Olympic Committee's decision against holding a moment of silence during the ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich games. Sports and Culture Minister Limor Livnat planned to stage a protest during the opening ceremony to decry the IOC's decision not to hold a moment of silence in honor of the Israeli athletes during... [Lire la suite]

             Iranian and Syrian officials entered into agreements this week on energy and water supply, Iranian news agencies reported, signaling continued cooperation between the two countries as the Syrian government battles an uprising within its borders. A Syrian economic delegation has been touring Iran this week, and signed deals with Iranian officials on electricity exports from Iran to Syria, Fars news agency said on Friday. Iran is a rare ally for Syria, which faces... [Lire la suite]

            Following UNESCO’s recent decision to recognize the Church of the Nativity as a world heritage site in Palestine, the Palestinians celebrated the event with the much pomp and hyperbole. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the inclusion is “the most remarkable event on the path of Palestinian state-building since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority.” Fayyad called on UN institutions to protect the Palestinian people, land and heritage from Israeli “occupation”... [Lire la suite]

            US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro says Washington is in full coordination with Israel on everyting related to the possibility that Syrian non-conventional weapons would wind up in the hands of Hizbollah. However, the US ambassador declined to say whether Washington would support a military operation to prevent such a possibility. The IDF is confirming a report on the Al Jazeera network that the Israeli military is mobilized on the Golan Heights to prevent potential... [Lire la suite]

          Israel bolstered security along its border with Syria on Thursday as fighting between Syrian rebels and President Bashar Assad's regime intensified, Israeli security sources told AFP. "The IDF is reinforcing the fence between Israel and Syria by adding more barbed wire," one Israeli official said, indicating that it was motivated by "fears that refugees from the Syrian side could cross it." With the clashes spreading across the Syrian side of the border, Israeli troops were put on... [Lire la suite]

             Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says the events in Syria require a change in the defense budget in order to increase Israel's strength. In recorded remarks shown at the graduation ceremony of the national security college, Netanyahu stressed that a vast amount of weapons have accumulated around us, in the hands of one group today, and in another tomorrow. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said at the ceremony that the difficulty of the world's nations to respond to... [Lire la suite]

           US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has joined calls urging the International Olympic Committee to commemorate the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian gunmen at the 1972 Munich games with a moment of silence at the opening ceremony of this year's games in London. The Associated Press reported that a senior state department official said Clinton wrote to the Olympic committee president to hold what was termed an "appropriate memorial event" in London for the... [Lire la suite]

        Israeli-US intelligence and defense ties have reached new heights due to the uprising in Syria and fears the country’s chemical weapons will fall into terrorist hands, defense officials said on Sunday. The officials denied reports that Israel was under pressure from Washington to refrain from taking unilateral steps – such as military action – to destroy Damascus’s chemical weapons. “We are working very closely together and there is very close coordination,” one official said, adding that the... [Lire la suite]