March 14th, 2012

Israeli counterterrorism unit warns of imminent attacks in Turkey, urges Israelis to stay away ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press March 13, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israel is calling on its citizens to stay away from Turkey because of intelligence warning of imminent attacks against sites frequented by Jews and Israelis there. The prime minister’s counterterrorism office issued the warning late Tuesday. It said “terror groups are planning to carry out attacks against Jewish and Israeli sites inside Turkey in the coming days.” Last month Israel blamed Iran for attacks in Thailand and India. An Israeli diplomat’s wife was wounded in India. » Read more

Islamic Jihad Holds Victory Rally in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - March 13, 2012 - 12:00am Thousands of Islamic Jihad sympathizers participated in the group's victory rally celebrating the end of the current round of violence against Israel on Tuesday. The rally was attended by senior Islamic Jihad officials while the group's secretary-general, Ramadan Shallah, sent a video message from Damascus. » Read more

Israeli-Egyptian relations still stable after rocket bombardments: official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 14, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, March 13 (Xinhua) -- A senior Israeli military official on Tuesday said that last week's targeted assassination of an Islamic militant headed off a cross-border attack with " strategic implications" for already-tense relations with Cairo. "Always -- in our constellation -- the peace between us and Egypt is very important, and the national security of Egypt is very important as well," Maj.-Gen. (res) Amos Gilad, the Defense Ministry's Director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs, told reporters in a conference call focusing on the targeted assassination. » Read more

Unannounced Truce Calms Violence in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Fares Akram, Isabel Kershner - March 13, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Both Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza indicated Tuesday that they would abide by an Egyptian-brokered truce ending four days of cross-border fighting, but each warned that maintaining the calm would depend on the actions of the other side. Bary Mike cleaned up his store in the port city of Ashdod on Tuesday. A rocket fired from Gaza had landed near his business. » Read more

March 13th

Why U.S., Israel aren't neatly aligned on Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) March 13, 2012 - 12:00am (CNN) -- Over the years, I've seen a good many meetings between U.S. presidents and Israeli prime ministers on big issues during critical moments. It usually takes a few days before we can begin to make sense of what occurred and what to expect. Here's a guide to interpret last week's meeting between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu on the Iranian nuclear issue and how to read the next several months. Best meeting yet but don't be fooled » Read more

Please Shut Up ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am Rhetorically filling the fuel tanks of warplanes is all the rage. Benjamin Netanyahu did it at the AIPAC parley last week, dismissing diplomacy, sanctions and deterrence for dealing with Iran, and equating sorties over Qom with bombing Auschwitz. Rick Santorum used that venue to promise to "tear down" Iranian nuclear facilities. Mitt Romney was slightly more restrained, but his intent was the same: Bomb, baby, bomb. When Barack Obama tried to shush "loose talk of war," he got as much traction as a vicar giving a sermon during a soccer riot. » Read more

The "Existential Threat" to Israel Is Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by John Tirman - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am The nearly complete mastery of U.S. politics that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again displayed in Washington last week belies a dark reality for the Jewish State. That is the startling prospect that it has sown the seeds of its own destruction, one which will come to its ghastly fruition in a matter of a few years. » Read more

Obama Betrayed Ideals on Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am Bibi was coming again, and the White House was determined: this visit would not play out like the last one. On Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's previous trip to Washington, Obama had proposed that Israel and the Palestinians negotiate a peace deal based on the armistice lines drawn after Israel’s birth. Netanyahu reacted badly, lecturing the president publicly that “we can’t go back to those indefensible lines.” » Read more

GPS Panel: Iran, Israel and a Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN by Fareed Zakaria - (Interview) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave President Obama a gift in Washington this week. It was a copy of the book of Esther, which tells the tale of a benevolent king who saved the Jewish people from an enemy who wished to destroy them - a Persian enemy (not very subtle). So where does the Israel-Iran conflict end? On Sunday, I had an excellent panel to talk about that and much more. Daniel Levy is co-director of the Middle East Task Force of the New America Foundation. Bret Stephens is the foreign affairs columnist for the Wall Street Journal. » Read more

Judge's Silent Protest of Israeli Racism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) March 11, 2012 - 1:00am The scandal took place at the home of Israel’s president, where members of the nation’s leading legal and political echelon had gathered to pay tribute to the retiring president of the Supreme Court and to welcome her successor to that august office. Among those present were the other justices of the Court, including Justice Salim Joubran, the first Israeli Arab to be counted among its 15 members. » Read more