Social Affairs Minister: Israel today feels like Alabama in the 1940s
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
January 13, 2011 - 1:00am

Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog [Labor] on Thursday compared the recent outbreak of racial tensions across Israel to Alabama in the 1940s and urged President Shimon Peres to intervene and prevent the deterioration of Israeli democracy. "Shimon Peres must use his public consensus to be a leader in this struggle," Herzog told an annual conference for the Conservative Movement, citing the rise in anti-Arab and migrant demonstrations and oppression of human rights organizations.

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Israel rabbi: Gentile sperm risks 'barbaric' offspring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

A Jewish woman should never get pregnant using sperm donated by a non-Jewish man – even if it is the last option available, a senior Israeli authority on Jewish law has asserted. According to Rabbi Dov Lior of the Religious Zionism movement, a baby born through such an insemination will have the "negative genetic traits that characterize non-Jews," Israeli media reported Wednesday.

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Israel blacklists 163 foreign charities suspected of supporting terrorism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

The Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority has located 163 organizations contaminated with funds related to terrorism over the past three years, and issued specific orders prohibiting receiving money from them, Defense Ministry data shows.

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What is happening to us?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
(Opinion) January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

I believe it was late Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba who once upon a time said something like “let’s make peace with the Jews, because when there’s peace they’ll be killing each other.” His words were of course met with disparagement and laughter back then. After all, we are members of the chosen people; we’re the greatest. How can we destroy the Jewish state when we achieve peace, which is our greatest dream?

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Jewish leader: Palestinian state declaration not a defeat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gil Shefler - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

Gabriel Zaliasnik, president of the Jewish community in Chile, thinks Israel’s Foreign Ministry is making a big mistake. Having spent the last few weeks battling local pro-Palestinian groups in an effort to influence his government not to recognize Palestinian statehood, Zaliasnik believes the statement that eventually emerged from Santiago last Friday accepting Palestinian independence while acknowledging Israel’s right to security was not the diplomatic debacle some made it out to be, but in fact was a victory of sorts.

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Israel's public relations policy: never apologise, always confuse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jesse Rosenfeld - (Opinion) January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

Never believe the Israeli army killed an unarmed civilian until it's officially denied. This paraphrasing of Mark Twain's "never believe anything until it has officially been denied," should become a mantra for journalists operating in the Middle East. It is a point reinforced recently by the death of a West Bank Palestinian resident, Jawaher abu Rahmah, who died from tear gas exposure during the recent demonstration against Israel's separation wall and land annexation in the village of Bil'in.

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Muslims, Christians and Jews must share Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) January 11, 2011 - 1:00am

Very few come to Jerusalem without deep-seated beliefs about its significance. For Muslims, Jews and Christians, Jerusalem's narrative is part of their own, relevant to their past, their faith and their future. Members of these three faiths have managed to share Jerusalem and maintain a respect for each other's beliefs for centuries at a time. Israel's insistence on control of Jerusalem as its undivided capital breaks with this tradition and makes a resolution to six decades of hostilities with the Palestinians a near impossibility.

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Strains emerge between Netanyahu, foreign minister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Aron Heller - January 11, 2011 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked his combative foreign minister on Tuesday for attacking members of the Israeli leader's Likud party, pointing to growing strains within Israel's coalition government. In a rambling press conference, Avigdor Lieberman criticized Likud leaders for opposing an initiative to investigate Israeli human rights groups critical of the government. He said it was a "strange spectacle" to see Likud members protecting groups that he described as "terrorist collaborators."

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Lieberman is the new Kahane
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Sarid - January 11, 2011 - 1:00am

There is no longer any doubt. Avigdor Lieberman is the big boss of the state, the new landlord. His venom has gone to his head even as he sprays it left and right - at "terror-enabling" leftist organizations and at "finicky" rightists who, with the blind conformity of Ionesco's rhinoceroses, "prevent the right from ruling." Apparently not everyone is willing to stick his nose into Yisrael Beiteinu's open sewer, sniff and enjoy it. Today, the evil spirit sets the tone, spreading the patriot-villain's radiocactive radiation.

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Netanyahu will deliver a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

What do you want from Benjamin Netanyahu? For the first time, the prime minister promised last July that he wants to forge an agreement within a year with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Since that day, the Israeli right wing has simmered with consternation. Virtually not a day passes without its leaders contributing another brick to the building of Palestine.

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