Israel

(CNSNews.com) – A decade has passed since the failure of a U.S. bid to broker a Mideast peace deal ushered in a long and deadly Palestinian uprising. And with a new effort set to begin next week, the main sticking points remain unchanged.

While participants and historians continue to haggle over apportioning blame for the collapse of the Camp David summit in the summer of 2000, the issues that divided the two sides are not generally disputed.

They were the future of Jerusalem; the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees and their offspring; borders of a Palestinian state and the associated future of Jewish settlements; and Israeli security concerns relating in particular to the nature of and future relationship with a Palestinian state...

A conservative author and activist is warning of the consequences to the United States if President Barack Obama continues on a path to carve a hostile Islamic state out of God's covenant land.

Washington has stepped up pressure on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forward with the resumption of direct talks after 18 months of stalemate. Observers say President Obama is in a full-court press for purely political reasons and desperately needs some kind of foreign policy success before the mid-term elections in November, where the Democrats could take a sound thrashing.

Ben Kinchlow is best known for his years as co-host with Pat Robertson on The 700 Club. Now he is involved in several projects, including Americans for Israel and the African-American Political Awareness Coalition...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – The fallout from Helen Thomas’ controversial comments about Israel and Jews, which led to her immediate retirement on Monday, has prompted journalists covering the White House to re-evaluate the role of an opinion columnist in the White House press corps.

Thomas, 89, the so-called dean of the White House press corps, covered the White House as a news reporter for United Press International (UPI), beginning with the Kennedy administration in the early 1960s. In 2000, she left UPI to become an opinion columnist for Hearst Newspapers. She has a front row seat at the White House press gallery with her name on it...

The fallout over veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas' controversial comments about Jews continued to build as a Washington-area high school abruptly canceled a graduation speech she was scheduled to deliver. The cancelation came after the speaking agency that represents Thomas dropped her.

Alan Goodwin, principal of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Md., wrote in an e-mail Sunday to students and parents that Thomas would be replaced as speaker for the school's June 14 graduation.

"Graduation celebrations are not the venue for divisiveness," he wrote...

Blogger 'Yid with a Lid' highlights this charming video where the dean of the White House press corps, Helen Thomas, tells jews to get out of Israel and go back to Poland and Germany.

Note that Thomas' remarks were made at a Jewish heritage event at the White House...

The Turkish group at the center of this week's deadly high-seas clash with Israel has been a member of a hard-to-access U.N. organization since 2004, which has given the group special access to the U.N. system.

The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) branch of U.N.'s Department of Economic and Social Affairs invites in NGOs from around the globe, including the Turkish-based Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH).

Earlier this week Fox News reported that the IHH has links to terrorist groups including Hamas and Al Qaeda. Indeed, the IHH was described in federal court documents as playing a role in the Millennium terrorist plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport...

A pro-family organization is calling on President Obama to stand squarely with Israel in the controversy over Israel's conflict with a flotilla of "humanitarian" ships from Turkey.

The Jewish state has come under almost universal world condemnation for using deadly force in dealing with the crew of a Turkish ship trying to run a blockade to Gaza. Nine crew members were killed in the commando raid after they attacked and beat Israelis trying to inspect the ship. One Israeli soldier was thrown off an upper deck and fell 30 feet to the deck below, sustaining significant head injuries.

During an interview on PBS on Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden said "it's legitimate" for Israel to question what is on ships destined for Hamas-controlled Gaza. "Israel has an absolute right to deal with its security interest," Biden stated on the Charlie Rose show.  read more »

Israeli defense officials now say dozens of passengers who were aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, the scene of a bloody showdown with Israeli commandos Monday, are suspected of having connections to terrorist organizations. The Israeli Army says it's identified 50 passengers on the ship with terrorist links.

It's known the flotilla of 6 ships was in part organized by the IHH group in Turkey, which reportedly has links to Al Qaeda. And three members of Yemen's Parliament, from the Islah Party, were also among the more than 600 activists detained by Israel after ships refused to stop for Israeli patrol boats and were boarded by Israeli Navy SEALs who eventually opened fire, killing 9 people. The Islah party is also said to have shadowy links to Al Qaeda. Both groups certainly support the Hamas organization in Gaza...

(CNSNews.com) – Facing the world’s wrath over the deadly clash at sea between its troops and pro-Palestinian activists, the Israeli Defense Forces released video footage Monday showing groups of activists using what appear to be clubs or bars to attack Israeli soldiers the moment they landed on deck.

The footage, along with an array of weapons found onboard the Turkish-flagged ship Mavi Marmara – now docked in the Israeli port of Ashdod – presents a picture at odds with accounts given by pro-Palestinian groups of a massive, disproportionate assault on peaceful civilians.

International condemnation is widespread and ongoing, with protestors taking to the streets in many, mostly Islamic countries, and Israel’s erstwhile ally, Turkey, warning of “irreparable consequences” to bilateral ties. Iran demanded action by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and even European countries generally friendly towards Israel were strongly critical...

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel says the Obama administration had “screwed up” in demonstrating its support of Israel over the last year, and acknowledges it will probably take months before it can win back Jewish support.

“During the elections there were doubts about President Obama’s support for Israel, and now they have resurfaced,” Emanuel told a group of prominent rabbis who visited the White House Thursday, according to The Jerusalem Post. “But concerning policy, we have done everything that we can that is in Israel’s security – and long-range interests. Watch what the administration does”...