Walkout over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Zionist rant

FRANCE today led a walkout of delegations, including Australia, to protest a fiery speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the UN General Assembly. Read the full story

Microsoft founder and multi-billionaire Paul G. Allen landed Friday at Ben-Gurion Airport, the day after his 92-meter mega-yacht, Tatoosh, anchored at the Ashdod port – since no regular Israeli marina is large enough to hold the ship, the world’s 26th largest motor yacht. He took a helicopter from the airport to his yacht.

Read the full story

President Obama: It’s time to move forward on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations

NEW YORK—President Barack Obama is pressing Palestinians not to allow Israel’s refusal to halt settlement activities to prevent both sides from reopening long-dormant negotiations towards peace in the Middle East. Read the full story

The mystery that surrounded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s unannounced trip to Russia was created by the Israeli government in a calculation to divert attention from a secret weapons test, according to sources.

The test, held at undisclosed Israeli military base while Netanyahu was traveling, was done with top-secret authorization from the White House, the sources reported. Read the full story

Ephraim Sneh, Israel’s deputy defence minister until 2007, said a nuclear-armed Iran was an unacceptable threat to Israel. No Israeli government could put its faith in President Barack Obama’s efforts to bring Tehran to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme, he said. Read the full story

‘We may have to attack Iran by Dec.’

Israel will be compelled to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities if Western powers do not impose serious sanctions against Teheran by the end of 2009, former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh said on Wednesday. Read the full story

Trying to outsmart Obama Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisors are exerting their best efforts in the search for ways to avoid a confrontation with the president of the United States, who has publicly called for a cessation of construction in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem. Read the full story

If you look closely at the image CNN provides, you will see what resembles the flower of life below… Read the full story

Netanyahu visits Moscow in secret to obstruct Iran missile sale

Israeli prime minister faces widespread criticism after mission details leaked to press

Russia and Israel were both facing domestic embarrassment today after it emerged that the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, had taken a secret trip to Moscow to persuade the Russians not to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. Read the full story

MOSCOW – Israeli President Shimon Peres said Wednesday that the Kremlin has promised to reconsider the planned delivery of powerful air defense missiles to Iran.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made the pledge during their talks Tuesday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Peres said.

“President Medvedev gave a promise he will reconsider the sales of S-300s because it affects the delicate balance which exists in the Middle East,” Peres told reporters via video link from Sochi. Read the full story

Beirut – Tension mounted Monday in southern Lebanon after an Israeli forces reportedly advanced to the area of the Shebaa farms, forcing the Lebanese army on alert, a Lebanese army source said. The source said three armoured Israeli vehicles, accompanied by a civilian car, advanced towards Shebaa Farms, located at the junction of south-east Lebanon, south-west Syria and northern Israel.

Israel seized the 25-square-kilometre swath of land rich in water resources from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war when it captured the neighbouring Golan Heights, which it later annexed. Read the full story