Iran Closing In On Entry To Nuclear Club
According to Iran’s state-run radio, the country is receiving help from Russia to complete its nuclear power plant at Bushehr, which is expected to be operational within two years.
According to Iran’s state-run radio, the country is receiving help from Russia to complete its nuclear power plant at Bushehr, which is expected to be operational within two years.
Investigators in the congressional probe into former US President Bill Clinton’s controversial pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich plan to formally question ex-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak about his role in the possible pardon-for-money scandal.
The most recent Mideast peace accord that was agreed upon in Egypt by Palestinians and Jews appears to offer little hope for a lasting peace. Violence continues in Israel as Muslim leaders incite their followers to hate and commit acts of violence against Christians and Jews.
A diplomatic dogfight is taking shape at the United Nations, as Israel ponders how to foil Syria’s drive to become one of the ten non-permanent members of the Security Council.
There has been no let-up in the intifada, as a Palestinian sniper shot at Israel’s newly-installed Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer while he was observing Palestinian areas from the rooftop of an Israeli military command center in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
Pledging to work for peace but only if Palestinian violence stops, Israeli war hero and long-time politician Ariel Sharon was warmly welcomed to his new position at the Prime Minister’s Office by outgoing leader Ehud Barak on Thursday.
Israeli authorities are wrestling again with the “Jewishness” of immigrants under the Law of Return, while a group of new immigrant soldiers are asking to use the New Testament instead of just the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, during their induction as IDF soldiers.
A US congressional committee investigating former president Bill Clinton’s pardon of renowned racketeer Marc Rich is considering asking for written testimony from Israeli and American Jewish leaders who lobbied Clinton to pardon the fugitive.
After quickly pulling together a broad coalition of national unity, Israeli war hero and long-time politician Ariel Sharon was sworn in as Israel’s 11th prime minister in a special Knesset session late Wednesday evening, becoming the leader of the largest cabinet in the nation’s history.
Aides to outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak tried to distance him from the controversy surrounding former US President Bill Clinton and the “pardongate” scandal, refuting claims on Saturday that Barak had made three calls to Clinton that ultimately persuaded him to pardon fugitive financier Marc Rich.
The Arab world marked the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on Monday, traditionally a day of food, family and festivities. But this year, the holiday was noted for intensified anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric, continued violence and economic hardship in Palestinian areas, and the tragic death of 35 pilgrims during the hajj to Mecca.
Palestinian Authority Communications Minister Imad Faluji confirmed on Friday what Israel has known and attempted to relay to the international community since Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount in late September – that the renewed Palestinian intifada was pre-planned.
Israel still has plenty of reasons to be concerned that PLO chief Yasser Arafat will not honor the Sharm e-Sheikh cease-fire, as armed Palestinian elements continue to fire upon Israeli targets and Arafat has yet to clearly order his forces to quell the uprising.
Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon looks set to meet his Wednesday deadline for presenting his government to the Knesset, after his coalition negotiating team initialed a deal with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party Sunday night giving him a parliamentary majority of 64 seats.
The Israeli coastal resort town of Netanya was rocked by yet another terrorist bombing on Sunday, leaving four dead and up to ninety wounded, and sending Israeli police scrambling to counter the imminent threat of even more attacks inside Israel.
Britain designated 21 groups as “terrorist” this week under a new anti-terrorism law designed to halt funding and support for militant groups based in the United Kingdom.
The Vatican expressed understanding on Friday for Israel’s position that it is essential to immediately end the violence in the disputed territories and acts of Palestinian terrorism, according to Ovadia Sofer, Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon’s emissary.
Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday finally requested police to meet with Islamic Waqf officials in Jerusalem and halt the reported destruction of antiquities on the Temple Mount.
The Labor party on Friday voted for eight ministers to fill its allotted seats in the emerging government of Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon, with MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a reserve brigadier general, besting several challengers for the position of defense minister and elder party statesman Shimon Peres winning the foreign ministry post by default.
Israeli and American Jewish leaders continue to figure prominently in the most controversial of a long list of last-minute pardons granted by disgraced former US President Bill Clinton, with three of his key White House aides telling Congress on Thursday that caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak played a decisive role in the appeal for clemency by fugitive financier Marc Rich.