JTF - Jews Against Obama
Home Join Forums Ask JTF Issues Newsroom TV Schedule Contact Us Donate Now
JTF.org News
The JTF.org newsroom is updated daily. Check back often for the latest breaking news stories and coverage.

JEWS AGAINST OBAMA
  • The Communist Party USA Backs Obama
    Do we really want as our next President, someone who has the endorsement of terrorists, terrorist excusers, and communists? It looks like most Americans will give Obama a pass on this. Barack Obama’s patriotic tour has run into a snag. More evidence of communist backing for the candidate has surfaced. The latest [...]
  • Son Of Notorious Terrorist Is An Obama Fundraiser
    I found this a while ago at Debbie Schlussel’s blog. It’s been sitting in my newsreader and I think it’s still newsworthy today, being that our media is staunchly pro-Obama. Mohammed Imad Al-Churbaji is one of Al-Qaeda’s top terrorists in America. His connections at the top of Al-Qaeda are tight and span the global [...]
  • Obama Courts Evangelical Christians
    Barry-O certainly has his work cut out for him, being that he is very pro-choice (even for partial birth abortions), and all for gay marriage. So I don’t know much traction he’ll have with the evangelicals. First off, notice the blaring media bias in just this one paragraph: Obama has been hindered by the [...]
  • Paulette’s Latest Audio Program
    Paulette\'s July 2 Show
  • Marxists, Socialists And Communists For Obama
    Barack Obama attracts these types like flies to dog excrement. The latest blog on MyBarackObama.com from this group urges “revolution” against the “oppressive” U.S. regime. JERUSALEM – Marxists, socialists and communists have created a safe space online to congregate, exchange ideas – including a stated revolution against the U.S. “oppressive” regime – and [...]
  • Free Sami Al Arian Blog On MyBarackObama.com
    Those America hating, anti-Semitic leftist Obamatons are at it again. This time, they put up a blog on MyBarackObama.com about freeing terrorist supporter Sami Al Arian. In a blog post on Obama’s site titled, “We are all Palestinians,” user Ulf Erlingsson lamented what he called the “harsh” conditions of Al-Arian’s imprisonment – explaining [...]
  • Obama And ACORN
    Via Michelle Malkin If you don’t know what ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is all about, you better bone up. This left-wing group takes in 40 percent of its revenues from American taxpayers — you and me — and has leveraged nearly four decades of government subsidies to fund affiliates that promote [...]
  • Obama Endorsed by North Korean Leader
    What a lovely group of supporters Obama has! (Snort!) The Chosun Sinbo, the mouthpiece of North Korea’s Japanese front organization Chongryon and often for the North Korean regime itself, has announced its preference for Obama over McCain, whom it calls “a variant of Bush” and “nothing better than a scarecrow of neoconservatives,” which is a bit [...]
  • Obama Meets With Hezbollah People Again!
    About two weeks ago, Obama met with some community leaders in Michigan. One of them was the publisher of the Arab American News. Another participant was less pleased: Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News and head of an Arab-American political action fund, said he confronted Obama about a speech this month [...]
  • Yet Another Anti-Semitic Obama Supporter!
    The bottom of Obama’s bus must be getting very crowded by now. I wonder what the Obamessiah has to say about James Meeks. * Democratic state senator from Illinois * Pastor of Chicago’s Salem Baptist Church * Former executive vice president of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH coalition [...]
THE URBAN GRIND BLOG
  • Point of No Return
    This from Charlie Daniels The Point of No Return There is much disagreement as to who said the words in the next few paragraphs. Many people attribute them to an eighteenth century Scotsman named Alexander Tytler, but regardless of the author, when taken literally and applied to today, they are chilling to say the least. “A democracy is [...]
  • The Male Rape Victim Speaks Out
    Yesterday, I did a short post asking if my readers think it’s possible for men to get raped. This is something I’ve had a hard time believing. And since 99% of my readers are men, I wanted to see what thety had to say. A few of them also expressed doubt. [...]
  • Ugh Gross!
    Hat tip: Karol of Alarmingnews.com First there was regular dermatology where you went for a rash, or any other skin problem. Then came cosmetic dermatology, allowing women to get botox injections and chemical peels to smooth out their wrinkles. First there were your regular OB-GYN’s where you went for pap smears, breast exams and [...]
  • Can Grown Men Be Raped By Women?
    I personally have a hard time believing it, but Dr. Helen says yes. What do you all think?
  • A Response To Liberal Energy Myths
    Democrats, RINO’s and their enviro-wacko minions have a whole litany of excuses for why American cannot become energy independent. They’ll say “We can’t drill our way out of an energy crisis, it will take decades for the oil to flow, oil company profits are the real culprit,” etc. Now personally, I say we need to [...]
  • Mayor Bloomberg - We Need More Immigration!
    Mayor “Marie Antoinette” Bloomberg is at it again. This time, he’s not saying anything about “undocumented workers.” His newest shtick is about how we need experts in math and science. America is “committing mass suicide” by putting restrictions on immigration, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. He made the remarks after announcing an initiative that is [...]
  • R.I.P Senator Jesse Helms
    He was a good man, and a true conservative. It’s too bad we don’t have anyone like him running for President. To his opponents, Helms was divisive, mean-spirited, race-baiting and manipulative. He was a pioneer of negative TV attack ads, which he used frequently and effectively in his political campaigns. In 1989, he [...]
  • New York Defends Its Draconian Gun Laws
    I’ve been living in Manhattan for over twenty years. And even after the Supreme Court gun ruling, I knew none of that would affect our gun laws. I think this case just proves me right. In a sign that federal courts here in New York will defend New York City’s restrictive gun regulations, a [...]
  • FBI Could (Gasp!) Profile Terror Suspects
    The Justice Department is thinking of letting the FBI engage in (gasp!) ethnic profiling without evidence of wrongdoing. The changes would allow FBI agents to ask open-ended questions about activities of Muslim- or Arab-Americans, or investigate them if their jobs and backgrounds match trends that analysts deem suspect. FBI agents would not be allowed to eavesdrop on [...]
  • Obama’s Terrorist Friends
    Here’s a look at Obama’s connection to Bill Ayres and his wife Bernadine Dohrn.
ARUTZ 7 NEWS STORIES
ARUTZ 7 OPINION
ISRAELNATIONALRADIO'S LATEST PROGRAMS
A neo-Zionist perspective on Israel and the Jewish World.
WORLDNETDAILY'S FRONT PAGE NEWS
DEBKAFILE
  • Are Tehran’s war threats backed by solid military might?

    DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s experts offer the first published exposéof the real extent of Iran’s military capabilities with some surprising answers.

    Don’t miss this and more up-to-the minute exclusives in the comingDEBKA-Net-Weeklyissue out next Friday.

    To subscribe toDEBKA-Net-WeeklyclickHERE.

  • Iraq official demands specific dates for US military withdrawal

    Iraq's national security adviser, Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, said Tuesday, July 8, his government will not accept the security accord under negotiation with the United States unless it contains specific dates for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

    DEBKAfilereports: President George W. Bush has consistently opposed any such timetable, as has the Republican presidential nominee John McCain. His Democratic rival, Barack Obama, once pledged withdrawal within 14 months if he were elected to the White House, but has since changed his position on the Iraq War and the US military role there.

  • Oil dips over secret US-Iran deal on fuel pricing, regional disputes

    On June 27,DEBKA-Net-Weekly354 first revealed the existence of secret US-Iranian diplomatic ad hoc understandings, including a $150 ceiling on the price of oil, reached under the cover of leaked“reports”alleging the US or Israel were preparing to attack Iran’s nuclear installations. The understandings also covered cooperation in lowering the flames of the Iraq war and accommodations on Syria and Lebanon.

    But in case those understanding break down in the volatile climate generated by hard-line elements of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, both nations retain their military options.

    Read exclusive disclosures fromDEBKA-Net-Weekly’updated byDEBKAfilebelow.

    To subscribe toDEBKA-Net-WeeklyclickHERE.

  • Five blasts injure at least 25 in Karachi after 19 killed in Islamabad

    The string of explosions in Karachi Monday, July 7, came a day after a suicide bombing left 19 dead and more than 70 wounded most of them police officers in Islamabad. They were attacked 15 minutes after thousands of Islamic extremists who had gathered for the Red Mosque siege anniversary had dispersed. The siege in which 100 people were killed sparked a wave of suicide attacks across Pakistan which left more than 1,000 people dead.

  • Hizballah-sponsored Galilee group claims“Israel girl soldier”from Tiberias held hostage 5 years

    Is this an Israeli version of Ingrid Betancourt’s long agony as the hostage of terrorists?

    An unnamed man, saying he was chief of the Galilee Liberation Brigades, claimed in an interview Sunday, June 6, to have carried out the last two terrorist attacks in Jerusalem–the bulldozer rampage and the yeshiva massacre. He then said his group has been holding an Israeli girl soldier from Tiberias hostage for five years.

    DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources are convinced he is referring to Dana Bennett, 18, who disappeared after her late-night shift as a waitress in Tiberias on Aug. 1, 2003, and was never heard of since.

  • Iran, Syria sign secret new intelligence cooperation accord

    The accord signed secretly in Tehran June 27 belies the contention of French president Nicolas Sarkozy and prime minister Ehud Olmert, accepted also by Washington, that the Syrian regime is about to desert its close alliance with Tehran and embrace the West.

  • US top soldier requests demonstration of Israel’s Heron UAV

    DEBKAfile’s military sources reveal that, during his two-day visit to Israel, Adm. Mike Mullen Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, showed interest in the Israel Aviations Industries’long-range Heron unmanned aerial vehicles, which support IDF’s counter-terror and counter-missile operations in the Gaza Strip.

    The demonstration took place on June 29 at the forward Israeli UAV base near its main operating arena in the South.

    Our military sources describe the Heron as capable, in addition to intelligence-gathering and communications support, of delivering missiles (which Israel has never admitted).

  • Damascus court secretly sentences alleged Israeli spy to 20 years

    DEBKAfileintelligence sources report that Jamal Hassan Neba’a was sentenced to 20 years in jail this week by Syria’s Supreme Court for State Security on the charge of spying for the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency. He was arrested in Damascus on July 23, 2006, eleven days into the Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hizballah.

  • Iran's chief of staff expands threat of Strait of Hormuz closure

    Chief of staff Maj. Gen. Hasan Firuzabadi said Saturday, July, 5, Iran’s strategy is to keep the Strait of Hormuz in“southern Iran”open, but“if the country’s interests are jeopardized in the region, we will not let any ship pass through.”

    DEBKAfile’s military sources report that this statement enlarges on earlier threats by adding Iran’s“strategic interests in the region,”namely Syria, Hizballah or Hamas. It is in keeping with Iran’s refusal to give up uranium enrichment in its reply to the six-power proposals for ending the nuclear standoff.

INDEPENDENT MEDIA REVIEW ANALYSIS (IMRA)
  • Defense officials: UN Resolution 1701 on the verge of collapse

    Defense officials: UN Resolution 1701 on the verge of collapse
    Jul. 9, 2008 Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST
    www.jpost.com
    /servlet/Satellite?cid=1215330903869&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

    United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, passed to stop the Second
    Lebanon War, is on the verge of collapse as Syria continues to rearm
    Hizbullah, senior defense officials warned Tuesday night ahead of a
    scheduled security cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

    Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will convene the cabinet to discuss the
    rearmament of Hizbullah since the Second Lebanon War and to discuss ways to
    curb the flow of weapons from Syria to the guerrilla group.

    During the meeting, the ministers will be briefed by Military Intelligence
    on Hizbullah's rehabilitation and preparation for another round of violence
    with Israel.

    Defense officials said Israel's only course of action at present was to
    attempt to place pressure on diplomatic officials from European countries
    that contribute to UNIFIL.

    "Syria is rearming Hizbullah at a rapid pace and this is proof that 1701 has
    completely failed," one official said.

    The peacekeeping force's mandate will be up for renewal next month and
    Israel is looking to see if it will be possible to make changes that will
    give the force more freedom to prevent Hizbullah's rearmament.

  • Our World: The media and its enduring narrative

    Our World: The media and its enduring narrative
    Jul. 8, 2008 Caroline Glick , THE JERUSALEM POST
    www.jpost.com
    /servlet/Satellite?cid=1215330891500&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

    Last Wednesday's terror attack in Jerusalem was unique. Due to the fact that
    Husam Taysir Dwayat bulldozed his victims outside of Jerusalem Capitol
    Studios where many of the foreign television networks have their offices,
    his was one of only two attacks to have been caught live on camera.

    The only other attack which was filmed was the lynching of IDF reservists
    Yosef Avrahami and Vadim Novesche at a Palestinian police station in
    Ramallah on October 12, 2000. That attack, which showed the mob basking in
    the blood of the two men, was filmed by an Italian camerawoman from the
    privately owned Mediaset television station. The attack last Wednesday was
    filmed by the BBC whose correspondent Tim Franks witnessed the carnage from
    the outset through his office window.

    Their film documentation is not the only thing those two attacks share. The
    lynch in Ramallah and the attack last Wednesday are also the only attacks
    that elicited abject apologies by otherwise arrogant media giants. In the
    aftermath of the lynch, Riccardo Cristiano, Italy's state-owned RAI
    network's correspondent in Israel, wrote a groveling apology to the
    Palestinian Authority in which he went to painstaking lengths to explain
    that it was not his network, but his competitor that published the footage.

    In the letter which the PA published in its Al Hayat al Jadida daily,
    Cristiano fawned, "We always respect the journalistic procedures with the
    Palestinian Authority for [journalistic] work in Palestine and we are
    credible in our precise work. We thank you for your trust, and you can be
    sure that this is not our way of acting. We will not do such a thing."

    ON FRIDAY, the BBC published an apology for broadcasting the footage of
    Wednesday's carnage. The film showed an unarmed, furloughed IDF commando
    climb onto Dwayat's bulldozer just after Dwayat murdered Batsheva Unterman
    by crushing her car. It showed the soldier grabbing a gun belonging to a
    security guard who was unsuccessfully trying to restrain Dwayat and shooting
    Dwayat three times in the head. The film did not show Dwayat or any of his
    victims dying. What it showed was the terror of the wounded, Dwayat's
    murderousness and the soldier's heroism.

    Yet, the network declared, "It's not normally the BBC's policy to show the
    moment of death on screen. These are always extremely difficult decisions to
    make. However, on reflection, we felt that the pictures featured on
    Wednesday's News at Ten did not strike the right editorial balance between
    the demands of accuracy and the potential impact on the program's audience."

    At first glance, it is not at all clear what the BBC was talking about. Its
    film was a journalistic achievement. Through it, tens of millions of people
    worldwide were able to see for themselves what a terror attack against
    innocents looks like from a fairly sterile angle. What did the BBC have to
    apologize for?

    In this case, as in the case of the lynching eight years ago, the reason the
    BBC apologized is not because the film's images were too gruesome, but
    because it strayed from the accepted narratives of the Palestinian war
    against Israel. To maintain the narratives, "the right editorial balance
    between the demands of accuracy and the potential impact on the program's
    audience," is one that engenders the belief that Israel is either morally
    indistinguishable from the Palestinians, or that Israel is morally inferior
    to the Palestinians.

    The metaphor for the first narrative is the so-called "cycle of violence."
    The BBC itself spelled out this narrative in the aftermath of the lynching
    in Ramallah. In a program called, "When Peace Died," broadcast in November
    2000, the BBC explained, "Two images captured the hatred that has destroyed
    the peace process in the Middle East. Mohammed al-Dura, the boy from Gaza,
    shielded by his father but still dying under a hail of bullets fired by
    Israeli soldiers and the lynching and brutal murder of two Israeli
    reservists by a Palestinian mob."

    The metaphor for the second narrative is the Holocaust. It was used most
    explicitly early on by Catherine Nay, a well-known news anchor from Europe1
    network. In late 2000 Nay declared, "The death of Muhammad [al-Dura] cancels
    out, erases that of the Jewish child, his hands in the air from the SS in
    the Warsaw Ghetto."

    THE STORY of Muhammad al-Dura plays a central role for both narratives. On
    September 30, 2000, France 2 public television network's bureau chief in
    Israel Charles Enderlin aired a 57-second, heavily edited film which he
    proclaimed portrayed then 12-year-old al-Dura being killed by IDF forces at
    Netzarim Junction in Gaza. France 2 distributed the film for free to the
    global media and al-Dura's image became the icon of the Palestinian war
    against Israel. It directly incited anti-Jewish violence in Israel and
    throughout the world.

    Questions about the veracity of the France 2 account arose immediately. An
    IDF investigation launched by then OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yom Tov
    Samia proved through ballistic evidence that it was physically impossible
    for IDF forces to have shot - much less killed - al-Dura. Over the ensuing
    years, a handful of journalists and researchers produced a wealth of
    evidence demonstrating that Enderlin's story was false.

    One of the researchers was a media critic named Philippe Karsenty. He
    asserted that the film was a hoax on his Web site Media Ratings and dared
    Enderlin and France 2 to sue him for libel while demanding that they release
    the 27 minutes of film they claimed they had of the September 30, 2000
    incident at Netzarim Junction.

    While refusing to release the footage, Enderlin and France 2 did sue
    Karsenty for libel. In late 2006, after receiving a letter of recommendation
    for Enderlin from then French president Jacques Chirac, and in spite of the
    reams of evidence supporting his claim that Karsenty presented at the trial,
    the court convicted Karsenty. Karsenty appealed the ruling.

    The appellate court ordered Enderlin and France 2 to produce the unedited
    footage. Although he refused to show the footage in its entirety, from the
    19 minutes of rushes that Enderlin did present, three things became obvious.
    First, the IDF could not have killed al-Dura. Second, the footage showed
    Palestinians staging scenes of fighting with imaginary IDF forces. And
    third, the footage showed no evidence that al-Dura had been shot or that he
    died that day at Netzarim Junction. On May 22, the appellate court
    overturned Karsenty's conviction.

    IT MIGHT have been thought that the French, Israeli and international media
    which had for seven years supported Enderlin against the small band of
    independent investigators would finally abandon him. So too, it might have
    been thought that after seven years of defending an indefensible piece of
    journalistic malpractice Enderlin would finally own up to his misdeed. But
    the opposite occurred.

    In Israel, leading left-wing commentators like Gideon Levy, and Tom Segev
    from Ha'aretz, Arad Nir from Channel 2 and Larry Derfner from The Jerusalem
    Post accused Karsenty and his allies of waging a witch hunt against
    Enderlain to advance their political agendas. In France, the media initially
    ignored the story.

    Then, less than a week after the verdict, the Who's Who of the rather large
    anti-Israeli branch of the French media published a petition in the
    left-wing Le Nouvel Observateur decrying Karsenty's exhaustively documented
    dossier against the al-Dura story as a "seven-year hate-filled smear
    campaign." In all, some 300 reporters and hundreds more notables signed the
    petition. For their part, France 2 and Enderlin announced their intention to
    appeal the ruling to the French Supreme Court.

    In her account of the court case and its aftermath in the Weekly Standard,
    French journalist Anne-Elisabeth Moutet attributes the French media's
    reaction to what she sees as a uniquely French practice of never apologizing
    for misdeeds.

    There is doubtlessly some truth to this. But arrogance is not the unique
    trait of the French media and elite. And given the near universality of
    media arrogance, how can one explain the BBC's quick apology for its
    broadcast of its footage from the attack in Jerusalem last week? And how can
    one explain Cristiano's obsequious letter to the PA in 2000?

    THE ANSWER of course is that arrogance alone cannot account for the media's
    defense of Enderlin. If Enderlin had been caught broadcasting a libelous
    report about the Palestinians, the media and France 2 would have cast him
    off immediately. But here there is more at stake than one man's reputation.
    Enderlin didn't create the narrative of Palestinian innocence or at least
    moral equivalence. In filing the clearly false story of al-Dura, Enderlin
    was advancing a cause that all his anti-Israel colleagues in France, Israel
    and worldwide have embraced. If he goes down, their indispensable narrative
    is liable to go down with him.

    Over the past eight years of the jihad against Israel, among countless
    examples, three instances of open media collusion with Israel's enemies
    stand out for their strategic impact on the course of events. First there is
    the al-Dura affair. It was followed by the mythical "Jenin massacre" in
    April 2002. That in turn was followed by the fabricated "massacre" at Kafr
    Kana in Lebanon in July 2006.

    The al-Dura story solidified the Palestinian narrative of victimization by
    Israel just months after they rejected statehood and peace at Camp David.
    When the so-called Jenin massacre was reported in April 2002, the IDF was in
    the midst of Operation Defensive Shield. Just before the Palestinians began
    making allegations of an Israeli massacre, IDF forces uncovered documentary
    evidence proving that the Palestinian war against Israel was run by the PA
    and Yassir Arafat. By fabricating the massacre, the PA was saved from being
    delegitimized as an actor in Washington. The Israeli peace camp was also
    resuscitated from its death throes.

    As the Winograd Commission documented in its final report on the Second
    Lebanon War, the media reports of the fabricated massacre of Lebanese
    civilians by an IAF bomber in Kafr Kana in South Lebanon caused US Secretary
    of State Condoleezza Rice to end US support for an Israeli military victory
    over Iran's Lebanese proxy and to pressure Israel to accept a cease-fire
    leaving Hizbullah intact.

    Even as analyses of the reports from Jenin and Kafr Kana like the reports on
    the al-Dura affair clearly demonstrated that the IDF had committed no
    atrocities, the distorted footage put out by the media made it impossible
    for Israel to defend itself in the court of public opinion. Like the al-Dura
    affair, the media's open collusion with the Palestinians in Jenin and
    Hizbullah in Kafr Kana prolonged false narratives predicated on Israeli
    aggression just as they were about to be finally laid to rest.

    So it is not merely arrogance that makes Enderlin and his colleagues
    unwilling to come clean anymore than it was humility that made the BBC and
    Cristiano apologize. Depressingly, what all of this illustrates is that the
    media will only give us the information they wish us to have. And that
    information's relationship to the truth is arbitrary at best.

  • Tourism Ministry initiative: vacation packages from Warsaw to Eilat

    8 July 2008

    MINISTRY OF TOURISM CONNECTS WARSAW TO EILAT
    Tourism Ministry initiative: Oasis Tours, one of the largest travel agencies
    in Poland, will market vacation packages from Warsaw to Eilat.
    The first flight leaves in December 2008.

    The increase in demand for vacations in Israel continues:
    Nearly 55,000 tourists visited Israel from Poland during Jan-May 2008,
    a 100% increase over the corresponding period last year.

    Ministry of Tourism
    www.tourism.gov.il

    The Tourism Ministry continues its marketing activities aimed at the Polish
    market and has notched up another important achievement: From the end of
    December 2008, weekly flights will operate on the Warsaw-Eilat route for a
    one year period. Oasis Tours, one of the largest travel agencies in Poland,
    advised the Tourism Ministry that, following a visit to Israel, the company
    had decided to market vacation packages to Eilat.

    The packages, which include flights with Israir departing Warsaw on
    Saturdays, will offer Polish tourists 5 day packages in Eilat and 2 days in
    Jerusalem and Tel Aviv or vice versa, or 3 days in Eilat and 4 days in
    Jerusalem and the rest of the country. The return flight to Warsaw departs
    from Ben Gurion airport. Oasis Tours has recently launched an extensive
    marketing campaign, in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism.

    Director-General of the Tourism Ministry Shaul Tzemach: "The decision of
    Oasis Tours, which operates primarily in Egypt and Tunisia, to fly to Israel
    offers us the opportunity to compete with those destinations which attract
    Polish tourists, pilgrims and vacationers. It also aligns with the Tourism
    Ministry's policy of increasing the volume of flight seats from destinations
    with a potential demand for visiting Israel."

    The Tourism Ministry's activities recently bore fruit earlier this year with
    cooperation between Polish travel wholesalers and Sun D'Or, with charter
    flights from Sde Dov to Lodz and Warsaw (from March 2008) and Wroclaw (from
    September). Until March 2008, only scheduled flights were in operation
    between Israel and Poland (Warsaw and Krakow). As a result of this change, a
    total of 60 charter flights will operate between Poland and Israel in 2008
    (about 9000 seats), in addition to the 9 weekly scheduled flights on this
    route.

    The growth in tourism from Poland to Israel continues: About 12,700 Polish
    tourists entered Israel in May 2008, a 96% increase on May 2007. In the
    period January - May 2008, about 55,500 tourists arrived from Poland - an
    increase of 100% over the same period last year. Poland is the fifth largest
    European country of origin for incoming tourists. The Tourism Ministry is
    working towards a further increase of at least 30% in the numbers of Polish
    tourists entering Israel in 2008.

  • Beginning in October, Russian tourists visiting Israel no longer need a tourist visa to enter the country

    8 July 2008

    NO MORE VISAS!
    FROM 1 OCTOBER TOURISTS FROM RUSSIA
    NO LONGER NEED A VISA TO ENTER ISRAEL

    Ministry of Tourism
    www.tourism.gov.il

    Director-General of the Ministry of Tourism Shaul Tzemach: "The arrival of
    hundreds of thousands more tourists each year to Israel will create
    thousands of new jobs and inject hundreds of millions of shekels into the
    Israel economy."

    Beginning in October, Russian tourists visiting Israel no longer need a
    tourist visa to enter the country. The new policy, approved recently by the
    Knesset Interior Committee, officially approved the recently signed mutual
    visa exemption agreement between Israel and Russia. The initiative was led
    by former Tourism Minister Yitzchak Aharanovitch within the framework of a
    special government committee on the matter.

    Given the increased traffic from Russia during the past few months and the
    expectations and interest of large tourism wholesalers as a result of the
    new agreement, the number of tourists from Russia could double or even
    triple in the coming years.

    Some 193,000 Russian tourists visited Israel in 2007 - a 163% increase
    compared to 2006. Between January - May 2008, about 128,000 tourists entered
    Israel from Russia - a 135% increase over the corresponding period last
    year. At this growth pace, an estimated 300,000 tourists are expected to
    visit Israel from Russia in 2008.

    Director-General of the Ministry of Tourism Shaul Tzemach: "The arrival of
    hundreds of thousands more tourists each year to Israel will create
    thousands of new jobs and inject hundreds of millions of shekels into the
    Israel economy." This important achievement is of national significance and
    is in line with the government's target to reduce gaps and unemployment."

    Since 2007, Russia has become the second-largest source of tourism to Israel
    and is one of the countries with the greatest potential for tourism growth.
    With an average annual growth rate in the Russian economy of 6.7%, there is
    a sizeable group among the 140 million population who are interested in -
    and able to afford - a high quality vacation. The relatively short distance
    between Israel and Russia, the ideal climate, the unique sites and the large
    Russian-speaking population serve to encourage tourism from Russia to
    Israel, where the Russian tourist can receive excellent service in his own
    language.

    To date, many Russian tourists would come to Israel for one day but now,
    with the abolition of the visa requirement, the Ministry of Tourism expects
    that many will lengthen their stay in Israel. In addition, competition is
    expected with neighboring countries which also have no visa requirements,
    with the focus now on quality and not the relative ease of arrival.

  • Nearly billion dollars in direct aid disbursed to Palestinians in six months

    Nearly billion dollars in direct aid disbursed to Palestinians in six months
    www.reliefweb.int:80/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KHII-7GC5JW?OpenDocument

    PARIS, July 8, 2008 (AFP) - The international community has paid out nearly
    a billion dollars in direct aid to the Palestinians in six months, officials
    of the International Donors' Conference for the Palestinian State said here
    late Monday, while hitting out at Israeli restrictions on movement by
    Palestinians.

    The chair and the co-chairs of the Paris conference, which last December
    came up with pledges of donations totalling 7.7 billion dollars over three
    years, 'strongly welcomed' the process of disbursing the funds.

    The international community has paid out more than 920 million dollars in
    six months in direct budgetary support and signed for one billion dollars of
    bilateral agreements with the Palestinian Authority for development
    projects, according to a communique from the chair and co-chairs released by
    the French foreign ministry.

    'This unprecedented level and rapid disbursement of contributions
    demonstrates the strong support of the international community to the
    Palestinian government,' said the statement by Quartet special Middle East
    envoy Tony Blair, European External Relations Commissioner Benita
    Ferrero-Waldner and a Norwegian representative who met at the French foreign
    ministry.

    'The priority over the coming months will be to secure contributions of Arab
    League members. These will be crucial to finance the budgetary gap and to
    support the Palestinian institutions,' it went on.

    The chair and co-chairs said it was 'essential that the Palestinian
    government maintains a rigorous fiscal policy in relation with the future
    disposable revenues and contributions.'

    But 'restrictions by the Government of Israel on Palestinian movement and
    access continue to weigh heavily on the economic outlook.

    'Without a significant lifting of such barriers in the West Bank, and a
    relaxation of the restrictions on humanitarian and commercial flows to the
    Gaza Strip, there is a much-reduced prospect for private sector recovery,
    public and private investment programmes will continue to be delayed, and
    consequently any economic recovery will continue to be inhibited.'

    The Paris conference was aimed at boosting still fragile hopes for peace
    launched at the latest Palestinian-Israeli peace process in Annapolis,
    Maryland in late November 2007, aimed at working for a Palestinian state by
    the end of 2008.

    abm/bm AFP 080231 GMT 07 08

  • Israelis and Palestinians Meet to Resolve Violence in Ni'lin; Curfew and Closed Perimeter Lifted

    July 8th, 2008

    IDF SPOKESPERSON'S ANNOUNCEMENT

    Israelis and Palestinians Meet to Resolve Violence in Ni'lin; Curfew and
    Closed Perimeter Lifted

    Following numerous outbreaks of violence in the Ni'lin area, IDF regional
    officers conferred last night with representatives from the village. The
    purpose of the meeting was to discuss means to end the recent violent riots
    in the area.

    The meeting was attended by the Binyamin Regional Brigade Commander, Head of
    the Israeli Liaison Office in Ramallah and senior Palestinian Fatah
    representatives from the village.

    In the meeting the Palestinians committed to refrain from demonstrating for
    the rest of the day, and that in the future, they will ensure that
    demonstrations are non- violent. The IDF will in turn end the curfew, remove
    the security perimeter imposed on the village and refrain from imposing
    similar restrictions as long the agreements and understanding are withheld.

    The latest meeting was held following the recent clashes between IDF forces
    in the area and residents of the village during which IDF soldiers, Border
    Policemen and civilian workers were injured, events that led to the
    imposition of a closed perimeter and curfew on the village.


Jewish Task Force (JTF) provides its online services subject to the Terms of Service ("TOS").