Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud rival Moshe Feiglin squared off for the chairmanship in Likud party primaries on Tuesday, along with slates of candidates for other positions within the party. Feiglin made an early statement that reported shortages of ballots in Judea and Samaria, was "not an innocent mistake, but rather an attempt to sabotage the vote in places where Feiglin wins wide support." Party leaders dismissed these claims, while Netanyahu urged party members to participate in the elections because "if the inactive majority stays home, we get an inaccurate picture" of what party activists want. "If everyone comes and votes, we get a clear picture." The winner of the race will call a press conference when final results are available, estimated to be after midnight.
Netanyahu has virtual chat with Arabs on Facebook
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an online chat session via the Prime Minister's Office Facebook page in Arabic on Monday, going over the heads of Arab governments directly to the people who live in the countries surrounding Israel, including Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, the Gulf states and northern Africa, as well as the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Arab sector. The questions covered a broad range of topics and reflected curiosity about the Jewish State and Netanyahu’s stance on regional issues. Answering a question about Iran, he said "Iran is developing nuclear weapons in order to control the entire Middle East and beyond. This is a direct threat to peace." In answer to a question about the Arab Spring he said "Increasing freedom within these countries will aid their prosperity. Increasing freedom of information could aid peace because at the moment, the Arab world still has stigmas and stereotypes about the State of Israel that have no bearing on reality."
Hundreds die in Syria as UN Security Council set to meet
Forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar Assad fought vicious street battles with opposition forces and army deserters in the outskirts of Damascus on Tuesday as top diplomats from several Western and Arab countries gathered in New York to make the case for Assad’s removal to the UN Security Council, even as the regime continues to issue defiant statements that it will not be defeated by “foreign plots.” Russia has objected to the wording of the proposed resolution condemning Assad, and China has also hinted that it might use its veto to protect Assad. Meanwhile, on Israel’s southern border, a spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces announced on Monday that the SCAF is looking for ways to speed up the transition to civilian rule, including moving up the date for presidential elections, following weeks of protests.
Israel well prepared for Cyberwar
According to a recently published study by the Brussels-based Security and Defense Agenda think tank, Israel is one of the most prepared countries in the world for the new era of conflicts in cyberspace, despite a recent high profile series of attacks against Israeli websites. The study included statistics that Israeli websites are attacked around 1,000 times a minute, but national defense strategies and Israeli technology have so far managed to fend off most of the attacks. Meanwhile, the IDF continues to improve its ability to defend the Jewish State in the real world, as the Jerusalem Post reported on Monday that the tempo of covert operations far from Israel’s borders has significantly increased in the last year, including ops in places such as Sudan, Lebanon and Iran, as well as on the high seas.
Canadian FM blasts ‘new anti-Semitism’
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird opened the 12th-annual Herzliya Conference on Monday night with a rousing speech, telling the conference that Canada was proud to call Israel a friend and “to stand for what is principled and just, regardless of whether it is popular, convenient or expedient” adding that Israel is “a beacon of light in a region that craves freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.” Blasting the international campaign to delegitimize Israel as “the new anti-Semitism” he explained that by “harnessing disparate anti- Semitic, anti-American and anti-Western ideologies, it targets the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, Israel, as the source of injustice and conflict in the world, and uses, perversely, the language of human rights to do so.”
IAI and Boeing team up to help defend South Korea
The ‘Arrow’ air defense system jointly produced by Israeli aircraft industries and US aerospace giant Boeing is already protecting the Jewish State from the threat of incoming missiles and is rumored to be deployed on the West coast of the US. Soon it might be protecting other countries, starting with South Korea. “There’s still a long way to go, but we and our Israeli partners are working very persistently to be able to provide this phenomenal capability to South Korea, an important U.S. ally,” said Roger Krone, president of Boeing Network & Space Systems. Singapore, India, and several other Asian countries have also expressed interest in air defense technology.
