Farouk Hosny says that his ministry views Jewish sites as much a part of Egypt’s culture as Muslim mosques or Coptic churches and the restorations would not require any foreign funding. This marks a turn in attitude for the Egyptian artist and culture minister.

On Sunday, the 12th century Ben Maimon synagogue, named after Maimonides, was rededicated in a ceremony including half a dozen Egyptian Jewish families who fled the country long ago.

Hosny committed his ministry to restoring all 11 synagogues across Egypt, three of which have already undergone renovation. The most visited synagogue is that of Ben Ezra – located in Cairo’s Christian quarter near a number of old churches, was restored some years ago.

“There were some lectures on the Jewish sites in Egypt and the temple. It was nice, emotional and nostalgic,” said Raymond Stock, an American “close” to the Jewish community in Cairo.

The Jewish community of Egypt, which dates back millennia and at its peak in the 1940s numbered around 80,000, is down to several dozen, almost all of them elderly. The remainder were driven out decades ago by mob violence and persecution.

Egypt and Israel fought a war every decade from the 1940s to the 1970s until the 1979 peace treaty was signed. None the less, Egyptian vibrations remain deeply unfriendly to Israel, and anti-Semitic stereotypes still appear in the Egyptian media.

Last September, Hosny blamed a conspiracy “cooked up in New York” by the world’s Jews when he lost a bid from becoming the next head of the U.N.’s agency for culture and education.

During this time, Hosny’s candidacy raised an outcry because of a threat which he had made in the Egyptian parliament in 2008 to personally burn any Israeli book he found in the Alexandria Library.

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Doubtlessly, both Israel and Syria’s nuclear programs will come under the microscope of international inspectors to ensure that they do not cross-over into weapons programs.
Iran and North Korea were not invited to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development conference.

Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said that nuclear plants built in Israel will be subject to strict safety and security controls. And get this – he even said that his country would like to build them in cooperation with scientists and engineers from “our Arab neighbors.”

“Israel has always considered nuclear power to partially replace its dependence on coal,” spoke Landau.

The program aims to help Israel secure its energy supplies and fight global warming. Israel currently uses coal and natural gas to produce electricity.
Asked if Israel would allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to supervise any new project, Chen Ben Lulu said that Israel would follow all the relevant rules.

The Jewish Country however, has not signed the Nonproliferation Treaty, which aims to limit the number of countries capable of developing nuclear weapons.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad said that his country is looking at “alternative energy sources, including nuclear energy” to meet its growing demands for energy. “The peaceful application of nuclear energy should not be monopolized by the few that own this technology but should be available to all,” Mekdad said.

A few months ago, Landau met with the French Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, and raised the idea of French-Israeli-Jordanian cooperation in developing a nuclear power plant.

France derives more of its electricity from nuclear power than any other country in the world and has a highly developed civilian nuclear industry.

It was France who, beginning in the 1950s, helped Israel build its nuclear reactor at Dimona.

Israel also has a smaller nuclear reactor for research purposes at Nahal Soreq, outside of Tel Aviv.

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“We don’t have enough soldiers…we cannot lend our hand to draft-dodging in any way whatsoever…we must work to enlist everybody who is eligible, not only in keeping with Israeli law, but also with our national morals…the army can’t wait for something to happen and then say we didn’t prepare; we need to be ready at all times for all situations…our chief of General Staff says we must be prepared at all times to fight the next war. We must be ready and be able to win in war to an extent that there will be no question that we were victorious.”

She continued:

“Up until recent years, some 25 percent of women served as clerks in the army. Nowadays its only 12%, which illustrates the way in which we have created opportunities for women to find roles in the army where they can contribute more and get more out of their service…we see women in the army at every place, at every rank, in professional roles and combat roles all over, and we believe that we must launch every effort to broaden and deepen the service of women in the army.”

“Because we have fewer soldiers than we need, we believe it’s not right to give up on someone for trying to dodge the draft, or for posing as religious. Our situation won’t allow us to give up on 37% of Israeli women…There is no reason that my daughters are required to do national service and someone else’s aren’t…at one point one of my daughters was serving in Jenin, while the other was deployed at the Machpela Cave. Of course, like every mother, I worried about them, but there’s no question, it’s the army, everyone must serve.”

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Is it:

a) To put Palestinian construction workers back to work

b) To house more Jews in Samaria…resuscitating the injured Zionist dream

c) To tell the Obama administration that Israel is NOT a territory of a Middle-Eastern American empire, and therefore under Uncle Sam’s jurisdiction, despite any amount of welcome donations, as Vice President Joe Biden arrives in the Holy Land for a piece of the Peace Talks with our Bibi and Mahmoud Abbas.

d) To deny Palestinians of their human rights

Only G-D knows!

There will be 112 new apartments in the Beitar Illit ultra-Orthodox settlement, known as the “The Torah city of the Judean Hills.”

In this action, the Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Israel of trying to undermine the peace talks even before they began:

“If the Israeli government wants to sabotage Mitchell’s efforts by taking such steps, let’s talk to Mitchell about maybe not doing this (indirect talks) if the price is so high… put a big question mark on what it is that we came to do.”

The Palestinians presented the U.S. envoy with a document outlining their desired agreement: a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, with minor border adjustments.
This is what Bibi said after speaking to Biden:

“I believe we will succeed in advancing the diplomatic process…But the diplomatic process is not a game, it is real, and rooted first and foremost in (Israel’s) security.”

Peace Now settlement expert, Hagit Ofran said:

“The Israeli government is welcoming the vice president by demonstrating, to our regret, that it has no genuine intention to advance the peace process.”

Hamas and other known trouble-makers, have condemned Abbas’ decision to renew talks, accusing moderate Palestinians of caving in to U.S. pressure.

On Monday Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad unveiled a $3.13 billion budget for 2010, about $80 million more than last year, funded by the international community. He said that after years of a conflict-driven downturn, Palestinian government revenues are up, partly due to economic growth projected at 7% this year. Fayyad also said he will more than triple spending on development projects to $667 million, in accordance with donor countries desiring to see more money earmarked for infrastructure, health and education.

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His opponents, Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore have claimed that Campbell opposes Israel because of the way he has voted while in office and because of the donations which he accepted from Sami al-Arian, a prominent leader of Islamic Jihad.

When asked whether he has ever supported Israel during his ten years in the House of Representatives his response was, “There’s no place for calling me an anti-Semite and then denying it. That whispering campaign, that silent slander stops today.”

Campbell was a Stanford law professor and spearheaded a House of Representatives claim against former President Bill Clinton for the manner in which he commanded the war in Kosovo.
Fiorina mentioned that Campbell voted in favor of a cut in financial aid to the Jewish Country and was one of 34 members of the House who voted against the move to define Jerusalem as its undivided capital – 435 others supported the move.

DeVore called Campbell “a friend to our enemies”, alluding to the fact that he accepted $1,300 from al-Arian in 2000, after he was arrested on suspicion of running an Islamic Jihad campaign in the University of South Florida.

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Fellow soldiers reported the leak to military authorities, who then called off the raid fearing that the information may have reached hostile groups. The soldier, still unnamed has been court-martialed and sentenced to 10 days in prison.

The IDF’s statement added that it is cracking down on soldiers’ use of social networking Web sites and has launched a campaign warning of the dangers of sharing military classified information online.

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Police handed a report on Ben-Arieh to the Civil Service Commission which describes the accusations: they say that the former ambassador confessed to the allegations against him during the questioning.

The police did however deny that there were any leaks, Mickey Rosenfeld said:

“…There have been no press leaks…we published a statement on Tuesday about the questioning of Mr Lieberman because it is a very serious investigation….”

Lieberman said:

“When I left the interrogation room, I was warned that I must not comment on any detail from the investigation, and must not talk to anyone about it…what a surprise it was when an hour after I left the interrogation room, all the distorted details were released by the police commissioner’s office.”

Investigators are saying that during the period Lieberman was serving as a Knesset member, back in 2008, Ben-Arieh received a request to transfer a document discreetly from the Justice Ministry in Jerusalem to the authorities in Belarus concerning Lieberman’s investigation.

The document was originally handed to the Justice Ministry by Israel Police. It contained a request for legal assistance from the certified authorities in Belarus and also outlined details regarding the investigation.

The ambassador allegedly copied the classified information detailed in the request right before Lieberman’s visit to Belarus a year and a half ago. He then informed Lieberman of the request and unlawfully passed it on to him when the two met during the visit.

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“Jews kill for money,”

“Leave the country to the Palestinians”

and

“Go somewhere where they will accept you.”

A Foreign Ministry official confirmed that the handwriting appears typical of children six to nine years old. The official said:

“Apparently there are anti-Semitic and anti-Israel individuals who get permission to operate within schools…Each time, the embassy has received several dozen postcards from a different school. And it seems as though whoever is doing this is moving from school to school.”

The Foreign Ministry considered summoning Spain’s ambassador to Israel, Alvaro Iranzo, but spoke to the envoy by telephone instead.

Naor Gilon, the ministry’s deputy director for Europe, called Iranzo on Sunday saying

“Israel is greatly distressed”

by the postcards. The envoy insisted the letters are not part of any Spanish Education Ministry program, but the initiative of private citizens.
Meanwhile, in higher education news: universities campuses in more than 40 cities across the world are holding, Israeli Apartheid Week.” They are marking the week with multimedia events, films, lectures, cultural performances and demonstrations.

The participation of several Israelis in the anti-Zionist events is “atrocious,” said David Katz, a member of Britain’s Jewish Board of Deputies who grew up in South Africa and has fought the comparison between that country’s racial segregation and Israel’s ethnic divisions.
Katz said:

“They are free to do as they please, but it’s atrocious…I think they don’t understand the analogy they are making… which is insulting to those who suffered under apartheid…It’s like calling things ‘holocaust’ which are not the Holocaust or terming something ‘genocide’ which is not genocide.”

One Jewish charity brought over Benjamin Pogrund, a South African immigrant to Israel who is the former deputy editor of the Johannesburg-based Rand Daily Mail, to speak to British university students about why Israel is not by any stretch of the imagination, an apartheid state.
He said:

“The game plan of those who seek the destruction of Israel is to equate us with South Africa, a pariah state which had to be subjected to international sanctions…Israelis coming to take part in this week should know better.”

In Canada, the legislature in the province of Ontario unanimously condemned Israeli Apartheid Week, and are voting on a resolution that denounces the campus events.

Conservative legislator Peter Shurman told Shalom Life, a Toronto-based Jewish Web site:

“If you’re going to label Israel as Apartheid, then you are also… attacking Canadian values…. The use of the phrase ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ is about as close to hate speech as one can get without being arrested, and I’m not certain it doesn’t actually cross over that line.”

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Wednesday saw the Dubai police release the names of 15 suspects, bringing to 26 the number of people suspected. At least 15 of these names match those of real persons who live in Israel. All of them say that their identities were used without permission.

Israel still has not confirmed or denied involvement in the killing. Perhaps they never will. Israeli security officials at least admit knowledge that al-Mabhouh was involved in smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip with Iranian help and was wanted in the deaths of two Israeli soldiers who were captured and killed in 1989. But nothing can be proven in the assassination.

Five of the names released on Wednesday appear in Israeli telephone directories, and Australia’s foreign minister said that two other names belong to Australians living in Israel. An eighth, Roy Cannon’s name, matches that of a 62-year-old man who immigrated to Israel from Britain.

His son, Raphael Cannon told The Associated Press that his father had moved to Israel in 1979.
The photographs on the passports released by the Dubai police, though, do not match the people whose names were used, and several countries have said that the documents were either forged or fraudulently obtained.

Although Dubai’s police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, said he was nearly “100 percent” certain that Mossad was behind the killing, (suffocation with a pillow) the new details added at least one incongruous detail: Two of the suspects left Dubai on a ship bound for Iran, Israel’s archenemy, a seemingly unlikely move for alleged Israeli agents.
Australia, Britain, Ireland and France have all seek clarifications from Israeli diplomats.

Australia’s Herald Sun has a good description of the hit:

“The assassination is an old-fashioned tale of a “honey pot” theory, look-outs in tennis gear, and killers in trilbys, fake moustaches and wigs.

Their target was under surveillance from the moment he boarded an Emirates flight in the Syrian capital Damascus on January 20.

It is believed he was flying to Dubai to organise a new consignment of weapons from Iran that could strike Israel from Hamas strongholds on the Gaza strip.

His killers were waiting for him. From midnight on January 19, at least 11 members of the team began arriving in Dubai separately on flights from Zurich, Rome, Frankfurt and Paris.

They used duplicated passports of citizens from the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Australia, and were co-ordinated throughout the operation from a command centre in Austria. Everything was paid for in cash. Their associates are suspected to have already been in Dubai.

They formed two teams, one for surveillance, the other to eliminate the target.

Al-Mabhouh arrived in Dubai at 3pm on January 20, without a bodyguard.

Collecting his baggage from the carousel, he had to walk around one of his adversaries as he made his way to passport control. He was watched all the way to the taxi rank and followed to the Al-Bustan Rotan hotel.

Two men in tennis gear were standing by the reception desk where he checked in at 3.25pm. The portly man with the moustache and his taller friend looked just like any tourists fresh from the court.

But they followed the Hamas commander into the lift, and he was one step closer to his death.

Within minutes the death squad knew which room he was in and within an hour the alleged leader, using the identity of French passport holder Peter Elvinger, rang from another hotel in the city and reserved room 237, directly across the hall from al-Mabhouh’s room 230.

The team then began a rotating system of surveillance, moving casually around the hotel and watching for him to leave his room.

Conscious of all the CCTV cameras in the hotel, the agents used disguises such as wigs, facial hair and glasses.

One was caught on camera entering a hotel toilet bald, and walking out with a full head of hair and glasses.

Just before 8pm, al-Mabhouh left his room, deposited some documents in the hotel safe and left the hotel for a walk. He had less than an hour to live.

Four men arrived at room 237 and waited for his return.

At 8.25pm the Hamas commander returned. There is no CCTV footage of the hallway outside room 230, but several theories exist about how the assassins were able to enter the room for the kill.”

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In three simulations conducted in Israel and the United States, a dispute was had over a response to Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The simulations envisioned a diplomatic crisis as Washington tried to stop Israel from attacking Iran.

A report on the three simulations said:

“The United States was unwilling to use military force or support Israeli military action even after other measures failed…U.S.-Israeli relations deteriorated dramatically.”

The report by the Washington Institute, titled “Serious Play: War Games Explore Options on Iran,” reviewed war games which were conducted by three leading Western strategic institutes.

In December 2009, Brookings Institution, Harvard University and Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies conducted separate simulations to analyze Iranian nuclear scenarios – leading strategists played the leadership of Iran, Israel and the United States.

The report, authored by defense fellow Jeffrey White, read:

“And three recent war games focused on the Iranian nuclear weapons issue suggest that the prospects for halting the regime’s progress toward nuclear weapons are not good…The results, unfortunately, were uniformly negative.”

Former Defense Department analyst, White, reviewed all three simulations. He said that these war games, with a scenario that envisioned the emergence of Iranian nuclear weapons, ended with a bolstered Teheran and tattered relation between Israeli and the U.S.

The Harvard simulation, organized by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, concluded that President Barack Obama would indeed fail to garner international support for sanctions against Iran, while, Jerusalem and Washington would grow apart amid disagreement over a nuclear Iran.

“The U.S.-Israeli relationship deteriorated dramatically during the game, leading to a deep diplomatic crisis…Indeed, most observers would probably characterize the outcome as a win for Iran and a defeat for the United States and Israel.”

The Brookings simulation also ended witnessing U.S. anger toward Israel as Washington attempted to avoid conflict with Iran. In this particular war game, Israel actually attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“The United States was unhappy with Israel over the attack…The United States tried to talk tough with Iran but also sought direct negotiations.”

In Tel Aviv, INSS envisioned an indecisive Israel and U.S. amid Iran’s advancement toward nuclear weapons. At the end of the simulation, Iran also emerged undeterred by either Jerusalem or Washington:

“Israel and the United States lacked clear goals and strategies for dealing with Iran’s program…Israel was perceived as being unhelpful to the United States.”

The war games suggested that Israel’s military option against Iran would create a hurdle for U.S. strategy in the Middle East. The report said that the simulations pointed to disputing assessments regarding the threat coming from Iran’s nuclear program.

“The United States eschewed military action to avoid the attendant risks, while Israel was more willing to take the risks to avoid, or at least postpone, the nuclear threat…Game play suggests that an eventual U.S.-Israeli crisis is likely.”

White urged the Obama administration to reconsider and revise a strategy and tactics toward Iran. He cited a U.S. option for regime change in Teheran as well as plans for military action against Iran.

“The United States must plan for military action, either by itself, with others, or in the wake of unilateral Israeli strikes…Both the military and the public should be prepared for the consequences of these scenarios. These preparations must be carried out with the full understanding that the military option is practicable — and, at the end of the day, may well be the required course of action.”

A recommendation was made that Israel prepare both its military and civilian sector for what White called an

“extended war on multiple fronts and deep within the homeland.”

Such a war, he cautioned, could result in casualties and disruption of civilian life.

“Israel already appears to be moving in this direction, and that course seems wise given the outcome of the war games,”

said White.

“Time is running out.”

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The terrorists fled the scene.

The four terror cell members came to the fence carrying grenades and assault rifles. They were able to plant one of the bombs; an explosion was heard a short while later. Security officials estimated that the terrorists detonated the bomb in order to lure IDF forces to the area.

Soldiers of the Golani Brigade who were dispatched to the scene opened fire on the terror cell members, who managed to escape. Soldiers continue to comb the area in search of the terrorists and additional explosive devices they may have planted. Security officials said that the incident was part of the terror organization’s increased efforts to target IDF forces operating along the border.

On Thursday, an Israeli aircraft attacked a terror cell in central Gaza; this came after shots were fired at an IDF patrol in the area.

One official, who informed that Hamas was actually not involved in the terror activity, said

“The terror groups are motivated to act and are planning attacks.”

Meanwhile Hamas politburo chief, Khalad Mashaal warned his own that if another war is to break out, the fighting will not be limited to the Gaza Strip:

“If war breaks out, it will not only damage Gaza, but the entire region. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the entire Arab nation. We in Hamas don’t want war; we’ve had enough of the heinous crimes that have befallen Gaza, as documented in the Goldstone Report, but if (war) is forced on us, we will resist the Zionist aggression as we did in the past…”

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“Politicians are simply doing nothing to promote the matter and have completely neglected the issue of releasing Gilad Shalit and the Palestinian prisoners. That’s why we decided to go out and protest.”

The group’s visit to Erez crossing was co-initiated with another group from the Gaza Strip, whose members were waiting on the other side of the road. Throughout the demonstrations, the two groups held phone conversations and encouraged one another.

“Our goal is to pressure decision makers and members of Knesset who regretfully are more preoccupied with whether or not to travel first class, and Lieberman who is trying to inflame our relationship with Turkey or Syria but does nothing for Gilad Shalit,”

said Faraj.
He added that:

“We received many positive feedbacks on our initiative and hope it will help promote the matter.”

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“Itbah Al-Yahud”

…Ayalon knew what it meant…it means “kill the Jews.”

“Our policy is always to await the outcome of police investigations where criminal offences are alleged, and to look at any internal disciplinary process after the police have finished their investigation,”

an Oxford University spokesperson said,

“So we will await the outcome. We abhor racism but obviously now this is in police hands we cannot comment on the individual case.”

Ayalon was not so much intimidated as he was sickened, he said:

“This demonstrates our new policy on hatred and racism and we will have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, something that should have happened a long time ago.”

Throughout his lecture, Ayalon was heckled with accusations of “war crimes” and racism. Another student carrying a Palestinian flag attempted to approach the speaker’s platform and was led out by security staff.

At a demonstration outside the lecture hall, Oxford’s Palestine Society protesters chanted

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Ashley Perry, Ayalon’s media adviser said:

“Comments like these show proof that the narrative on campuses have been hijacked by those who have a hatred for not only Israel but also Jews…The event also proved that if the Israeli narrative is explained in a calm matter, as the deputy minister did, we can increase understanding among those who have not ever been exposed to another narrative.”

Meanwhile, also on Monday night, this time at the University of California in Irvine, roughly 100 arab students tried to disturb a speech being given by Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the United States.

Oren is touring the West Coast giving lectures, and he decided to visit Irvine despite the fact that the local campus is considered hostile to Israel.

Two groups of some fifty students gathered on either end of the lecture hall, which contained 700 people. Shortly after Oren began speaking, the arab students got up and begin their verbal assault.

One student cried,

“Michael Oren! Propagating murder is not an expression of free speech!”

The man’s yelling was followed by heavy applause and objections.
Once every few seconds a student would stand up in one of the corners of the hall and shout:

“I accuse you of murder”

and

“How many Palestinians have you killed?”

and

“Israel is a murderer”.

Oren had difficulty continuing his speech, and left to the next room while local police officers entered the hall and detained 10 students; he then came back and stated

“this is not Tehran,”

before continuing his speech.
Professor Mark P. Petracca, Direct of the University’s Political Science department, told the protesters:

“This is beyond embarrassing…this is no way for our undergraduate students to behave. We have an opportunity to hear from a policy maker relevant to one of the most important issues facing this planet and you are preventing not only yourself from hearing him but hundreds of other people in this room and hundreds of other people in an overflow room. Shame on you! This is not an example of free speech.”

Several months ago an event was held at UC Irvine, with the participation of British Parliament member, George Galloway, a prominent pro-Palestinian activist, in which donations were collected for Hamas.
The local Muslim Students Union at Irvine is under federal investigation, on suspicion of gathering funds for terror activity.

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“Today Palestine is the symbol of life, determination, faithfulness, diligence, and dignity,”

Iran’s Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei told Ramadan Abdullah, the secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement.

“Israel is going downhill toward decline and fall and God willing its obliteration is certain.”

In these sentiments, Khameini joined a long list of top Iranian officials, not the least of which is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has said on several occasions that Israel should be destroyed.

Last year Ahmadinejad said that Israel was “dying” and that people in the Middle East would destroy it if given the chance. He also stressed that opposition to Israel is a fundamental principle in Shi’ite Muslim Iran:

“They should know that regional nations hate this fake and criminal regime and if the smallest and briefest chance is given to regional nations they will destroy [it].”

In 2005 Ahmadinejad said that

“Israel should be wiped off the map”

.
Then he made his U.S. tour to spread the gospel of Holocaust denial on prime-time U.S. television, the United Nations and at Columbia University in uptown Manhattan.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization to begin enriching the nation’s uranium stockpile to a level of 20%, up from 3.5% and to build an additional 10 uranium enrichment facilities.

The move is a rejection of a Western diplomatic deal whereby Iran’s uranium would be enriched abroad to ensure it did not reach weapons grade.

In addition Iran is nearly prepared to repel an Israeli air raid thanks to an expected delivery of advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft missile batteries. Iranian and Russian officials last Thursday confirmed that Moscow, despite Israeli objections, will honor its contract to deliver the S-300 missile systems to the Islamic Republic very soon.

Well, needless to say, Bibi will be travelling to Moscow next Sunday for three days, this time actually announcing the trip, to beg the Russians to think twice.

German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg responded to Ahmadinejad’s comments, saying:

“Today’s statement shows that farce is being played out just like we have seen in the past, that the outstretched hand of the international community has not only not been taken but pushed back.”

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“not only will you lose the war, you and your family will no longer be in power.”

During a business conference at Bar Ilan University, Lieberman said,

“Whoever thinks (Israeli) territorial concessions will separate Syria from the axis of evil is mistaken. Syria must be made to understand that it has to relinquish its demand (that Israel cede) the Golan Heights.”

His chutzpa is to be admired, but he was undermined by his colleagues:

“The foreign minister is busy with internal politics rather than diplomacy,”

Minorities Minister Avishay Braverman (Labor Party) said to a cultural forum in Ramat Hasharon on Saturday:

“Given Israel’s sensitive position in the international community, we are in need of diplomacy and a responsible and prudent foreign policy, not a policy that is driven by domestic political considerations.”

It is not that Lieberman’s sentiments were disagreeable, but it took Prime Minister Netanyahu to clear things up:

“Israel aspires to peace accords with all of its neighbors. We have done it with Egypt and Jordan and we can do it with Syria and the Palestinians…There are conditions for this. Negotiations must take place without preconditions that mean huge concessions on Israel’s part ahead of time. Also, the accord must finally be accompanied by security agreements in order to last for generations.”

Netanyahu also presented to his cabinet his plan to limit dependence on oil:

“Certain countries which control oil support terror…This is a global problem that requires international effort. I spoke of this with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the Polish prime minister, and others, and they have expressed interest in this issue…This is an effort that will not bear fruit within the next two or three years, but within a decade we may reach a solution, for example on the issue of dependence on oil for transportation.”

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