Israeli PM to Abbas: It's absurd that we'll recognize you without you recognizing us

Lieberman says talks of boycott not threatening: We've dealt with boycotts for the length of all of our history

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas , saying "It is absurd to think that in an agreement in which we will recognize the nation-state of the Palestinian people they will not recognize the Jewish state."

Earlier Monday, Abbas gave an interview to the New York Times in which he rejected the possibility of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, and adumbrated the Palestinian position regarding US-brokered peace talks.

Abbas "was quoted as saying he would not be willing to accept the Jewish state and this is while he knows there will be no (peace) deal without recognition of (Israel as) the nation-state. It's absurd," Netanyahu said.

 

Regarding a possible economic boycott, Netanyahu said that "the same international forces pressuring Israel should be pressuring the Palestinian Authority and clarify what the ramifications of failing to reach a peace agreement would be for the Palestinians."

 

Netanyahu concluded that "no pressure will force us to give up Israel vital interests, primarily the safety of Israeli citizens."

 

Security has no price

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett commented on the threat of a potential economic boycott of Israel should peace talks fail.

 

"There is no price for our security and that of our children's. Not even a billion dollars will bring back a child killed by a Palestinian rocket."

 

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has been surprisingly quiet in recent days as the US and Israel have been verbally battling over the potential threat of a boycott on Israel should US-brokered peace talks fail.

 

Monday he broke his silence and warned Washington as well as leftist elements in Israel: Calm down, there is no need to be hysterical.

 

"For three days I have seen reports quoting a senior Foreign Ministry official claiming there is no way to stop the boycott, and that the political echelon is indecisive and afraid to cope.

 

I think I know who the official is, and there is a clear and concise plan on how to deal with the boycott in the Foreign Ministry. There is complete cooperation with all the relevant offices in regards to how to deal with the boycott. Within a month to a month and a half we will have clarified our approach."

 

History of boycotts

Lieberman was quick to note, as well, that this wasn't the first time Israel had to deal with something like this.

 

"There was a boycott in 1921 by the arabs and in 1945 the arab League decided to boycott all jewish business," he said. "Renault stopped dealing with Israel in 1959 because of a boycott and Arab pressure."

 

Lieberman also said that whoever remembers the French embargo in 1967 will also remember how Israel's military and aviation industries flourished during that period.

 

"The embargo had the opposite effect."

 

The oil embargo after the 1973 Yom Kippur Warwas also difficult, Lieberman said, but Israel survived.

 

"Only during the 1990s did we start getting Japanese cars," he said. "Other than Subaru, we didn't have any Japanese cars. And neither did we have Pepsi. We've dealt with boycotts for the length of all of our history."

 

Sailors take warning

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni spoke out against the criticism of Israel, in part in due to US Secretary of State John Kerry's remarks.

 

"Israelis or Americans who tell us to pay attention to security threats or other threats of isolation don't scare us, they're just defining the threats," she said. "If someone goes out to sea and his friend tells him there will be a storm he's not threatening him he's warning him because he's worried for him."

 

Livni also attacked the right, saying Kerry has only helped silence the calls for boycotts.

 

Abbas also said NATO troops, led by the Americans, should be responsible for the security of a future Palestinian state, he said in a New York Times interview. He also claimed that their deployment could be for an indefinite amount of time.

Jeruselam post

Netanyahu urges world powers to take tough line on final Iran deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday pressed world powers to take a hard line with Iran in negotiations for a final nuclear deal, urging them to demand that Tehran abandon all uranium enrichment, halt its ballistic missile program and end a "genocidal" anti-Israel policy.

 

One day after President Barack Obama deemed it unrealistic to believe Iran could be compelled to dismantle its entire nuclear infrastructure, Netanyahu said Tehran should have to take apart all centrifuges used to refine uranium, despite its insistence it would never agree to do so.
 

Netanyahu, deeply skeptical over an interim six-month deal reached with Iran in Geneva in late November, also suggested that the imposition of new sanctions could help the West secure a "better deal" in the next round of negotiations. Obama has urged Congress against further punitive measures for now.
 

While delivering a pointed rebuttal to some of Obama's arguments on Iran, Netanyahu took pains to avoid any new diplomatic clash with the US president. He instead played down their differences and lauded the recently strained US-Israeli bond as the "indispensable alliance."

But with the hawkish Israeli prime minister urging the international community to "beware" of Iran's intentions, he made clear that Israel and the United States are hardly on the same page.
 

"The world must not allow Iran to be a threshold nuclear weapons state, with the option to cross that threshold at a time of its choosing," Netanyahu told a foreign policy forum in Washington, speaking via satellite link from Jerusalem.
 

While the United States wants talks limited to Iran's nuclear program, Netanyahu urged a broader approach, calling on world powers to demand suspension of Iranian missile development—which Israel sees as a security threat—and an end to Tehran's weapons supplies to anti-Israel militants.
 

Addressing the same forum on Saturday, Obama defended diplomacy with Iran but sought to reassure Israelis with a pledge to step up sanctions or prepare for a potential military strike if Tehran fails to abide by the pact.
 

He argued, however, it was unreasonable to envision a deal in which "we'll destroy every element and facility" and argued instead that world powers could accept a "modest" Iranian civil nuclear program subject to intensive international monitoring.
 

But Netanyahu made clear that Israel considers any Iranian enrichment capacity to have military potential—despite Tehran's denial that it seeks a nuclear bomb.
 

In his speech, Netanyahu spoke only briefly of the need to "take apart all the centrifuges" that Iran operates. But later, in a joint appearance with the visiting Dutch prime minister near Tel Aviv, he stressed the point.
 

"I called today for the dismantling of all centrifuges," he told reporters. "All centrifuges means that there's no enrichment ... and therefore we think that that should be part and parcel of a deal."
 

Netanyahu stopped short of repeating his denunciation of the Geneva deal as a "historic mistake," widely interpreted as a swipe at Obama, with whom he has had testy relations.
 

Instead, Netanyahu appears to have set his sights on trying to ensure that world powers squeeze maximum concessions from Iran as they try to craft a comprehensive settlement.
 

New twist
 

Adding a new twist to his pressure campaign, Netanyahu told a largely pro-Israel audience in Washington that Iran was "committed to our destruction" and that any final deal must "include a demand to change its genocidal policy."
 

He accused Iran of supplying rockets to anti-Israel Islamist groups Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad and also cited a recent comment by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling Israel the "rabid dog" of the Middle East.
 

Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, has steered clear of the Holocaust-denial rhetoric of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in reaching out to the West. Rouhani has also pledged Iran will never seek a nuclear bomb.
 

Relations between Israel and the United States, traditionally the closest of allies, have been strained by the preliminary agreement, which was designed to halt advances in Iran's nuclear program and buy time for further negotiations.
 

Speaking at the Brookings Institution's Saban Forum, Netanyahu said a diplomatic solution is preferable but that a credible military threat and tough sanctions are vital to make that possible. And he called for steps to prevent further erosion of existing sanctions.
 

There is concern within the Obama administration that Netanyahu's criticism of the Geneva deal could add impetus to calls by pro-Israel US lawmakers for new sanctions.
 

US officials have appealed to Congress not to push for new punitive measures during negotiations, saying it could alienate Iran and other countries involved in the talks.
 

Israel's opposition to the deal has raised speculation that it might carry out long-threatened strikes against Iran. Netanyahu reiterated his vow that Israel must have the ability to "defend itself by itself," but he issued no direct threats.
 

While Israel is widely assumed to have the region's only nuclear arsenal, many independent analysts believe it lacks the conventional clout to cause lasting damage to Iran's nuclear facilities. The Israelis are also unlikely to go it alone as their most important foreign partner is engaged in diplomacy.
 

Israeli-Palestinian talks
 

Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, Netanyahu said a nuclear-armed Iran would be the greatest threat to a potential Middle East peace accord.
 

He did not echo the hopeful outlook for US-brokered talks that Obama—who has made the issue a top foreign policy priority—painted a day earlier—and said that any agreement that might emerge would initially result in a "cold peace."

While putting the onus on the Palestinians, Netanyahu reiterated he was ready for "historic compromise" but offered nothing new. Palestinians say the negotiations have been hampered by Israeli settlement building on occupied West Bank land they want for a state.

GMA NEWS

Obama to Netanyahu: Shut Up

The Obama administration can’t take the heat. Stung by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reaction to the so-called “deal” made with Iran, President Obama has asked the Israeli leader to “take a breather from his clamorous criticism,” according to theWashington Post’s David Ignatius.

Netanyahu’s anger is justified. Despite the ostensible reality that Israel is America’s staunchest Middle East ally, the Obama administration was engaged in six months of secret, high-level talks with Israel’s foremost enemy. Obama informed Netanyahu of this reality on September 30. And while he seemingly took Obama’s announcement in stride, a day later the Israeli Prime Minister delivered a blistering speech to the UN General Assembly, calling Iranian President Hasan Rouhani a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” looking to exploit this latest diplomatic effort to advance his nation’s nuclear weapons agenda. He also made it clear where his nation stood on the issue. “I want there to be no confusion on this point. Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons,” he insisted. “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.

”In the following weeks, there was no let up by Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, and on November 24 Obama phoned the Prime Minister in an effort assuage his concerns. The two leaders agreed to have an Israeli delegation, headed by National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen, ensconced in Washington, D.C. to iron out a deal that keeps Israel in the loop going forward. Obama also assured Netanyahu the both nations were on the same page with regard Iranian policy goals. It was during that phone call that Obama reportedly asked Netanyahu to tone down his rhetoric.

By last Thursday, it became apparent that while Netanyahu might shift his criticism away from the deal itself, he was not about to keep quiet. “The largest darkness that threatens the world today is a nuclear Iran,” the Times of Israel quoted Netanyahu as saying. “We are bound to do all we can to prevent this darkness. If possible, we will do this diplomatically. If not, we will act as a light unto the nations.”

Yesterday, in a response to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s ridiculous criticism of his approach to the issue, Netanyahu reiterated his intention to keep talking. ”In contrast to others, when I see that the vital security interests of Israeli citizens are at stake, I will not shut up,” he declared. ”It is very easy to keep quiet. It is easy to receive pats on the shoulder from the international community, to bow one’s head, but I am committed to the security of my people. I am committed to the future of my country, and in contrast to periods in the past, we have a loud and clear voice among the nations and we will make it heard in order to warn–in time–against dangers,” he added.

Olmert, speaking at an Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv, had likened the ongoing criticism as tantamount to an act of war against the United States. ”We have declared war on the US. That cannot be disputed,” said Olmert, who further insisted that Israel needs to avoid anything that might be construed as a “fight” with its closest ally. And while Olmert conceded that a nuclear Iran was a threat to Israeli interests, he stressed that the Jewish State should allow the United States to take the lead in preventing that reality from occurring.

Netanyahu seemingly offered both Olmert and Obama a fig leaf in that regard. ”We always remember that the US has been, remains and always will be Israel’s greatest friend,” he said.

Yet actions speak louder than words. Israeli Defense Forces told British newspaper The Sunday Times that the Israeli leader has ordered Mossad, its international espionage agency, and Aman, its primary military intelligence organization, to search for any evidence that violates the deal signed in Geneva eight days ago. “Everyone has his own view regarding the Geneva agreement,” an Israeli intelligence source was quoted as saying. “But it is clear that if a smoking gun is produced, it will tumble like a house of cards.”

The source further noted that the Israelis will focus their attention on three aspects of clandestine activity, namely bomb designs, ballistic missile development, and secret uranium enrichment sites. “Iran would not have invested such a fortune [estimated at $200 billion] if in the end it does not produce nuclear weapons and turn Iran into a regional superpower,” insisted an unidentified Israeli official.

Undaunted, the Iranians continue to push the envelope. On Saturday, Rouhani announced that his nation will begin construction on a second nuclear power plant in the Bushehr province in southwest Iran. “The first nuclear power plant is in operation in Bushehr province, and the construction of the second one will soon kick off; development of new atomic power plants in the country will start in earnest and there will be nuclear reactors in most parts of Bushehr province,” the Iranian Tasnim news agency reported Rouhani as saying. Tehran pushed the envelope even further, identifying an additional 16 sites they consider suitable for nuclear power plants.

In the meantime, while the American left is celebrating this “historic” achievement, it is worth remembering two sobering realities. First and foremost, there is no deal. As noted last week, the Iranians contend the White House put out an inaccurate fact sheet regarding what was agreed to, and the State Department was forced to admit that the much-ballyhooed six-month interim agreement has not begun, nor is there any mechanism in place to prevent Iran from continuing to pursue its nuclear ambitions.

Second, Americans either forget or are unaware of the reality that Rouhani is a front man for the real power in Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. That would be the same Ali Khamenei who continues to refer to the United States as the “Great Satan,” and who told thousands of Iran’s Basij militiamen late in November that Israel is the “sinister, unclean, rabid dog of the region.” “The real threats to the world are evil powers including the Zionist regime and its supporters,” Khamenei said. “The Zionist regime is doomed to destruction, because this despicable regime was formed by power and imposed on the world, and nothing which is imposed will last,” he added.

The Obama administration’s reaction to Khamenei’s rhetoric? According to the Washington Post, it was “brushed off” by officials shortly before the talks in Geneva began. Peace at any price requires nothing less.http://www.frontpagemag.com/

* * * *

Gulf states ask P5+1 for assurances the Geneva deal "would not be at the expense of the security" of Arab states.

As the US prepares to start talks on an "end state" agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, US President Barack Obama has asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to "take a breather" from his vocal criticism of the interim deal signed in Geneva, journalist David Ignatius wrote in a column published in The Washington Post on Thursday.

Obama and Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Sunday, in a conversation meant to assuage the prime minister's concerns following the signing of the "first stage" deal between Tehran and the P5+1 countries.

Sunday’s accord is a six-month agreement with an option to extend, meant to limit the Iranian nuclear program as the P5+1 – the US, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany – try to hammer out a comprehensive accord with Iran. In return, Iran received some sanctions relief.After weeks of Israeli officials publicly condemning the deal, Netanyahu and Obama have agreed to send an Israeli delegation, headed by National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen, to Washington to discuss strategy for a permanent agree with the US administration, in a clear shift to backroom diplomacy.

Israel is not the only country in the region seeking assurances on Iran.

Bahrain's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah al-Khalifa has asked that the P5+1 states "clarify to the leaders and people of the region that the agreement that has been reached serves to achieve regional security stability."

Addressing the start of a regular meeting of Gulf Arab interior ministers in Bahrain, he said Gulf Arab states wanted to be certain that the accord "would not be at the expense of the security of any member of the (Gulf Cooperation) Council".

"It is not a secret that we in Bahrain have felt [threats that] affect our security, with all foreign-related links to that."

Bahrain, which hosts the US Fifth Fleet as a strategic bulwark against Iran across the Gulf, has suffered frequent unrest since 2011 when its Shi'ite Muslim majority took to the streets demanding reforms and a bigger say in government.

The Sunni Muslim monarchy in Bahrain and in neighboring Saudi Arabia have regularly accused Shi'ite Iran of fomenting the unrest. The Islamic Republic denies such accusations.

US officials have said that the nuclear deal, to be the basis of a longer-term comprehensive settlement with Iran negotiated next year, will if fully implemented help make the chronically volatile Middle East a more stable, secure region.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states, despite their mistrust of Iran, gave a qualified welcome to Tehran's interim deal with the world power

---------------------------------------

Netanyahu says Iran nuclear deal is 'historic mistake'

Nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers reached in Geneva

1/24/2013 04:14

GENEVA- Iran and six world powers have reached an agreement on curbing Iran's nuclear program in exchange for limited sanctions relief, several delegations in the talks said on Sunday.

"We have reached an agreement," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced on his Twitter feed. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also confirmed the deal.
----

Premier tells cabinet the world has become more dangerous as a result of agreement; Bennett: "Israel does not see itself as bound by this bad, this very bad agreement that has been signed."

Photo by: Reuters

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu characterized the agreement signed with Iran early Sunday morning as a historic mistake.

Directly contrasting US President Barack Obama who praised the agreement as opening a "new path toward a world that is more secure,"  Netanyahu – speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting -- said the world has become more dangerous as a result.

"What was agreed last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement, it is a historic mistake," he said. "Today the world has become much more dangerous because the most dangerous regime in the world took a significant step to getting the most dangerous weapon in the world."

For the first time, he said, the leading powers of the world agreed to uranium enrichment in Iran, while removing sanctions that it has taken years to build up in exchange for "cosmetic Iranian concession that are possible to do away with in a matter of weeks."

Netanyahu said the consequences of this deal threaten many countries, including Israel. He reiterated what he has said in the past, that Israel is not obligated by the agreement.

"Iran is committed to Israel's destruction, and Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself by itself against any threat" he said. "I want to make clear as the prime minister of Israel, Israel will not allow Iran develop a military nuclear capability."

Netanyahu's government denounced world powers' nuclear agreement with Iran on Sunday as a "bad deal" to which Israel would not be bound.

Yet Israeli officials stopped short of threatening unilateral military action that could further isolate the Jewish state and imperil its bedrock alliance with Washington, saying more time was needed to assess the agreement.

"This is a bad deal. It grants Iran exactly what it wanted - both a significant easing in sanctions and preservation of the most significant parts of its nuclear program," an official in Netanyahu's office said.

Aimed at ending a dangerous standoff, the agreement between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia was nailed down after more than four days of negotiations in the Swiss city of Geneva.

A senior US official said the agreement halted progress on Iran's nuclear program, including construction of the Arak research reactor, which is of special concern for the West as it can yield potential bomb material.

It would neutralize Iran's stockpile of uranium refined to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, which is a close step away from the level needed for weapons, and calls for intrusive UN nuclear inspections, the official said.

The Islamic republic - which denies its nuclear program has hostile designs - has also committed to stop uranium enrichment above a fissile purity of 5 percent, a US fact sheet said.

But that still appeared to fall far short of Netanyahu's demand for a total rollback of the Iranian nuclear program.

"You stand and shout out until you're blue in the face, and you try to understand why they're not listening. The world wanted an agreement," Finance Minister Yair Lapid, a member of Netanyahu's security cabinet, told Israel's Army Radio.

"We also said that a diplomatic accord would be good. A diplomatic accord is certainly better than war, a diplomatic accord is better than a situation of permanent confrontation - just not this agreement."

Lapid said that in the Israel had to pore over the deal: "For example, we still don't understand exactly what stepping up the monitoring (on Iran's facilities) means. This is a detailed matter. God really is in the small details."

Economic Minister Naftali Bennett, another security cabinet member, told Army Radio in a separate interview: "Israel does not see itself as bound by this bad, this very bad agreement that has been signed."

Neither minister would be drawn on how Israel might respond. Israel, which is widely assumed to have the Middle East's sole atomic arsenal, sees a mortal menace in a nuclear-armed Iran and has at times threatened to launch a preemptive war against its arch-foe.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the Geneva deal required the Netanyahu government to conduct a strategic review.

Asked on Israel Radio whether he felt cheated by the United States for its role in the deal, Lieberman said: "Heaven forbid."

Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On on Sunday praised the agreement while criticizing the Israeli government for overlooking important components of the deal.

“The Israeli government ministers’ assault on the agreement takes attention away from the fact that clauses of the deal include the most important goal which was the dismantling and rolling back of the fast track to the bomb,” she said.

“The main sanctions that will remain imposed on Iran and the tight supervision by IAEA inspectors who will visit nuclear sites daily are indicative of the fact that this is not just an American achievement, but also an Israeli achievement,” the Meretz chief said. “This is because the goal of supervision, similar to sanctions, is to encumber the race to the bomb and remove the possibility that Iran could fool the international community without anyone taking notice.”

The deputy speaker of parliament, Likud MK Moshe Feiglin, said on Saturday the interim agreement signed between Iran and the Western powers was tantamount to the Munich Agreement of the late 1930s.

“Like Czechoslovakia at that time, which was not party to the discussions that effectively sentenced it to death, Israel today watches from the sidelines how its existential interest is being sacrificed by the Western powers,” Feiglin said.

“Any rational person understands that we are in the midst of a process leads to a nuclear-armed Iran,” he said. “For years I have warned about the dangers of the strategy adopted by Israel towards the Iranian nuclear threat.”

Feiglin said that entrusting foreign powers to secure Israel’s defense interests is “disastrous” and “much worse than that which led to the Yom Kippur War.”

The lawmaker called on the Israeli government to declare an immediate end to all contacts with the West over the Iranian question and to make clear that it would not be bound by the agreement signed.

Knesset member Eli Yishai reacted Sunday morning to the deal: "the world's countries only saw the economic interests of the deal, and not their obligation to the security of Israel."

He stressed that Israel "has to no one to trust besides god and ourselves". - By HERB KEINON AND REUTERS

US says it 'appreciates' Israeli government skepticism over Iran nuclear deal

geez how understanding  of them....

United States officials on Sunday said they “appreciate” the Israeli government’s criticism of the interim agreement signed between the Western powers and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program.

In Washington, a senior US official said President Barack Obama would discuss Israel's misgivings with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

"Ultimately we understand and appreciate how Israel is particularly skeptical about Iran. Given the threats that have been made about Israel from Tehran we understand why Israel will want to make sure that this is the best deal possible," the official said.

"I would say that what we have now is a six-month period to test whether the new leadership in Iran continues to follow through their commitment to move Iran on a new path. What we will know after six months is whether there can be a solution." 

White house: President Obama to call Netanyahu on Sunday

Iran currency jumps over 3% after nuclear deal

DUBAI - Iran's currency jumped more than 3 percent against the US dollar on Sunday as news of a breakthrough deal to curb Tehran's nuclear program raised hopes that the economy would start recovering from international sanctions.

The rial traded at around 29,000 against the dollar in Tehran's free market, Iranian traders said, up from about 30,000 before the agreement was reached by diplomats in Geneva in the early hours of Sunday.

"We are feeling the positive sentiment in Iran," Nariman Aflani, foreign exchange trader at AFI Group, an Iranian civil engineering firm, said by telephone.

He said that prices of construction materials such as ceramics and cement within Iran were coming down because people hoped a gradual loosening of sanctions would make it easier for the country to obtain supplies from abroad.

Under the Geneva agreement, Iran will receive minor relief from the sanctions, including potential access to $1.5 billion in revenue from trade in gold and precious metals, and permission to transfer $4.2 billion of revenue from its oil sales across borders. 

Defense minister tells Canadian counterpart Robert Nicholson that Iran is involved in every Mideast conflict; says nuke project must be stopped.

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and D
efense Minister Moshe Ya'alon in Halifax, Canada.
 Photo: Ariel Hermoni, Defense Ministry

Interior of Bushehr nuclear plant

Obama snubs Benjamin Netanyahu as tension rises

very mature Obama, perfect behavour for the President of USA, or any other country 

U.S. President Barack Obama has been refusing to take phone calls from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because of the tension between the two countries over how to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue

.According to the report, which was written by a reporter in Jerusalem, U.S. Jewish leaders are trying to get the White House to decrease the tension and snag Netanyahu an invitation to meet with Obama in Washington.

Netanyahu and Obama last spoke on Friday, November 8, during the last round of talks in Geneva. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote Saturday that the conversation lasted at least 90 minutes.

Obama contacted Netanyahu after the prime minister expressed opposition to the agreement underway with Iran, which Netanyahu has since called a “bad deal” that means “Iran is getting everything and giving nothing.”

Later in the morning of November 8, Netanyahu met with Kerry at Ben-Gurion International Airport. The atmosphere was tense and the conversation did nothing to mitigate Netanyahu’s staunch, and publicly expressed, opposition to the deal.

The most recent round of negotiations between Iran and the international community in Geneva have been in the center of tensions between the United States and Israel, who differ over the best course to dismantle the Iranian nuclear program.

Netanyahu and his ministers believe, in stark contrast to the Americans and some of the other negotiating powers, that it’s possible to extract a much better agreement from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, one that will totally halt uranium enrichment at all levels and shut down the centrifuges. They argue that if forced to choose between acquiring an atomic bomb and the survival of his regime – and the economic crisis puts the ayatollahs’ regime in real danger - Khamenei would choose survival. But so far the West has succeeded in extracting very little from him.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that no agreement with Iran has been reached and that opposition to a deal was premature.

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US to give $75 million more in aid to Palestinians - YES MORE AID after the palestinians throw a tantrum and as Israelis are kiddnapped and murdered

• Despite Israeli concessions
including terrorists released from prison
• Talks over handing over Israeli land
• Israel having to do all this despite its soldiers and civilians being murdered
• US contribution to a Palestinian infrastructure program is now $100 million. 

US Secretary of State John Kerry announced the US would give an additional $75 million in aid to create Palestinian jobs and help the PA improve roads, schools and other infrastructure, DESPITE THE PALESTINIANS GETTING MILLIONS FROM ISRAELI TAX PAYER YEARLY.

US officials said the aid is designed to boost Palestinian public support for faltering peace talks. IN OTHER WORDS APPEASEMENT! 

All this comes in light of the terrorist releases from prison recently, most of whom are and were in jail for horrific murders.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  rightly accused the Palestinians of creating "artificial crises" in nascent peace talks and called on Washington to get the negotiations back on track.

"I am concerned about progress because I see the Palestinians continuing with incitements, to create artificial crises...and run away from strong decisions that are needed to make genuine peace," Netanyahu said at a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Jerusalem.

The Palestinians as usual throwing a tantrum  threatened Tuesday night to bolt the talks, after a stormy meeting between negotiators from both sides in Jerusalem, with a Palestinian official telling AFP the negotiations had "broken down."

Netanyahu told Kerry at the start of their meeting Wednesday that the Israelis were "scrupulously" standing by the terms of the US-brokered deal under which Israeli-Palestinian negotiations were re-launched in late July after a three-year hiatus. 

Only in the last few months Rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza, a 9 year old Israeli child was shot in the neck by a Palestinian terrorist, Israeli soldiers have been kidnapped and brutally murdered - the list is endless, yet Israel STILL stands by the terms.

Taking direct aim at the Obama administration's desire for a pause in new sanctions against Iran, Netanyahu also said more pressure on the Islamic Republic is the way to convince the Iranians to prove their nuclear program is peaceful.

 Netanyahu said pressure "should be maintained and even increased" ahead of a second round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany, which is scheduled to begin in Geneva on Thursday. The Obama administration says it wants to hold off on new sanctions to allow for flexibility in those talks. 

After seeing Netanyahu, Kerry travelled to the West Bank town of Bethlehem for talks with Abbas. There he announced the US would give an additional $75 million in aid to the Palestinian economy. Kerry, announcing the new contribution, proclaimed that "peace is necessary, peace is just and peace is possible." 

Kerry added: "We are convinced that despite the difficulties, both leaders, President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu, are also determined to work toward this goal."

In Bethlehem, Kerry also said the United State will provide an additional $75 million in aid to create Palestinian jobs and help them improve roads, schools and other infrastructure. US officials say the aid is intended to boost Palestinian public support for faltering peace talks with Israel by showing them tangible benefits from the process.

The new aid brings the US contribution to a Palestinian infrastructure program to $100 million.


see also....
Grappling with troubled peace process, Kerry urges Israeli settlement limits

Netanyahu-led committee to approve names of 25 Palestinian prisoners set for release

Jewish Home to forward bill against the move; prisoners expected to be freed Tuesday in 2nd of 4-stage deal as part of peace talks

A Sunday ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to approve the names of 25 Palestinian prisoners set to go free this Tuesday, in the second phase of a 4-stage prisoner release deal as part of ongoing US-brokered peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians. The release will be accompanied by the announcement of new plans for West Bank settlement construction, a senior Israeli official said on Thursday.

The official said the Americans and Palestinians were aware of Israel’s intentions to build more settlements, made clear before talks resumed

The official insisted that any new construction would take place inside the major blocs Israel would probably keep in any future peace deal. In previous rounds of negotiations, the 

Palestinians agreed to swap some West Bank land for Israeli territory to allow Israel to annex the largest settlement blocs adjacent to its border.

Netanyahu has faced pressure from hawkish ministers to delay or cancel the prisoner releases in the wake of a series of violent incidents in the West Bank in recent weeks, including the killing of two IDF soldiers and an attack that wounded a nine-year-old girl in the settlement of Psagot.

Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home party is set to raise a bill against further releases of Palestinian prisoners on Sunday.

MK Ayelet Shaked of Jewish Home told Channel 2 Saturday that Jewish Home has made its opposition clear to Netanyahu.

“We told the prime minister that we are against release of terrorists. It’s immoral. No other country in the world does it,” she said, adding incredulously, “we release terrorists as a gesture [to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] and he promotes a boycott against us?”

In a statement on Thursday, the party said, “the attempt to link the release of the murderers to construction tenders is manipulative and morally wrong. It will be better if the prime minister does not release murderers and does not build. This looks like a despicable attempt to free murderers and tarnish the settlement enterprise.”

“The release of terrorists in exchange for the dubious right of [Hatenua party chairwoman] Tzipi Livni to meet with [chief PA negotiator Saeb] Erekat is very serious. With all due respect, stopping the release of murderers is even more important than justifying the presence of Livni in the government,” the statement went on.

Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon also slammed the planned prisoner release, saying it only strengthened terror.

“We’ll see the celebrations in Gaza, in Ramallah, in Nablus. This only strengthens those who seek to harm [us]” he told Army Radio Saturday.

“Any approval of settlement construction should not be linked to these releases,” he added.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, center, waves with the released Palestinian prisoners at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday, Aug. 14 , 2013. (photo credit: AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Netanyahu has resisted the pressure from the right and plans to release the prisoners on schedule, the prime minister’s representative in the peace talks, attorney Yitzhak Molcho, assured Palestinian and American officials in recent days.

In July, Israel agreed to the release of 104 prisoners, many of whom were convicted of brutal murders, serving sentences for acts of terror committed before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Twenty-six prisoners were released in the first wave on August 13, just after talks started.

The deal was intended as a sign of good faith ahead of the renewed American-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Jerusalem Post

Abbas urges EU firms to boycott settlements

As Kerry, Netanyahu meet in Rome, Palestinian president calls on EU to boycott settlements. 'Such activities are a violation of international law,' Abbas says

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday urged European and other foreign companies not to deal with businesses based in Jewish settlements.

"I call on European companies and foreign companies doing business in the settlements to put an end to their activities," he said after a meeting with European Council president Herman van Rompuy in Brussels

"Such activities are a violation of international law," he said.

Abbas said such a boycott would not be aimed at the state ofIsrael but only targeted at Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

A UN rights expert has singled out several major international firms – including Motorola, Hewlett Packard, Veolia, G4S and Volvo Group – for their involvement in building and maintaining settlements.

Several European retail giants also import produce from the West Bank, which is home to large farms producing fruit, vegetable and flowers.

Earlier Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Rome and spoke as they began talks that were also expected to cover Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations but appeared likely to be overshadowed byIran.

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'Netanyahu is not bluffing on intention to strike Iran'

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “is not bluffing” on his intentions to strike Iran, should the Islamic Republic continue its nuclear program for much longer, a former senior Israeli military official told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

“Bibi’s not bluffing,” said the retired senior official.

Since the UN General Assembly last month, Netanyahu has assured journalists in the United States that he supports President Barack Obama’s diplomatic overtures to Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, while also calling him a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” not to be trusted.

Western powers suspect Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, as it continues to enrich uranium well beyond the grade required for any civilian nuclear use.

The former senior official told the Post that Israeli intelligence assesses Saudi Arabia would not wait “a minute” after Iran acquires a nuclear weapon to build or buy one themselves, risking a nuclear arms race in the world’s least stable region.

“The Saudis have the missile technology already,” he said. “I’d be surprised if they don’t just take warheads from the Pakistanis. They’ve already paid for them.”

Emphasizing the importance of existing sanctions, the official said Iran would try to get the financial pressures lifted with as few concessions as possible.

While generally supportive of the prime minister’s policy, he said that the leadership of Israel’s intelligence community has repeatedly warned Netanyahu against striking and said that the tone of his speech to the UN last month was “a mistake.”

“He’s not the commander-in-chief,” he added. “But he can achieve consensus. And it can be done without leaks – it can be done.”

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Jerusalem Post

As Benjamin Netanyahu points to Sir Winston Churchill and Theodor Herzl - "I am less isolated than them"

In the midst of what many see as warming diplomatic ties between Iran and the West, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu continues to warn the world on the dangers of a nuclear Iran and told the New York Times in an interview published on Friday that he would not let the Islamic Republic have nuclear weapons.

During the interview Netanyahu reportedly pointed to two photos above his desk in his Jerusalem office, one of the British WWII leader Sir Winston Churchill and the other of the founder of Zionism Theodor Herzl and said: "They were alone a lot more than I am."  

Prior to the meeting set for next week between the six world powers and Iran on its nuclear program the Times interviewer described Netanyahu as sometimes coming off "sounding shrill", being "increasingly alone abroad and at home," and being at risk of "seeming frozen in the past amid a shifting geopolitical landscape."

"Netanyahu is most comfortable predicting disaster, scaring people into doing something," the Times quoted Mitchell Barak, a political consultant who worked Netanyahu in the 1990s.
 
"The problem is now he's lost momentum. His message is clear, his message is the same, the situation is the same, but everyone else's perspective has changed," Barak added.

The Times interviewer wrote that "such isolation is hardly new to a man with few personal friends and little faith in allies."

After his US media blitz Netanyahu flooded the European media over the past few days with interviews trying to sway public opinion against easing sanctions on Iran in return for what Jerusalem views as cosmetic concessions.

Jerusalem Post