Iran is fighting against ISIS in the Middle East, and backing Shia militias to help in the fight against ISIS. Does this make Iran our ally?
That doesn’t matter to Louie Gohmert, who on Fox News said again that he would like to bomb Iran.
Are all Muslims the same? Does religion play a role in the Middle East?
Is ISIS and Iran on the same side, or are they fighting each other?
Is Bashar Assad on the same side as ISIS?
The turmoil in Yemen grew into a regional conflict Thursday, with Sunni Saudi Arabia and its allies bombing Shiite rebels allied with Iran, while Egyptian officials said a ground assault will follow the airstrikes.
MSNBC
According to YNet News, aid agencies struggling to shelter thousands of Gazans made homeless by war have resorted to building makeshift temporary homes out of metal due to Israeli restrictions on imports into the coastal territory.
As of February, around 150,000 families were still homeless after last year’s war between Israel and Hamas.
IDF bombardment destroyed thousands of apartment buildings and homes during the conflict.
“During the 50-day conflict, 9,800 homes were totally destroyed and another 8,000 left uninhabitable, according to data from the Housing Ministry in Gaza,” states arabnews.com.
Israel limits the flow of concrete, cement, iron bars and other materials into Gaza. They are considered “dual use” items that could have a military purpose if they were seized by Hamas to rebuild tunnels used to launch attacks.
A UAE association provided 50 mobile homes last year to residents of the southern town of Khan Younis.
More here:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4628829,00.html
http://www.arabnews.com/news/629821
(Updated article)
A new article by the Wall Street Journal states that Israel spied on Iran’s nuclear talks with the United States — and used the information to undermine the Obama administration’s position with the GOP-led Congress.
The White House found out about the operation, the Journal reports, when U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted messages among Israeli officials containing details that U.S. officials believed could have come only from the top-secret negotiations. The WSJ claims it spoke with “senior White House officials” about the incident.
“It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy,” a senior U.S. official told the WSJ.
U.S. officials say that classified information – such as the number of centrifuges that Iran might be able to keep operating as part of a final accord – were then shared with lawmakers in a concerted effort to derail the talks.
Israeli officials deny that and told the Journal that they did not spy directly on American negotiators.
“They say they got their information through other means, such as surveillance of Iran’s leaders or via one of the U.S.’s negotiating partners, such as the French,” states Politico.
The report shows the growing rift between the Obama administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has deepened in the wake of Netanyahu’s reelection last week.
“People feel personally sold out,” a senior White House official told the WSJ. “That’s where the Israelis really better be careful, because a lot of these people will not only be around for this administration but possibly the next one as well.”
A senior official in Netanyahu’s office fired back, calling the allegations “utterly false” in an interview with CNN, adding that “Israel does not conduct espionage against the United States or Israel’s other allies. The false allegations are clearly intended to undermine the strong ties between the United States and Israel and the security and intelligence relationship we share.”
The Wall Street Journal: “Using levers of political influence unique to Israel, Messrs. Netanyahu and Dermer (the Israeli ambassador to the U.S.) calculated that a lobbying campaign in Congress before an announcement was made would improve the chances of killing or reshaping any deal.”
More:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/israel-iran-netanyahu-spying-116344.html#ixzz3VQj4yLLv
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell for an interview – the first since he won re-election.
They discussed several topics, including his recent election, his relationship with the White House, his speech in Congress, and his support – or lack of support – for a Palestinian state.
MSNBC
(Updated post)
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, who invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress this month, will visit Israel in the coming weeks, his spokesman said Friday.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz calls Speaker Boehner “U.S. President Barack Obama’s arch rival and the man who invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make his controversial speech in Congress.”
Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the U.S. Congress on March 3rd seemed oriented towards undermining peace negotiations with Iran. Why – because he wants war? The terms of the deal have not even been released yet? Why the rush? A letter from 47 opposition senators directly to Iranian leadership in regards to the peace deal also made the situation more complex – and “two-faced.”
Senior Israeli officials who asked to remain anonymous said Boehner will begin his visit – which has not yet been announced publicly – on March 31st, states Haaretz. He will be heading a delegation of Republican Congress members.
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, who invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress this month, will visit Israel in the coming weeks, his spokesman said Friday.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz calls Speaker Boehner “U.S. President Barack Obama’s arch rival and the man who invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make his controversial speech in Congress.”
Boehner “looks forward to visiting the country, discussing our shared priorities for peace and security in the region, and further strengthening the bond between the United States and Israel,” aide Kevin Smith said to Bloomberg in an e-mail.
Bloomberg states that Boehner’s office claims the trip was planned “months ago.”
Senior Israeli officials who asked to remain anonymous said Boehner will begin his visit – which has not yet been announced publicly – on March 31st, states Haaretz. He will be heading a delegation of Republican Congress members.
Israeli officials said the final agreement for the visit was given during Netanyahu’s trip to the United States, claims Haaretz.
Netanyahu’s speech was March 3rd. Sources state Netanyahu asked lawmakers to oppose a nuclear deal that is being negotiated between Iran and the U.S., Germany, Russia, China, Britain, and France.
Geraldo Rivera recently made total sense while discussing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Fox News’ TV show ‘Fox and Friends.’ Cliff Schecter joins Majority Report to discuss.
Most news outlets are now claiming that Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party won the recent Israeli elections. With nearly all votes counted on Wednesday, Likud had won 30 seats in the 120-member Knesset, comfortably defeating the center-left Zionist Union opposition on 24 seats. A united list of Israeli Arab parties came in third.
The New York Times:
“After a bruising campaign focused on his failings, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel won a clear victory in Tuesday’s elections and seemed all but certain to form a new government and serve a fourth term, though he offended many voters and alienated allies in the process.
“With 99.5 percent of the ballots counted, the YNet news site reported Wednesday morning that Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud Party had captured 29 or 30 of the 120 seats in Parliament, sweeping past his chief rival, the center-left Zionist Union alliance, which got 24 seats.”
Israeli Prime Minster Netanyahu pledged on Wednesday to form a new governing coalition quickly after an upset election victory that was built on a shift to the right and is likely to worsen a troubled relationship with the White House, according to Yahoo News.
In the final days of campaigning, Netanyahu abandoned a commitment to negotiate a Palestinian state – the basis of more than two decades of Middle East peacemaking – and promised to go on bulldozing areas and building settlements on occupied land.
Such policies defy the vision of a peace treaty for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is embraced by President Barack Obama and his Republican and Democratic predecessors, states Yahoo News.
The result was in some ways an unexpected victory for Netanyahu: opinion polls published four days before the vote had shown Likud trailing the Zionist Union by four seats.
(Updated article)
TYT Network gives its view of the Israeli election.
OK, Fine. 