Russia, Iran, Damascus may crank up border tensions to weaken Netanyahu’s hand in America

DEBKAfile Special Report  — Western military sources predict an upsurge of tension this week along Israel’s borders with Syria and Lebanon. Moscow, Tehran and Damascus may be planning to embarrass Binyamin Netanyahu when he sits down with President Barack Obama at the White house Monday, Sept. 30, and addresses the UN General Assembly the next…

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Video: Jewish priestly blessing at Western Wall

Jerusalem the fifth day of the festival of Sukkot. Jews from across the world took part in the bi-annual “birkat kohanim” or “priestly blessings,” which take place during Sukkot and Pesach (Passover). The service saw thousands of kohanim – members of the priestly families of Israel – bless the gathered crowd in a show of…

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Two hundred million Europeans see Israel as a Nazi state

By GIULIO MEOTTI, ARUTZ 7— The fundamental Zionist idea about anti-Semitism was that once a Jewish State was realized, the problem of anti-Semitism in Paris, Berlin and Rome would be solved. Since Jews would have their own homeland, they could no longer be persecuted as religious and national strangers. But this neat packet of reasoning…

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Obama would rather negotiate fecklessly than contend responsibly

By CAROLINE GLICK, JPOST– Did US President Barack Obama score a great victory for the United States by concluding a deal with Russia on Syria’s chemical weapons or has he caused irreparable harm to the US’s reputation and international position? By what standard can we judge his actions when the results will only be known…

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Pope Francis praises Jews for keeping their faith in God

By JTA and AARON KALMAN, TIMES OF ISRAEL— Pope Francis praised Jews for keeping their faith despite the Holocaust and other “terrible trials” throughout history, and reaffirmed Judaism as the “holy root” of Christianity. Francis made the statements in an unprecedented open letter to Eugenio Scalfari, a prominent Italian atheist and founding editor of the…

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Nearly half of Syrian rebels are hardcore Islamists

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON, REUTERS— Almost half of Syrian rebel fighters are jihadists or hardline Islamists, according to a new report by London intelligence and defense consultancy IHS Janes. On Sunday, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper cited the report as putting the number of opposition forces at 100,000, broken up into around 1,000 groups. The study said…

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