Israel is concerned that elements of the so-called Global March to Jerusalem slated for Friday will attempt to storm the Jewish state’s borders to provoke a confrontation amid reports Iranian-backed jihad groups are involved in planning the event.U.S. endorsers of the Global March include President Obama’s controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.; Cornel West, a longtime friend of Obama who served as an adviser to the president’s 2008 campaign; and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink.Weather Underground founder Bill Ayers, a close associate of Obama for years, helped originate the concept of creating border chaos for Israel in 2009.According to reports, Iran is also heavily involved in organizing the march.Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists that are part of dozens of international delegations began arriving in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan yesterday.Yesterday, citing Global March sources, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported some activists fear the event could get out of control due to the involvement of outside forces.Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has expressed support for the march, reportedly telling the country’s Fars news agency the event is consistent with Iran’s “resistance operations” targeting Israel.
A long-standing point of contention between Israel and the US (one of the few that exists) is the fact that while Congress and the vast majority of American citizens recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, the White House refuses to do so.The Obama Administration's position on Jerusalem took center stage this week when a State Department spokeswoman refused during a press briefing to accept that the city, even the non-contested and Jewish dominated western half, is the capital of Israel.
At Wednesday's weekly press briefing, a reporter asked State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland to comment on the issue, to which she replied, "Our policy with regard to Jerusalem is that it has to be solved through negotiations. We are not going to prejudge the outcome of those negotiations, including the final status of Jerusalem. ...That's all I have to say...”
But the reporter in question was not satisfied, and pressed Nuland, stating, "That seems to suggest that you do not regard Jerusalem as the capital of Israel." Nuland still was not budging, so the reporter tried to "give her an out" by asking, "Is it your position that all of Jerusalem is a final-status issue, or do you think -- or is it just East Jerusalem?"
Nuland still refused to acknowledge that even the western side of Jerusalem, which has been under Israeli sovereignty since 1948, is the legitimate seat of Israel's government. The Weekly Standard transcribed the entire exchange at the press briefing.
The IDF on Tuesday broke with Israeli tradition and ordered all units to cancel the long-customary Passover leaves and remain on full alert over the holiday.
Less than two weeks after a Muslim gunman brutally murdered a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse, Jewish schools across France, including the one where the attack occurred, are receiving threatening emails and phone calls.
Staff at the Ozar Hatorah School in Toulouse where terrorist Mohammed Merah mercilessly killed Yonatan Sandler, his two young sons, and the 8-year-old daughter of the school's headmaster said they have been flooded with emails and phone calls threatening the lives of more students.
French news agency AFP reported that numerous emails had been sent to the school calling for the murder of more Jews and linking the justifying the recent killings as a response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many of the emails were signed, "The avenger of France and the French people."These threats have been sent to numerous other Jewish schools in France, too, most of them belonging to the Ozar Hatorah school network. The head of the school network told AFP that he fears further anti-Semitic attacks.
The man who was hurt in a rock attack in the Mount of Olives cemetery on Wednesday, was a groom about to get married and who was visiting his grandmother's grave at the cemetery.
The groom said that a mob made up of young local Arabs threw stones at him and his friend who accompanied him and poured paint on their vehicle. The two managed to drive off and escaped with only minor injuries.
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