Netanyahu; ‘PA chose terror over peace’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a special plenum meeting in honor of the Knesset’s 63rd birthday on Wednesday, declaring that the Palestinian Authority has rejected the possibility of permanent peace with Israel by agreeing to form a unity government with the Islamist terror militia Hamas. “We said [the PA] needs to choose between the path of Hamas and the path of peace,” he said. “The Palestinians embraced terrorist organizations that call for Israel’s destruction.” Adding praise for Israel’s democracy, he added, “some mistakenly see elections as the face of democracy, but a true democracy is measured in the time between elections, by its freedoms of the individual and the balance between the branches of government. This should not be taken for granted.” In related news, the leadership of Hamas in Gaza added its voice to a rising chorus condemning the choice of PA president Mahmoud Abbas to be the prime minister in a future unity government between Hamas and the PA. The agreement was signed by Hamas leader in exile Khaled Mishaal, and the Gaza based leadership says they were not consulted and do not consent.

For the latest intelligence report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, click HERE (PDF)

Iranian website calls for genocide against Jews
The Iranian website Alef, which is tied to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, recently posted an entry explaining the legal and moral justifications for massive genocide against all Jews everywhere and specifically the annihilation of the Jewish State of Israel. The website warned that the opportunity to destroy Israel, which it referred to as the 'corrupting material' should not be wasted, adding a proposal for a massive military attack against Israel using long-range ballistic missiles, which it claimed would wipe out the Jewish State in a mere nine minutes. The article, written by Khamenei's strategy specialist Alireza Forghani, has been re-posted on most official conservative government websites, indicating it has the support of the regime.

Egypt dismisses threats of US aid cut
Officials of Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) dismissed American threats to cut aid to Egypt if it continued with a investigations into foreign-funded pro-democracy groups and NGOs in Cairo, which has travel bans on 19 US citizens. The US gives Egypt $1.3 billion a year in military support, considered vital to keep the Egyptian military afloat. "Egypt will apply the law ... in the case of NGOs and will not back down because of aid or other reasons," army-appointed Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri told reporters.

Turkey continues to be popular despite setbacks
Turkey has suffered setbacks in the last year, including the loss of allies such as Syria’s president Bashar Assad and Libya’s Muamar Qhadaffi, who provided employment for tens of thousands of Turks. The Turkish economy has also run into rough times and the Islamist government of prime minister Reccep Tayyip Erdogan has been heavily criticized for human rights violations, especially a crackdown on journalists and clashes with the restive Kurdish population. Despite all this, a new poll released this week by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation showed that in the Arab world, nearly 78% see Turkey as a champion of regional peace and role model for religion and democracy living side by side.

IDF continues large field exercises
The IDF held a large-scale artillery drill on Thursday, continuing a new program designed to train soldiers in war fighting skills which have been lost in recent decades and which cost lives in recent conflicts. In the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, the IDF fired 177,000 shells into Lebanon without impacting the rate of Hezbollah’s rocket fire into northern Israel, according to battlefield assessments. “There are two objectives when using artillery fire,” a senior corps officer explained this week. “One goal is to help forces maneuver in enemy territory by providing fire support and the second goal is to try and suppress enemy fire, which was not effective in 2006.”