Photo: GPO

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel for a series of meetings with top Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Two major issues on the agenda include Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and putting an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there’s simply no space between the United States and Israel,” stated Biden. “There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel’s security and for that reason and many others addressing Iran’s nuclear program has been one of our Administration’s priorities. We’re determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and we’re working with many countries around the world to convince Tehran to meet its international obligations and cease and desist.  Iran must also curb its other destabilizing actions in the region, well beyond their desire to acquire nuclear weapons and that is their continued support for terrorist groups that threaten Israel and I might add our interest as well. President Obama and I strongly believe that the best long-term guarantee for Israel’s security is a comprehensive Middle East peace with the Palestinians, with the Syrians, with Lebanon, and leading eventually to full and normalized relationships with the entire Arab world. It’s overwhelming in the interest of Israel, but it’s also overwhelming interest to the Arab world and it’s in our interest as well.  The goal is obviously to resolve the final status issues to achieve a two-state solution with Israel and a Palestine living side by side in peace and security. A historic peace is going to require both parties to make some historically bold commitments. You have done it before and I’m confident for real peace you would do it again”.

During his visit to Israel, Biden commended the Israeli moratorium on new building in the West Bank, and stated that on the Palestinian end there is a real commitment to reach an agreement.

In the coming weeks, Israeli and Palestinian officials will resume proxy talks that will eventually reignite official dialogue between the two administrations: “I appreciate the Administration’s effort to advance peace in the region,” added Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I know that this has been difficult and has required a great deal of patience, but I’m pleased that these efforts are beginning to bear fruit and we have to be persistent and purposeful in making sure that we get to those direct negotiations that will enable us to resolve this conflict.

“I look forward to working with President Obama, and with you and your entire Administration to forge a historic peace agreement in which the permanence and legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel is recognized by our Palestinian neighbors and in which Israel’s security is guaranteed for generations to come.”

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In Gaza, Hamas continues to govern along the extremes. Moderate voices are being drowned out by the few in power who wish to create a complete Islamic society. In a bizarre piece of legislation announced this week, men have been banned from working in women’s hair salons.

Instead of finding ways to move towards nonviolence and improve the lives of its people, they spend their time on petty measures that many would describe as an unnecessary infringement on human rights. Putting individuals out of work is the exact opposite of what Hamas was “elected” to do.

For the full story on the latest Hamas ruling, click here.

Photo provided by Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.

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Recently, on a University of California campus, several dozen students repeatedly and brutally interrupted my lecture. Their goal was to undermine the freedom of expression and delegitimize the Israeli state. They did not achieve it. I finished my speech, but neither did I applaud, as did many others in the audience, when the protesters were arrested and led out of the hall. I had come to that university specifically to engage with those students, to exchange ideas—complex and controversial as those ideas may be—and not only to speak but to listen. I did not exalt in their arrest; rather, I was saddened. continue reading…

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Marking 65 years to the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration camp, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, joined leaders worldwide who gathered at the death camp, to commemorate the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and to mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

PM Netanyahu’s full speech has been translated from Hebrew:

continue reading…

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Created by Markus Angermeier

Lately, we have read some erroneous reports regarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ efforts in getting our message across Web 2.0.  First and foremost, we are proud of our efforts in getting our message across the web-o-sphere.   We were one of the first governments in the world to have an official blog (we now that two!), have a Facebook and MySpace page, and a Twitter account and we were the first government to ever hold a Twitter Citizen Press Conference!  Our venture into the web-o-sphere has been so successful that the Ministry has decided to invest more effort in this direction worldwide and to allocate a budget for building and designing more Web 2.0 sites.

At the same time, every year Israel receives thousands of calls, letters, and emails asking us how they can help Israel.  Therefore, due to the success that Israel has had in reaching the masses through Web 2.0, we have decided to encourage those that want to help Israel’s PR effort to respond to articles/letters/postings in talkbacks and write blog posts regarding Israel.  These two initiatives are not the same thing and anyone combining these two decisions are incorrect in doing so.

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