Pakistan biggest threat to Israel: Israeli FM

September 24th, 2009 Israel welcomes Russian stand on Iran sanctionsJERUSALEM — A senior Israeli official welcomes steps by Russia toward endorsing additional sanctions against Iran as a way of stopping its nuclear program. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev opened the door to a firm international stand against Iran.

September 22nd, 2009 Netanyahu: Iran suspectible to pressureNEW YORK — Israel reserves the right to defend itself against a nuclear threat from Iran, but the Islamic Republic's inner turmoil and weakened economy make it susceptible to pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday. Speculation has been rife that Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent archenemy Tehran from producing the atomic bombs it denies it is trying to build.

August 30th, 2009 JERUSALEM - The Israeli Left has expressed disappointment over a recent Jerusalem Post poll which found that only four percent of Jewish Israelis believe that US President Barack Obama's policies are more pro-Israel than pro-Palestinian. The Jerusalem Post-sponsored Smith Research poll published on Friday reported that 51 percent of Jewish Israelis considered Obama's administration more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israel, while 35 percent called it neutral.

July 20th, 2009 JERUSALEM - A senior US defense official has warned that an Israeli strike on Iran could have profoundly destabilizing consequences, and would directly affect US interests. "A unilateral third-party attack on Iran's nuclear program could have profoundly destabilizing consequences, and it wouldn't just affect the general level of stability in the region.

July 19th, 2009 JERUSALEM - The US has asked Israel to halt a construction project in occupied East Jerusalem and summoned Israel's Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren for clarification, Israel Radio reported Sunday. The issue is the latest in an ongoing dispute over Israeli construction in the occupied territories.

July 11th, 2009 MOSCOW - Israel has ordered at least 25 US F-35 stealth fighter aircraft to counter any potential threat from the delivery of Russian advanced air defence systems to Iran and Syria, an Israeli daily said. Tel Aviv earlier said the purchase of F-35 fighters would effectively eliminate the threat from Russian-made S-300 air defence systems because a series of computer simulations had clearly demonstrated that new US stealth fighters outperform the Russian missiles.

June 22nd, 2009 BERLIN - Iran's nuclear weapons programme could destabilise the Middle East and is a threat not just to Israel but the entire world, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. In an interview published Monday in German daily Bild, he said the main goal should be to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

June 13th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israeli Vice premier Shilvat Shalom Saturday stressed the Iranian nuclear "threat" following Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in Iran's presidential election. "The United States and the free world must reevaluate the policy on Teheran's nuclear ambitions," Shalom told Israel Radio.

May 18th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Ahead of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, US President Barack Obama has said he understands why Israel considers Iran an existential threat. "I understand very clearly that Israel considers Iran an existential threat, and given some of the statements that have been made by [Iranian] President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, you can understand why," The Jerusalem Post quoted Obama, as saying.

May 5th, 2009 Israeli president: US approach to Iran OK for nowWASHINGTON — Israeli President Shimon Peres offered a cautious endorsement of new U.S. overtures to Iran following a longer-than-expected White House meeting with President Barack Obama.

April 22nd, 2009 Israel: Halt Iran to allow Mideast peace effortsJERUSALEM — Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Wednesday that Iran must be reined in if Israel and the Palestinians hope to move along the path to peace. Ayalon made it clear, however, that this was not an Israeli condition for going ahead with peacemaking, though Israel charges that Iran is the main backer of the violent Islamic Hamas rulers of Gaza as well as Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

February 17th, 2009 TEL AVIV - Israeli fighter jets bombed tunnels running to Egypt and a Hamas post early Wednesday in the southern Gaza Strip, apparently in retaliation for a mortar fired overnight by Palestinian militants into Israel, Israeli media reports said. Seven tunnels were hit near Rafah and one other target was hit in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli military spokesman told the Haaretz newspaper, which identified the second strike as hitting a Hamas post in Khan Younis.

February 3rd, 2009 HERZLIA - Diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear programme must be accompanied by a clear timeline, after which harsh sanctions could be imposed, accompanied by a willingness to act, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said. He told an international conference in Herzlia, north of Tel Aviv, Tuesday that all options regarding Iran were on the table.

January 20th, 2009 TEL AVIV - Israel pulled the last of its soldiers out the Gaza Strip Wednesday morning, over two and a half weeks after they were sent in as part of an intense Israeli operation against militants in the salient, a military spokesman in Tel Aviv said. The spokesman would not give further details about the withdrawal.

December 24th, 2008 TEL AVIV - An Israeli military court Thursday sentenced Ahmed Saadat, leader of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), to 30 years in jail, an Israeli military spokesman said. Saadat had previously been acquitted of arranging the murder of former Israeli minister Rehavim Zeevi, who was assassinated by PFLP militants in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001, and was jailed Thursday convicted of responsibility for other attacks against Israel.