Violence On The Temple Mount

Rocks And Firebombs On The Temple Mount

Worshippers started throwing rocks at security forces, Friday afternoon, at the end of Muslim prayers at Temple Mount mosques in Jerusalem's Old City.
Police stationed at the Mughrabi gate broke in and began to throw stun grenades to disperse the stonethrowers.
The rioters responded with firebombs. One policeman was lightly injured and taken to hospital. A number of demonstrators were also injured.

Palestinians Clash With Police On Temple Mount

Jerusalem police entered the Temple Mount on Friday following afternoon prayers, after worshipers began throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at police forces on the Mugrabi bridge. Police used stun grenades in order to disperse the crowds.

A number of policemen were lightly hurt, a police spokesman said, and Palestinian media said at least 15 protesters were injured. A Yediot Aharonot photographer was also wounded from a stone that hit his face. Police say the photographer refused treatment from Red Crescent paramedics.

This week, police closed the Temple Mount to non-Muslim visitors twice. On Sunday, they closed the plaza after Likud MK Moshe Feiglin invoked his parliamentary rights as an MK and demanded access to the Dome of the Rock, an area that is currently closed to non-Muslims. On Wednesday, an altercation between a group of Jewish and Muslim women attracted a large, unruly crowd, forcing police to close the area again.

A surge in violence in the West Bank over the past several weeks has raised concern in Israel that a new Palestinian uprising could erupt. Tension is rising before a visit by US President Barack Obama to Jerusalem and Ramallah at the end of the month and the possible re-start of stalled peace talks.

Palestinians Riot On Temple Mount

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IDF: We're Ready For Possible Conflict With Hezbollah

 Wary of a spillover from the conflict in Syria, Israel is preparing to take on the Hezbollah militia that it suspects is getting advanced weapons from a distracted Damascus.

Israel believes the Lebanese Shi'ite guerrillas also stand ready to retaliate if it carries out long-threatened strikes on the nuclear sites of Iran, another Hezbollah patron.

Israel is on the verge of being drawn in to the two-year Syrian insurgency.

21 UN peacekeepers were detained in Syria near the Golan Heights on Wednesday by fighters linked to the mainly Sunni Muslim armed opposition groups fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, who follows the Alawite faith derived from Shi'ite Islam.

Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor has also written to the 15-member UN Security Council to complain about shells from Syria landing in Israel, warning it "cannot be expected to stand idle as the lives of its citizens are being put at risk".

Pentagon Warns North Korea Against Further Provocations

The Pentagon is warning North Korea to stop its provocative actions after Pyongyang threatened a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States. Defense Department officials say that despite the North’s successful nuclear tests, they doubt it is able to deliver on its threats.

Bellicose threats from North Korea are nothing new, but this is the first time Pyongyang has threatened a direct nuclear hit on the United States.

The threat comes in response to new U. N. sanctions supported by the U.S., its allies and China -- after Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test last month.

"The resolution tabled today will take the U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea to the next level, breaking new ground and imposing significant new legal obligations," said U.S. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.

It is also a reaction to U.S. and South Korean joint naval exercises that the U.S. says are routine, but which the North claims are preparations for a U.S. nuclear attack.

North Korea Vows End To Nonaggression Pacts After U.N. Vote

North Korea on Friday responded to tougher sanctions from the U.N. Security Council with another barrage of vitriol, repeating a vow to ditch all nonaggression pacts with the South.

A day after the isolated regime in Pyongyang had threatened a possible "preemptive nuclear attack" -- something analysts say they think it is unlikely and currently unable to do -- its official news agency reeled off a number of agreements with South Korea that it said would no longer apply.

"This surge in provocative rhetoric is particularly dangerous," said Michael Auslin of the American Enterprise Institute. "South Korea's new president (Park Geun Hye) can't be seen to back down in the face of the North's threats, while Kim Jong Un may feel that his successful missile and nuclear tests give him the ability to keep pressuring Seoul. The two may wind up talking themselves into conflict."