Hamas Threatens life of kidnapped Israeli Soldier in cartoon - Could they be any more disgusting?

Fathi Hamad, a key Hamas figure involved in negotiations for Gilad Shalit's release has a three-year-old daughter who was transferred to Jordan for urgent medical treatment. Israel allowed the transfer on humanitarian grounds.

A defense establishment official explained that despite the unusual request and the fact that the girl's father is a Hamas man, Israel decided to approve the humanitarian move in order to save the girl's life.

The source added that it would have been wrong to turn down the request, despite the fact that Hamad is a senior Hamas member involved in the negotiations aimed at securing the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

And how did Hamas respond to the goodwill gesture? With a manipulative animated video depicting Gilad Shalit's return in a coffin to an old and gray father. The video ends with a renewed Hamas threat to kidnap more Israeli soldiers.

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Iran launches new missile production line - capable of destroying 3,000 ton warships

Iran has started mass production of the Nasr 1 (Victory) cruise missile according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency.

Iranian Interior Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said at a ceremony to inaugurate Nasr 1 production line "Nasr 1 missile is a cruise missile capable of destroying warships that weigh up to 3,000 tons."

Vahidi, speaking at Iran’s defense ministry's Aerospace Industries Organization also said the “Nasr 1 is a short-range coast-to-sea and sea-to-sea missile which could be fired from coasts and all types of vessels.” adding it would strengthen Iran's naval power as “New features will be added to the missile in the near future, making it suitable for launch from helicopters and submarines.”

Ahmad Vahidi said last year while announcing Iran successfully tested upgraded versions of the medium-range Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles with can fly up to 2,000 kilometers, putting Israel well within range, that in the event of an Israeli attack its "lifespan, which is today coming to an end, would be speeded up" and “If this [Israeli attack] happens, which of course we do not foresee, its ultimate result would be that it expedites the Zionist regime's last breath.”

This week IHS Jane’s reported, through the use of commercial satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, that a new launch pad is being constructed with North Korean assistance at Iran’s Semnan space centre that could ultimately launch Tehran’s next-generation Simorgh rocket.

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Nasrallah Assad Ahmadinejad meet in Damascus to discuss "Zionist threat"

Nasrallah Assad Ahmadinejad meet in Damascus to discuss "Zionist threat"

Syrian President Assad holds banquet to honor Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Hizballah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah at his presidential palace in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Ahmadinejad and Assad together unleashed vicious rhetoric against Israel, with Ahmadinejad declaring that the “criminal” state of Israel is doomed, and Assad charging that Israel “is capable of aggression at any point.”

Ahmadinejad also vowed during his visit to Damascus that Arab nations will usher in a new Middle East “without Zionists and without colonialists” and "resistance is the most successful way to liberate land," continuing with his speech and to emphasize further Ahmadinejad said "If the Zionists want to repeat their mistake again, they must be uprooted from the source"

While the United States is trying to drive a wedge between these two sponsors of terrorism, Syria and Iran, the methods being used to accomplish this are evidently not having their desired effect, with President Assad saying while meeting with Ahmadinejad on Thursday, ''We wanted this festive day to be one of accomplishment, so we signed an agreement on annulling entry visas between Syria and Iran…This agreement would result in more communication and enhancing of the common interests of the Syrian and Iranian peoples.”

U.S State Department spokesman P J Crowley responded to this new situation saying "The US wants to see Syria play a more constructive role in the region, and one step would be to make clear what Iran needs to do differently. And, unfortunately, there was no evidence of that today."

Checkmate - Ahmadinejad is Playing Iran's Deadly Game

Checkmate - Ahmadinejad is Playing Iran's Deadly Game

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is playing a very dangerous game. His years of defiance in the face of international pressure to come clean about Iran's nuclear ambitions is coming to a head.

The latest IAEA report proves Iran is capable of making a nuclear weapon. With their enrichment program going from 20 to 90 percent; the process would take just six months.

Israel, in the event of what looks like a ‘when’ and not ‘if’ major conflict in the middle east, is going to have its hands full with a barrage of Kassam, Grad, Mortars, Katyusha and Scuds fired at her by hostile neighbors in retaliation to an attack on Iran by Israel, the US or a coalition of countries. No matter who leads the attack on Iran, it will be played out as Israel’s fault and Israel will pay the ultimate price.

Since the 2006 Lebanon war there has been one report after another that Hezballah has restocked and refortified its military with weapons smuggled in through Syria from Iran. Syria has built up its reserves with weapons from Iran as well. Hamas in Gaza has not lost any time during this past year’s cease fire, smuggling bigger and more sophisticated weapons, and now has rockets that can travel 60 kilometers, which puts Tel Aviv in striking distance from the south.

What does this mean for Israel? Even with the mid 2010 launch date of the first “Iron Dome” system along the Gaza border, a barrage of rockets from three different sides all at once may prove more than the Iron Dome can handle.

IDF Head of Operations, Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, said that some Hezballah rockets now have a range of more than 150 miles -- making Tel Aviv reachable from as far away as Beirut. Israeli officials say Hezbollah's most potent weapons include about 500 Iranian Zilzal guided missiles, with a range up to 186 miles.

In addition, they say Hezballah has 4,000 to 6,000 Iranian Fajr 3 rockets; an artillery rocket that has an estimated range of 45 kilometers or 25-30 miles, and Fajr 5 rockets, which have a range of about 75–80 kilometers. In totality The IDF estimates Hezballah has about 40,000 rockets of different sizes and types and the stock pile is growing daily.

On top of the Iranian threat and an ever growing stockpile of conventional weapons being prepared for what seems like an inevitable conflict in the near future, Israel in the last few weeks is witnessing an escalation in the rhetoric against her from both Syria and Lebanon. Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah threatened this week "If you bomb the airport of martyr Rafik Hariri in Beirut, we will bomb Ben Gurion's airport in Tel Aviv." Today Syria's prime minister warned Israel that any new Mideast war would be “catastrophic for the region and beyond.”

Is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric and defiance to the UN and the rest of the international community an effort to egg Israel into a preemptive strike so Iran’s puppet nations can launce a conventional attack on Israel, while all the time yelling “self defense”?

Make no mistake a Nuclear Iran is a threat to Israel, the Middle East and the rest of the world. I was reminded that the game of chess found its roots in the Middle East. Did you know the word “Mate,” as in “Checkmate” is Arabic and means "died", "is dead”?