Middle East Update

US President George W Bush, speaking at the UN General Assembly on September 20, assured Muslims that he is not waging war against Islam. “Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false and its purpose is to confuse you and justify [...]

IDF, Shin Bet and Israeli Police forces raided central Palestinian cities in the West Bank early September 20, in an operation directed against 14 money-changers funneling money towards terrorist activities.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he he is surprised American politicians “are so sensitive and biased with regards to Israel,” and he again expresses doubt that the Holocaust is a historically established fact.

In a speech before the UN in New York on September 19, Mr Bush challenged world leaders to choose between freedom or extremism.

A suicide truck bomber detonated his explosives at the entrance of an Iraqi police base Wednesday September 20, killing three police officers and wounding eight more in Dora, a southern neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraqi emergency police said.

With the U.N. Security Council meeting this week to consider whether to impose sanctions on Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took aim at the body Tuesday Sept 19, saying the United States’ permanent inclusion on the council undermines its effectiveness and credibility.

The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial has ejected the ousted Iraqi leader from the courtroom for refusing to sit down moments after hearings began.

Hamas ministers may be part of Shalit deal.European states have signaled to the Hamas government that they intend to lift the economic embargo on the Palestinian Authority once a national unity government is established. A senior official later said this may not be enough! There is no mention of recognition for Israel in the [...]

With the opening of the United Nations General Assembly on September 12, 2006, Ynet News reports that celebrated writer and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel has joined a group of Israeli legal scholars and public personalities who are calling for the expulsion of Iran from the UN due to the statements of Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned against hastily imposing sanctions on Iran, but in a rare note of criticism he has also deplored Iranian calls for the destruction of Israel.