By ETGAR LEFKOVITS  
A delegation of Christian parliamentarians from around the world whose countries have formed pro-Israel parliamentary lobbies gathered Thursday on Capitol Hill in an effort to buttress support for the State of Israel across the globe.
"If you have legislators speaking up and getting engaged, then you have a profound impact on national politics," said US Rep Dave Weldon (R- Florida), co-chairman of the US Congressional Caucus.
Weldon said that the aim of the bipartisan American caucus, which was established last year in the wake of the powerful Knesset lobby, was to bring about grass-root support for Israel globally on a nation by nation level through dialogue and education.
The event, Israel at 60 and Looking Forward, comes at a time of burgeoning relations between Israel and the largely supportive evangelical Christian community around the world.
In all, the cross-party Israeli parliamentary caucus has formed - or is in the process of establishing - sister caucuses with 13 countries around the world, including the US, Canada, Uruguay, Brazil, South Korea, The Philippines, Malawi, Japan, Switzerland, South Africa, England, Norway and, most recently, Germany.
"Christianity is rooted in Judaism and we cannot separate ourselves from our roots," said South ...   more »

Rebecca Anna Stoil and Gil Hoffman
Shas chairman Eli Yishai announced on Wednesday that he would keep his party in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition despite the revelation from the Prime Minister's Office that the government had been carrying out secret talks with Syria.
Olmert called Yishai moments before a message was sent to reporters to inform him about the talks. Yishai's associates said the news caught him by surprise and that he would have preferred not to hear such news at all.
"It is forbidden to negotiate with the axis of evil and certainly to abandon the Golan to the axis of evil," Yishai told reporters. "At the moment when we see that there is real danger of giving the Golan to the axis of evil, Shas, of course, won't be in the government. We are constantly evaluating whether we should remain in the government."
Within minutes of Olmert's announcement, opposition MKs sprang into action, trying to find a blocking action that would prevent negotiators from committing to any return of the Golan Heights. The Likud called upon Shas to leave the coalition immediately and bring down Olmert's government.
Likud faction Chairman MK Gideon Sa'ar warned that Olmert "doesn't ...   more »

JPost.com Staff ,65 percent of Israelis are against a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights, even if this would bring true peace with Syria, a poll published by the Geo-Cartographic Institute revealed Thursday.
64% of respondents were also against partial withdrawal from the Heights and a similar percentage said it was inappropriate that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was holding negotiations with Syria at a time when his political future was uncertain.
Geo-Cartographic Institute president, professor Avi Dgani, told Army Radio on Thursday that "the people are with the Golan and not with Olmert. A big part of the public is against withdrawing from even a part of the Golan Heights." Dgani was paraphrasing a bumper sticker with the text "The people are with the Golan," distributed during Israeli-Syrian talks in the 1990s.
A telephone poll conducted by Channel 2 Wednesday evening showed similar results, with 70 percent against relinquishing the Golan Heights for peace with Syria, compared to 22% in favor of such a move.
Also according to the Channel 2 poll, 57% believe the timing of the newly-announced negotiations is linked to the corruption case against Olmert, compared to 22% who don't think there is any connection between the ...   more »

Visiting Lockheed Martin representative says Israel seeking to acquire F-35 jets, three Hercules planes; each stealth aircraft comes with roughly $80 million price tag. IDF expected to receive airplanes in four to six years
Hanan Greenberg
IDF shopping spree: Israel has submitted an official request to the United States government for the acquisition of F-35 stealth fighter aircraft, Lockheed Martin representative Bob Trice, who is currently visiting Israel, revealed Thursday.
Israel is reportedly seeking to purchase 35 planes at this time and another 15 in the future, in accordance with the Air Force's long term acquisitions plan. 
Trice said he expected the fighter jets will be supplied to Israel starting at the end of 2013 or early in 2014. Similarly to previous deals of this type, Israel is expected to integrate Israeli-made systems in the American planes after they arrive in Israel.  
Top priority
The new acquisition is also expected to include three Hercules aircraft, with he first one expected in Israel in 2013. Israel may purchase two more Hercules planes in the future.  
The Lockheed Martin representative refused to address the price tag of the aircraft, but according to estimates each stealth aircraft costs roughly $80 million, ...   more »

By Stan Goodenough
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, increasingly desperate in the face of advanced criminal investigations against him, had his office drop a political bombshell on the country Wednesday by announcing that Israel and Syria are holding peace talks in Turkey.
This suspicion was the instinctive reaction of a great many Israeli parliamentarians, including members of Olmert's ruling coalition, following the surprise news that hit Israel's airwaves Wednesday morning.
"The publication of the negotiations has a clear purpose, aimed at covering up the prime minister's investigations," charged angry Labor Party MK Danny Yatom.
Yatom party colleague MK Shelly Yacimovich said the prime minister's "only aim" was to divert attention from "his cash envelopes" – envelopes containing money Olmert allegedly received from businessmen and placed in his own pocket.
The chairman of the Likud faction, MK Gideon Sa'ar, said the announcement demonstrated that "Olmert's calculated cynicism when gambling Israel's strategic assets for his own political survival knows no bounds…
"He has no mandate to make any concession in the Golan Heights," he declared.
Likud, National Union-National Religious Party and Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party leaders all leveled criticism at the prime minister.
For his part, Syrian President Bashar el-Assad ...   more »

By Stan Goodenough
The global effort to wrest the Jews' restored homeland from them lurched ahead Wednesday with the revelation that the Olmert government is - and has been for more than a year – preparing to negotiate an agreement with Damascus that is believed to involve Israel's surrender to Syria of the Golan Heights.
Indirect talks through Turkish intermediaries, Israelis suddenly learned, are slated to start two weeks from now according to an almost simultaneous announcement made by Israel and Syria Wednesday morning.
The Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem released a statement that read: "The two sides have begun indirect talks under Turkish auspices [and] have declared their intention to conduct the talks without prejudice and with openness... They have decided to conduct the dialogue in a serious and continuous manner with the aim of reaching a comprehensive peace."
Syria's foreign ministry said "Syria has started indirect peace talks with Israel under Turkish auspices. Both sides have expressed their desire to conduct the talks in good will and decided to continue dialogue with seriousness to achieve comprehensive peace."
But according to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem added that in advance of the negotiations, Israel has ...   more »