"This is also the best evidence that (Alon) Liel and those like him love Israel and are loyal to it. Because if they weren’t, none of them would bother to struggle and pay such a public price. They could easily, and with honor, abandon the sinking ship."
--Israeli Journalist Yehuda Shohat wrote in Op-Ed after the former Foreign Ministry director was secretly recorded advising 'Breaking the Silence' how to push its message abroad to end the occupation. (See Features and Commentary)

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You Must Be Kidding: 
IDF document reveals the IDF's Rabbinate guidelines that require military rabbis hold a conversation “on the subject of acquaintance with and connection to Jewish heritage, tradition and sources, strengthening the fighting spirit, mission and motivation to serve" every month for combat units and every two months for non-combat units and a conversation every six months with married secular soldiers on the subject of ‘family strength’ from the Jewish sources.

"You’re the age of my son. How could you?"
--Mother of Mohammed Abu-Khdeir turned in court to the two youth on trial for burning her son alive, after telling the court how her life ended ever since. Her husband asked for the boys' homes to be demolished.

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You Must Be Kidding: 
“The only thing that the Swedish Foreign Minister has yet to do is physically join the Palestinian terrorists and stab Jews. In light of her conduct now, we need to hope very much that this won’t happen.”
--Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman reacts to the call by the Swedish Foreign Minister for a probe into possible extra-judicial killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces in the recent wave of violence. 

"Be gentle with Israel."

--Singer Dana International told foreign journalists last night in a comical hasbara speech, in which she flattered the journalists as the "most intelligent people in the world." 

"At the beginning of my path as Mossad chief, I met with a senior official in the Arab periphery, who asked me if we had chosen to live in the Middle East, because in his opinion, we had decided not to. When I asked him why he thought so, he asked: 'How many Jews born in Israel know Arabic? How many of them are familiar with Arab culture? How many of them even want to get to know it?'"

--Outgoing Mossad chief Tamir Pardo shared insight in a fascinating interview.

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You Must Be Kidding: 
“This is a detail, that is, part of a small picture that the untrained eye would not easily recognize that is missing.”
--Givatayim Municipality tries to explain how a poster-sized photo of the Old City of Jerusalem was distributed to city schools with the distinctive gold-plated Dome of the Rock airbrushed out.

“...it is impossible to repent for a sin that never occurred, and to be outraged against a situation that does not exist. So far, no underground cell has been discovered in the Israeli left wing that has planned to harm right wingers, soldiers or settlers; so far not a single left winger has been suspected of setting a synagogue on fire or lynching settlers they found on the street.”
--Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer slams back at those attacking the left-wing and human rights organizations following a controversial documentary, in which left-wing activist Ezra Nawi bragged he turned in to the Palestinian security Palestinians landbrokers who sold land to settlers.

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You Must Be Kidding: 
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan ordered the cancelation of a cultural event in East Jerusalem on the grounds that the Palestinian Authority was behind it.**

"B’tselem invites you – right-wing moles, imposters and pretenders – to a tour in the south Hebron hills, on Friday Jan. 29th. Costumes are not required, no need to equip yourselves with hidden cameras.
Program: Munchies, mingling with Palestinians, discussion circles with B’tselem field investigators about the evils of the occupation, and at the end – free time for questions, quoting and taking sentences out of context."
--B'tselem ad in today's Haaretz newspaper. The ad ended with the words, "Come, ‘Im Tirtzu,'" meaning: ‘if you want,’ but also the name of the far right-wing organization that called B’tselem employees ‘foreign moles.’)

"Whoever thinks it's possible to heal the hatred by using force alone is raising with his own hands the next monster: a boy without hope can be 50,000 times more dangerous than adults who have come to accept the reality."
--Yedioth commentator Merav Betito goes past the politics in examining what makes Palestinian youth murder Jews.**

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You Must Be Kidding:  
A carwash in Petah Tikva was set on fire on Monday, with the police suspecting that it was an arson attack provoked by the fact that the company employs Arabs.*

"And in general, we always need to keep the threat in the air and be on guard that the eternal candle of national anxiety isn't blown out."
--Maariv columnist Ran Adelist writes that the Netanyahu government is looking for reasons to keep the Israeli people scared.**

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You Must Be Kidding: 
"But recently we learned that Shufersal supplies a delivery service almost everywhere in Israel, on condition that it is not an Arab community."
--Two Arab Israelis file a class-action suit against the country's biggest supermarket chain, saying it discriminates against Israeli Arabs by not allowing them to buy from its online store.

“The message I want to spread and which I have repeated to all those who have come to pay their condolences is to stop sharpening swords, and look for what unites us."
--Natan Meir, widower of the mother of six, who was murdered by a Palestinian teen inside her settlement.

"This is the reason left-wing activists feel it is open season on them. Because the targeting of activists has become personal, using their names and images. Because the goal is to find something — anything — to eliminate them, at all costs."

--Noam Sheizaf writes in Maariv how the Israeli police only investigate right-wing hate crimes after a crime is committed and in most cases it ends without an indictment. But in the case of the recently detained three left-wing activists, the process was reversed. A right-wing organization went to infiltrate the left-wing organizations and get dirt on as many activists as possible to search for ways to bring them down.