This week, Alpher discusses the strategic challenges Israel confronts in the United Nations General Assembly session opening this week, why the Israeli government, alone, is criticizing President Rowhani's moderate statements, how we get from the Iranian Syrian non-conventional weapons issues to attempts to restrain Israel's nuclear potential, and why Russia is so interested in a failed state like Syria, and what consequences we can expect in the wake of two IDF soldiers killed in recent days in the West Bank, and an incident over the demolishing of Arab dwellings in the Jordan Valley that got Israel into trouble with the European Union.

APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday September 22, 2013

Quote of the day:

"...it wouldn't take long for Israel and other critics of Iran to sorely miss (Rouhani's) predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
--Haaretz US affairs commentator Chemi Shalev writes how the new Iranian President has made life difficult for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.**

APN's daily news review from Israel

 Friday September 20, 2013

Quote of the day:

"We hope...that the law will be enforced and the Israelis staying there will be removed and the Palestinian owners can return safely to their lands."
--Yesh Din Israeli human rights organization comments on the return of private Palestinian land to their owners after 35 years since the establishment of Homesh settlement.**

Beginning Wednesday night, September 18th, the Jewish holiday of Sukkot begins. During the week-long holiday, Jews build a special kind of home to dwell in for the week, called a sukkah. The sukkah is a deliberately temporary house, which can have no more than one permanent wall, and whose roof must be open to the sky, covered only partially by natural materials such as branches. The sukkah is a strange sort of dwelling, and yet, it is so important, that we use it every Friday night on Shabbat, as a metaphor for peace, asking that God, "spread over us a sukkah of Your peace." May this year's sukkah be a sukkat shalom, a sukkah of peace, and may we merit to build our house - Israel- from peace.

APN's daily news review from Israel

Wednesday September 18, 2013

NOTE: News Nosh will be on holiday during most of Sukkot, which begins this evening.

Number of the day:

10.

--Length in centimeters of the biggest date in the world, a Saudi Arabian variety, that will be on display in Israeli President Shimon Peres' sukkah.**

Beginning Wednesday night, September 18th, the Jewish holiday of Sukkot begins.

During the week-long holiday, Jews build a special kind of home to dwell in for the week, called a sukkah. The sukkah is a deliberately temporary house, which can have no more than one permanent wall, and whose roof must be open to the sky, covered only partially by natural materials such as branches. The sukkah is a strange sort of dwelling, and yet, it is so important, that we use it every Friday night on Shabbat, as a metaphor for peace, asking that God, "spread over us a sukkah of Your peace."

May this year's sukkah be a sukkat shalom, a sukkah of peace, and may we merit to build our house - Israel- from peace.

APN's daily news review from Israel

Tuesday September 17, 2013

Quote of the day:

"This right-wing is sitting in the government and speaking about two-states for two peoples, release Palestinians prisoners and is making diplomatic moves. This is very surprising and, of course, it is the result of the Oslo Accords."
--Yossi Beilin, an author of the interim peace agreement, says it made the right-wing more left-wing.**

This week, Alpher discusses the new Middle East reality Israel confronts as a consequence of the US-Russian deal regarding Syria's chemical weapons, what lessons and conclusions can be taken from the massive commemoration in Israel of the 40 years since the outbreak of the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria, the significance of a ruling by an Israeli judge two weeks ago concerning Palestinian incitement against Israel, and the contribution of Osama al-Baz, who died Saturday in Egypt, to peace.

APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday September 16, 2013

Quote of the day:

"It is these facts on the ground, not the guidelines, which threaten to make a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impossible."
--Former EU leaders - including former Spanish foreign minister Miguel Moratinos, who is considered relatively close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - wrote a letter saying settlements harm peace and calling on the EU to stand firm on new guidelines forbidding any EU money to institutions or people linked to activities in the W. Bank, Golan Heights, or E. Jerusalem.**

APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday September 15, 2013

Number of the day:

131.
--The dollar price of a round-trip ticket to Turkey for Israelis as Turkey tries to lure Israeli tourists back to their country.**