JERUSALEM, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Israel accused
arch-enemies Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of being
behind twin bomb attacks that targeted embassy staff in India
and Georgia on Monday, wounding four people.

Tehran denied involvement in the strike, which has amplified
tensions between two countries at loggerheads over Iran’s
contested nuclear programme. Hezbollah, the powerful Shi’ite
Muslim movement in neighbouring Lebanon, declined comment.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Bombers targeted staff at Israel’s embassies in India and Georgia on Monday, wounding four people, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of involvement.

The New Delhi bomb wrecked a vehicle with diplomatic plates and Israel’s parliamentary television channel said the wife of Israel’s Defence attache and her driver were among four people hurt. The Tbilisi bomb was defused safely by Georgian police.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Bombers targeted staff at Israel’s embassies in India and Georgia on Monday, wounding four people, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of involvement.

The New Delhi bomb wrecked a vehicle with diplomatic plates and Israel’s parliamentary television channel said the wife of Israel’s Defence attache and her driver were among four people hurt. The Tbilisi bomb was defused safely by Georgian police.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Three decades ago, an Israeli prime minister faced his cabinet and invoked the Holocaust in an emotional appeal to approve an air strike against an Arab atomic reactor.

Menachem Begin got the nod, cautioning that a nuclear-armed Iraq under Saddam Hussein would pose a threat to the existence of the Jewish state. On June 7, 1981, Israeli warplanes destroyed the nuclear facility near Baghdad.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Asked about the profusion of foreign reports that their armed forces could soon attack Iran, Israeli officials tend to smile and shrug enigmatically, seemingly content to let such guesswork simmer.

The diplomatic dumbshow, which preserves military secrecy while keeping war-wary world powers negotiating for a halt to Tehran’s nuclear programme, also conceals genuine bemusement in Israel at some of the assumptions abroad about its capabilities.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel said on Sunday it plans to build a railway line linking its Red Sea and Mediterranean ports that could handle potential overflow from the Suez Canal on the freight route between Asia and Europe.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet the idea of ships dropping off goods in one port to be picked up by a second ship at the other, had stirred “great interest” from major exporters India and China.

RAMALLAH/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has presented Palestinians with its ideas for the borders and security arrangements of a future Palestinian state, in a bid to keep exploratory talks alive, Palestinian and Israeli sources said on Friday.

However, Palestinian officials said the verbal presentation by Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molcho at a meeting on Wednesday was a non-starter, envisaging a fenced-off territory of cantons that would preserve most Jewish settlements.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel condemned the Palestinians’ top cleric on Sunday for reciting, at a meeting of the dominant U.S.-backed Fatah faction, a passage from Muslim scripture that called for the killing of Jews.

Preaching on January 9 at a rally marking the 47th anniversary of Fatah’s founding, Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Hussein read out a Hadith, or traditional text attributed to the Prophet Mohammad.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The United States’ top military officer arrives in Israel on Thursday as the allies coordinate efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program – and play down suggestions they are at odds on strategy.

The United States, which is leading Western pressure on Tehran to curb controversial uranium enrichment, has voiced concern that the Israelis could attack their foe preemptively and deepen instability in an already volatile region.

JERUSALEM, Jan 17 (Reuters) – A nuclear-armed Iran
could deter Israel from going to war against Tehran’s guerrilla
allies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli general
said on Tuesday.

The Jewish state sees the makings of a mortal threat
in Iran’s uranium enrichment and missile programmes, and
has lobbied world powers to roll them back through sanctions
while hinting it could resort to pre-emptive military strikes.