10/18/2012

* Largest US-Israel missile defense drill to kick off US military forces have begun arriving in Israel to take part in the largest joint missile defense exercise of its kind, which will begin next week.

* Revolutionary Guard commander: Israel will be destroyed if Iran is attacked Israel will "definitely" face fierce retaliation if it attacks Iranian nuclear sites.

* Iran Sanctions Have Failed Economic sanctions yet to make a dent in the regime's nuclear program.

* Peres encourages Iranian people to revolt President Shimon Peres said Thursday that the people of Iran should be encouraged to overthrow their government.

* Russia protects Israel from UNESCO condemnations Russia's envoy to the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) intervened on Wednesday to defer voting on a series of condemnations of Israel.

* EU summit: Angela Merkel calls for national budget veto Angela Merkel said the economics commissioner should be given clear rights to intervene when national budgets violated the bloc's rules.

* Egypt sees 20% rise in tourists this year, despite insecurity Egypt projects a rise of about 20 percent in tourist numbers this year.

* Saudi-Funded UN Agency Seeks to Edit Textbooks Worldwide The UN agency that promotes education and which is heavily funded by Saudi Arabia, is seeking to edit school textbooks worldwide.

* Israel: Gaza getting missiles from Libyan war A top Israeli defense official says Gaza is being flooded with sophisticated weapons from Libya.

* Facebook Removes Hizbullah, Nasrallah Pages The Facebook social networking site has removing Hizbullah terrorist pages following a series of articles published by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute.