Some of the side effects of the “Arab Spring” virus are the threats and insults directed at Israel. It’s a strange phenomenon: All of the Mideast’s leaders – including both the “moderates” and the “extremists” – are threatening or cursing Israel these days. Be it Ahmadinejad or Erdogan, the lovers of Zion; Morsi’s adviser and the Muslim Brotherhood; Assad’s aides or the Syrian rebels (each side is accusing Israel of assisting the other, while neither side is of any interest to Israel); terror elements such as Hezbollah and Hamas; and even the “moderates,” meaning the Palestinian Authority and Jordan; they are all attacking Israel. One threatens that Israel will no longer exist a decade from now, while the other asserts that it has already ceased to exist; one threatens with missiles and demographics, while the another threatens with the UN and his deputy threatens with the Arab League. No one is trying to be politically correct; when Israel is the topic, people are allowed to say anything.

The question is why? Why do the regional leaders bother to threaten Israel when their own countries are withering away; when their economies are collapsing; when they themselves are threatened by counter-revolutions and when their promises of reform never materialized? The answer is in the question itself.

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ABC News points out that Sen. Chuck Hagel has diverged from the President and likely Secretary of State John Kerry on key issues concerning Iran:

As has been well documented, not everyone is so pleased that President Obama nominated former Senate colleague Chuck Hagel, a Republican, as the next secretary of defense.

Some of that has to do with Iran sanctions. Groups like the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Emergency Committee for Israel have noted that Hagel opposed them repeatedly when he was a senator — a big no-no among Israel hawks. ECI, meanwhile, has blasted Hagel for opposing military action against Iran as irresponsible.

Iran sanctions came up during the presidential race last year, as Mitt Romney and Republicans blasted Obama for going the multilateral route, eschewing U.S.-originated unilateral sanctions and instead gathering international support.

While one might assume that Hagel falls neatly in line with this Obama sanctions paradigm — multilateral good, unilateral less effective — it’s worth noting that Hagel found himself on the opposite side of Iran-sanctions bills from Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and new secretary of state nominee John Kerry.

Continue reading to see the specific points at which Hagel has diverged from the President.

Israeli rescue services were called into action Tuesday night to help stranded residents throughout Israel, as flooding from the ongoing storm that has hit nearly the entire country this week continued.

In the Haifa area on Tuesday night, IDF helicopters and crews from Unit 669 rescued 15 people stuck on the roof of a building in Baka al-Gharbiya, as rising water levels threatened to sweep them away.

The decision to evacuate them by helicopter came after rescue crews were unable to reach them from the ground. Magen David paramedics took the evacuees to Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, as they were suffering from hypothermia.

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