Matan Vilnai

...on board, the Israeli military said. It was intercepted 100 miles west of the Israeli coastline and brought to Ashdod. Matan Vilnai, the deputy Israeli defence minister, said the weapons included Katyusha rockets. Vilnai claimed they...

In this article: Hezbollah, Israel, Katyusha rockets, Gaza, Hamas, Ehud Barak, Lebanon, and Ha'aretz

Reconnoitering a southern Israeli town abandoned during the Gaza war brought home, for Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, the depth of his country's vulnerability to missile attack. Then he ran into a solution of sorts. "I heard...

In this article: Israel, Iran, Safed, Benjamin Netanyahu, Hezbollah, Gaza, Tehran, Uranium, and Defense Minister

...peacekeeping force that was reinforced after the 34-day war in 2006, to open an investigation. Deputy Israeli Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Israel's Army Radio on Tuesday it was clear this was "a Hezbollah accident." UNIFIL...

In this article: Hezbollah, United Nations, and Lebanon

Matan Vilnai (, born 20 May 1944) is an Israeli politician and a former Major General in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He is currently Deputy Defense Minister and a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party . Vilnai was born in...

In this article: Labour Party, Knesset, Ehud Barak, Operation Thunderbolt, Ariel Sharon, Air France, Amir Peretz, and Colette Avital

...two-dozen settler outposts in the occupied West Bank has become a "central issue" for the current government, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said on Saturday. The United States, Israel's main ally, has put increasing pressure on...

In this article: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, West Bank, United States, European Union, Ehud Barak, and Barack Obama

...and the Gaza Strip would open secured by international guarantees. His mission comes as Israel's deputy Defence Minister, Matan Vilnai, warned that the offensive could take weeks. "We are ready for a prolonged conflict and for weeks of...

In this article: Hamas, Gaza, Ehud Olmert, Israel, Gaza Strip, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Turkey

Wednesday, Aug. 27, Israel's security cabinet convened to discuss homeland defenses in an emergency. Dep. defense minister, Matan Vilnai, told an interviewer that every corner of Israel was now within range of enemy missiles. He...

In this article: Hizballah, UN, Israel, and Syria

...- two landed in the western Negev on Monday - has been obeyed since it went into effect in late June. Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, who will accompany Barak to Alexandria, said Monday, that the cease-fire in Gaza was delicate...

In this article: Hamas, Ehud Barak, Gaza, Hosni Mubarak, Alexandria, Jerusalem Post, and Gilad Schalit

...a condition, other Israeli officials appeared to leave some room for maneuver. Interviewed on Army Radio, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai was asked directly if a Gaza truce depending on Schalit's release. "I can only say that for us...

In this article: Gaza, Ehud Olmert, Hamas, Israel, Gilad Schalit, Ehud Barak, and Gaza Strip

...blamed "Hamas and those firing rockets at Israel," his office said in a statement. On Friday, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai renewed a threat to invade Gaza to crush militant rocket squads that attack southern Israel...

In this article: Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, Ehud Barak, and U.N.