Israeli Love Demonstration for Egypt, near the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv
Palestinian Arab "refugees" wouldn't be citizens of "Palestine" - even if they live there!
Did you think that 63 years of Arabs using the "refugees" as political pawns would end if there was a Palestinian Arab state?
If you want to know the depths of cynicism of the Palestinian Arab leadership towards their people, you must read this article in The Daily Star Lebanon:
"Even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [Palestinian] state, they are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens."
Read more at The Elder of Ziyon »
If you want to know the depths of cynicism of the Palestinian Arab leadership towards their people, you must read this article in The Daily Star Lebanon:Palestinian refugees will not become citizens of a new Palestinian state,according to Palestine’s ambassador to Lebanon.Let's read that again, shall we?
From behind a desk topped by a miniature model of Palestine’s hoped-for blue United Nations chair, Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah spoke to The Daily Star Wednesday about Palestine’s upcoming bid for U.N. statehood.
The ambassador unequivocally says that Palestinian refugees would not become citizens of the sought for U.N.-recognized Palestinian state, an issue that has been much discussed. “They are Palestinians, that’s their identity,” he says. “But … they are not automatically citizens.”
This would not only apply to refugees in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan or the other 132 countries where Abdullah says Palestinians reside. Abdullah said that “even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [Palestinian] state, they are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens.”
"Even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [Palestinian] state, they are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens."
Read more at The Elder of Ziyon »
Tunick's Dead Sea shoot to be thwarted?
by Danny Adeno Abebe
After the Alps, the Sydney Opera House, the Vienna soccer stadium and other famous landmarks, the lowest place on earth will be hosting its first mass nude photo shoot this Saturday – if all goes as planned.
More than 3,000 Israelis have asked to take part in Spencer Tunick's Dead Sea shoot. But the 1,000 who have been selected may be in for a disappointment.
Read more at Ynet »
Palestinian ambassador to US wants Jew-free state
When asked by Jamie Weinstein, senior editor and columnist for The Daily Caller, whether a Jew could be elected Mayor of Ramallah in an independent Palestinian state, Areikat said: “But after the experience of 44 years of military occupation and all the conflict and friction, I think it will be in the best interests of the two peoples to be separated first.”
Areikat added that “Well, I personally still believe that as a first step we need to be totally separated, and we can contemplate these issues in the future.”
Read more at JPost »
Making every drop count in Africa
By Rivka Borochov
Since its founding in 1948, Israel has had a thirst to grow crops in the desert. It wasn't just a technological challenge, but a matter of survival. Today, Israel offers some of the world's hottest technologies in desalination, water reclamation and crop irrigation.
But the Jewish nation hasn't forgotten those early days, when Israel hadn't enough to drink, let alone to water fields. To help Africans in a similar situation, the Israeli Foreign Ministry's MASHAV (Agency for International Development Cooperation) has developed Tipa ("drop") to transfer Israeli drip-irrigation water technology to remote areas in Senegal, where basic amenities, even electricity, are lacking.
Modern drip irrigation, the most efficient method of watering crops, evolved from an ancient method where clay pots were filled with water and buried underground so that the water would gradually seep out of the pots and into the crops. Later the same effect was achieved by using perforated pipes or hoses, applying water slowly and directly to plants' roots and allowing it to soak into the soil before it can evaporate or run off. In the 1960s, farmers in many countries began using an Israeli-pioneered plastic emitter that revolutionized and perfected the method for maximum growth with minimum water.
The Tipa system puts this technology into an easy-to-use kit. The hardware consists of a concrete reservoir, a plastic drip irrigation kit and a water pump. Using gravity, water can be pumped from a river or aquifer by hand, solar energy or diesel fuel, under the assumption that most farms are run by women who cannot operate heavy equipment.
It's been a boon for Senegal, situated in the drought-prone Sahelian region, where rainfall is irregular and the soil poor in nutrients. About 75 percent of the working population is engaged in farming, and a majority of these farms are dependant on rain.
The Israeli solution, based on easy-to-install drip irrigation systems and an economic model, is becoming so wildly successful that towns and villages beyond the perimeters of the Israeli projects are copying them, says Ilan Fluss, Director of MASHAV'S Planning and External Relations Department. "Irrigation is one of the main pillars of the activities of MASHAV," says Fluss. The Senegal model was implemented seven years ago, introduced first by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev at a sustainable development summit in Johannesburg in 2002. Two years later, the project was up and running.
Increasing crop value and village income
Tipa is intended for sustainable development in rural areas in the South Sahara, where farmers rely on traditional methods that are inefficient and unreliable sources of livelihood for communities.
Drip irrigation gives the Senegalese food security in regions of Ngoe, M'bassis, Daptior, Keur Yaba and Mbisau. "Instead of one crop per year, they can have three, and higher yields from each small plot of land," says Fluss.
"Today a lot of them are growing maize and vegetables but we have introduced to them high-value crops, and what can happen when the [small farms] are organized into communities so they are working together. They plant together and try to work in a coordinated way to solve issues of [food] security, and obviously they can sell into the markets what they are producing."
The Israeli solution is complete, scalable and replicable, even without direct Israeli input - and that's the beauty of it. Once the idea is fully understood, the Senegalese can develop it themselves. "We are bringing a solution to small farmers without the abilities to invest in modern agriculture," says Fluss. "But our solutions are loaded with technology. We bring them simple solutions that are sustainable and which can be applied in a rural setting."
The seeds they use also can be improved, says Fluss, and they can cut down on the abundance of chemicals and pesticides now damaging their natural resources.
The highest form of aid
This is no handout, Fluss stresses. In the 12 regions Israel is aiding in Senegal, the technologies are financed through low-interest micro-loans granted by NGOs working in the region. Israel provides the technological know-how, and equipment is supplied via competitive tenders. Some farmers already have been able to triple their income, and have found the system reduces the amount of time needed in the fields for weeding.
Israel also gives the Senegalese capacity-building support, Fluss says. "We are working with them to make sure they produce [their crops] in the right way, overseeing their production efforts to help make sure that the farmers will be productive and independent after a couple of years."
According to Judaic values, giving a person the ability to earn a living is the highest level of charity, so this project in Senegal fulfills a very basic tenet for the Jewish state.
And the success? "We can already see that around those communities where we are working, people are copying this model independently," reports Fluss, who estimates that the Israeli intervention has directly impacted about 700 Senegalese families.
The Senegalese government has turned the Israeli model into a national program. A new trilateral partnership established between the governments of Israel, Italy and Senegal will install some 500 hectares of Tipa to directly benefit 10,000 people in rural Senegal. "These are the direct ones," Fluss says of the system that is being used in Kenya, South Africa, Benin and Niger. "It's like a satellite which influences the area around it."
Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Egypt’s Arab Spring Blossoms Into War With Israel
by Robert Spencer
Speaking about the Libyan revolution in March, Barack Obama hailed “the rights of peaceful assembly, free speech, and the ability of the Libyan people to determine their own destiny,” and also praised “the peaceful transition to democracy in both Tunisia and in Egypt.” Now, as Egypt rushes headlong toward becoming a Sharia state and going to war with Israel, Obama is scrambling to hold at bay the forces he is largely responsible for unleashing.
After prayers in the mosques on Friday, jihad-minded Egyptians destroyed a protective wall around Israel’s embassy in Cairo and stormed the building, casting Israel’s national flag out the window, along with embassy documents. The police stood by nonchalantly as the wall was destroyed, doing nothing to stop the thugs. An Egyptian security official even admitted openly that “police will not do anything to the protesters, and they will be left unharmed to continue demolishing the wall." The thugs repaid this passive support by burning a police car near the Israeli embassy. Egyptian military also stood by and did nothing to protect the embassy.
Read more »
"Cyprus and Israel should join forces"
Globes | by Amiram Barkat
From the interview with Cypriot Energy Service director Solon Kassinis:
"In my last meeting in Israel, I raised five proposals: to build a pipeline from Leviathan and Block 12 to Cyprus; to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility; to build a methanol plant; to build power stations to supply electricity from Cyprus to Israel and vice-versa; and to build an oil and gas storage terminals that could be used for the strategic reserves of both countries.Read more »
"It is not within my professional authority, but I think it is possible to expand cooperation to the military sphere. For example, you will secure Leviathan with your ships and submarines; why shouldn’t you also secure Block 12, which is only 33 kilometers away?"
Doomsday weapon: Israel’s submarines
by Alex Fishman
The day the Twin Towers collapsed in Manhattan, September 11, 2001, Israeli submarine “Leviathan” of the advanced Dolphin model was on a training sail somewhere at sea – the exact location of Israel’s submarines will always remain classified, even dozens of years after the fact. At one point, the submarine rose to the surface to take a break. The sub’s commander, then-Lt. Colonel Oded, looked through the periscope and saw a calm, blue sea. However, one crew member soon informed him that he just saw the New York towers collapsing on television. Oded’s first reaction was laughter: What kind of movie are you watching there? How could the Twin Towers collapse? Yet soon after, the official announcement arrived from Israel.
Read more »
U.S. to veto Palestinian state
The Obama administration has announced for the first time publicly that it will veto any bid by the Palestinians to seek statehood recognition later this month at the United Nations, a move Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called “too late” to stop them.
For some time, President Barack Obama’s policy has been to oppose a unilateral attempt by the Palestinians to seek statehood, but Thursday was the first time that the administration explicitly said it would use its veto power on the U.N. Security Council.
Read more »
The Turkish dumbbell and the sorrows of the evicted
Weekly update from LatmaTV - Israel's most trusted news source
S&P raises Israel's credit rating from A to A+
JPOST - Finance Minsiter Yuval Steinitz and Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Stanley Fischer praise move as "badge of honor" and reward for Israel's responsible actions during global economic crisis.
International credit rating agency Standard & Poor's announced on Friday that it has raised Israel's credit rating from A to A+. The company said that the decision reflects the government's responsible economic policy. Company officials said they do not believe the national budget will explode despite the mass social justice protests demanding reformed economic policies.
Read more »
Orphaned Land: Heavy metal envoys to Muslim world
JPost
by Ben Hartman
Israel’s sole remaining “ambassadors” to the Turkish Republic have long hair, tattoos and legions of fans across the Muslim world.
While heavy metal music probably can’t repair shattered Turkish-Israeli ties, Israeli metal band Orphaned Land is confident leaders in Ankara and Jerusalem can learn a lot from their fan base, which includes Israelis, Iranians, Syrians and other metal fans from across the Arab and Muslim world.
Read more »
Abandoned Dogs Help Human Sufferers Overcome Abuse, Grief
JPost
by HANNA SZEKERES
Where the cat purrs, the dog frisks his tail, and the patients come to heal. This is the idea behind Israeli organization HAMA, engaged in animal assisted therapy (AAT,) and their success proves their philosophy – that humans and animals are meant to help and heal each other.
HAMA is short for Humans and Animals in Mutual Assistance, and it is a Government Registered Non-Profit Organization committed to the healing and rehabilitation of people and animals alike through Animal-Assisted Intervention. HAMA does animal-assisted therapy as a complementary therapy to conventional psychological and medical treatments. HAMA is currently working with 30 dogs and 15 cats, most of which are themselves survivors of abuse, neglect, injury or abandonment.
Read more »
World forgot Israel’s 9/11
Ynetnews
by Giulio Meotti
What can be worse than 9/11? What Israelis have experienced in the months immediately before and after the destruction of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. If 3,000 Americans have been killed in a single horrible morning commemorated by the world, Israel has a very different Ground Zero, day after day, a suicide bomber after another.
In some ways the terrorism suffered by Israel has been worse than 9/11, especially because in a small nation like Israel terrorism produces a ripple effect through society. If 9/11 is now an emblem of evil remembered worldwide, Israel’s suffering has been deliberately forgotten.
Read more »
Girls at War
Tablet Magazine
By Elizabeth Rubin
I.
“Ulpana High school, Where settler girls go to become ‘real men’ ”
That was the headline I read. You think of settler girls and you think “Little House on the Prairie” or the Jewish equivalent of the Girls Madrassas I’ve been to in Pakistan: Learn your religion, learn how to be a good wife, then have 10 children. But the girls in this story were getting all that and a little extra. Instead of afterschool sports they did afterschool fight-the-state. When civil administrators showed up to enforce a settlement building freeze, the girls blocked the road, whipped mud at them, sat on their jeeps. When 100 riot police showed up, the girls lay down on the wet road, climbed into garbage bins, and hurled trash. Only after a 5-hour battle were the administrators able to deliver their pieces of official paper—building-freeze orders.
Read more »
Israel boycotted by Nivea ? Simon Wiesenthal Center expresses outrage in letter to German cosmetics company
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| NIVEA - THE SMELL OF ANTI-SEMITISM |
Read more »
Related:
COSMETIC GIANT NIVEA EXPLAINS WHY IT DIDN’T LIST ISRAEL ON ITS WEBSITE
TheBlaze | by Dave Urbanski
- The Nivea international website failed to mention Israel, but did list “Palestine Territories.”
- Outraged customers accused the company of lying after it posted a screen shot on its Facebook page that included Israel.
- After Glenn Beck talked about it on radio, Nivea added the link.
- In a statement to The Blaze, the company said the link was originally not there because the Israel site was under construction.
Read more »
Should we boycott Turkey?
Ynetnews
by Hanoch Daum and Raz Shechnik
Raz Shechnik – Yes
Actually, why not travel to Turkey? I heard they are offering excellent deals at this time, on the house, all inclusive: Abuse at the airport, strip-searches – for security reasons, of course – hatred on the streets, anti-Semitism in the press and an especially hostile regime.
But have no fear, if you encounter any problems, you can always approach the Israeli ambassador in your vicinity. Wait, what is that? The ambassador is no longer there?
Read more »
Obama 'star' of Palestinian ad
POLITICO.com | by Mackenzie Weinger
Part of a speech Obama gave in 2010 to the United Nations General Assembly is featured in an ad aimed to rally support for the Palestinians upcoming bid for statehood at the United Nations on Sept. 20, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Read more »
More than just bricks in a wall: What the entire Kotel looked like
Israel Hayom | by Nadav Shragai
These past few months have witnessed the completion of a historic work undertaken in the City of David: the uncovering of the lowest point of the Western Wall’s foundational structure. The discovery, which has been hidden deep underground for thousands of years, was made possible by the uncovering of a Herodian-era drainage canal by archaeologists. Now the Western Wall’s entire architectonic picture is nearly complete, and it will be unveiled publicly in the next few weeks.
The tens of thousands of Jews who streamed toward the Western Wall two nights ago to ask for divine forgiveness could not have known that just south of them, deep underground, a real archaeological drama was unfolding. Two thousand years after King Herod’s builders laid the foundations for the Western Wall on the Temple Mount, Israeli archaeologists have managed to reach these foundations and expose them anew.
Read more »
Leak Offers Look at Efforts by U.S. to Spy on Israel
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| Shamai K. Leibowitz in 2002 |
NYTimes.com | by Scott Shane
“All I know is that it’s a serious case,” Judge Alexander Williams Jr., of United States District Court in Maryland, said at the sentencing in May 2010. “I don’t know what was divulged other than some documents, and how it compromised things, I have no idea.”
Read more »
Robert Gates Says Israel Is an Ungrateful Ally: Jeffrey Goldberg - Bloomberg
It was an extraordinary scene: President Barack Obama, sitting impassively in the Oval Office in May as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lectured him, at considerable length and at times condescendingly, on Jewish history, Arab perfidy and the existential challenges facing his country.
What was extraordinary wasn’t the message -- it was not an untypical Netanyahu sermon. What was notable was that Netanyahu was lecturing the president live on television, during a photo opportunity staged so that the two leaders could issue platitudes about the enduring bonds between their nations.
Read more »
Israel and France form new partnership to assist developing countries
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| MASHAV Dep.Dir-Gen Danny Carmon (right) and HE Christophe Bigot sign aid cooperation agreement (Photo: MFA) |
Israel and France signed (September 5) a declaration of intent for cooperation in extending aid to Haiti and to emerging countries in Africa. The agreement includes joint actions in the fields of agriculture and irrigation, public health and gender. Implementation of the agreement will be through MASHAV - Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, at the Foreign Ministry.
Development is an important subject on the international agenda, especially against the backdrop of recent global crises (food, climate change, energy, etc.), which mainly hurt developing countries, many of which suffer from extreme poverty and hunger. Both Israel and France view this joint activity as adding a new phase to their relationship.
The Israeli-French cooperation will focus on sending experts, counseling, professional training and the like, appropriate to the needs and desires of the country receiving the aid. In the first stage, the countries designated to receive aid are Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Haiti.
A steering committee composed of representatives from Israel and France, charged with monitoring implementation of the agreement and approving the work plans, will meet once a year.
Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
PM Netanyahu meets with Belgian PM Leterme
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| PMs Netanyahu and Leterme after joint statement in Jerusalem (Photo: Reuters) |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today (Monday), 5 September 2011, at his official residence, met with Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme and welcomed him on his first visit to Jerusalem, noting that this was a good opportunity to improve bilateral relations.
In his statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu called on Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to enter into direct negotiations immediately. "He can come to Jerusalem, I could go to Ramallah or we could both go to Brussels," the Prime Minister suggested. He noted that since taking up office he has ascribed supreme importance to the holding of direct negotiations with the Palestinians and added that to his regret, the Palestinian leadership has chosen to refrain from direct dialogue, preferring instead to appeal to the UN, a move which will lead to deadlock.
The two leaders discussed economic development and bio-technology and agreed to increase bilateral cooperation in these areas.
Statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme
PM Netanyahu: Prime Minister, it's a pleasure to welcome you to Jerusalem.
We've had the opportunity to discuss our relations. They're good and getting better. Part of the objective here is to try to cement our economic relations, and specifically in the areas of double taxation, technology and the other areas where Belgium and Israel could benefit one another, and I look forward to continuing these discussions. This is also the first time you visit Jerusalem, so welcome to Jerusalem, you and all your delegation.
We are well on our way to expanding the cooperation between us and we also just had the opportunity to discuss developments in the region and Israel's desire to advance peace. Belgium, I think, is a very important voice in Europe. It is, in many ways, the capital of Europe. So many things happen in Brussels. So it's very important for us to have an opportunity to speak to you, the Prime Minister of Belgium, about the role that Europe could play - a constructive role - in advancing peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
I explained to the Prime Minister that Israel seeks a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians. In fact, there's an axiom built in what I just said because the only peace that will be achieved, will be a peace through direct negotiations. Peace cannot be imposed from the outside and it will only come from direct negotiations between the parties, direct negotiations without preconditions. I'm prepared to begin those negotiations immediately. In fact, I've been prepared to begin such negotiations for the last two and a half years. Unfortunately, for over two and a half years, the Palestinians have done pretty much everything in their power to avoid such direct negotiations, and I think this is a mistake, because I think they need peace as much as we need it, and I think that advancing economic peace has shown the benefits to the Palestinians. You can see the towers sprouting from Palestinian cities very close to here in the Palestinian Authority - not rockets - and that paves the way to peace.
But ultimately, the economic peace can only be a prelude to a politically negotiated peace. And that will require not only Israel, but also the Palestinians, to make painful steps to cut with the past and embrace the future. The Palestinians now want to avoid these direct negotiations by taking another detour - that is by going to the United Nations. None of these efforts will advance peace. I think that, in a peculiar way, they will set back peace, and might set it back for years. This is why I call on President Abbas to resume direct peace negotiations right now, without any preconditions.
I can invite him here. I can make a security nightmare for my security people, but I’ll go to Ramallah or to Brussels, but I think this is the place where we should go right now, and ultimately this is the only way that peace will be achieved. I think they’re not going to be easy, as I said, but I think they’re a great deal better than the dead-end trips that we’ll all go through by going to the UN. And I hope that Europe can advance peace by advancing the call for direct negotiations. I’m sure we’ll take up these and other matters, Prime Minister, in our discussion over lunch. I want to tell you that I’ve enjoyed immensely the opportunity to have this brief conversation with you, and I look forward to continuing it. So, welcome to Jerusalem.
PM Leterme: Thank you very much, dear colleague. Let me say that I’m also very pleased to be here. It’s my first visit to Israel. It is, in fact, the first visit of a Belgian Prime Minister to Israel since 2005.
As you mentioned, we discussed our already quite good bilateral relations, and we discussed the conclusion of bilateral agreements in the field of double taxation avoiding, the field of social security and in the field of protection of classified information. Yesterday, Colleague, I inaugurated the new premises of our embassy in Tel Aviv.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we agreed, Prime Minister Netanyahu and myself, that there is room for improvement of our economic relations in fields like pharmaceuticals, information technology, biotechnology - and that we should invest a little bit more than until today in trying to strengthen the economic relations between our two countries, two medium-sized countries. I don’t like very much to talk about small countries, but we can maybe…
PM Netanyahu: Well, gigantic in spirit and talent.
PM Leterme: …small in geographical size, but I think we are, economically spoken, medium-sized countries, and we are investing a lot in research and development, new technologies and these are fields for strengthening cooperation, which should be enhanced.
Yesterday already I met some captains of industry and Israeli investors. There are lots of people in Belgium interested in what you achieved as economic growth, as development of the Israeli economy. I would like to pay tribute to that, to commend you for that, and so we are looking forward to cooperating in those fields.
Of course, it is very interesting to exchange views also about the Arab Spring and about what is happening in this region of the globe - the wider region. The various revolutions carry the promise of more democracy here in this part of the globe. Let’s hope that this can turn into a reality and I think that Israel also has everything to gain from more democratic and tolerant neighbors.
To conclude, like colleague Netanyahu already said, and we’ll continue the discussion during lunch. We already discussed a little bit about the Middle East peace process. We are living once again, very important hours, days and weeks in the framework of this Middle East peace process. We all know the process is bending and I can only plead on behalf of the Belgian government and as one of the leaders of the European Union, I can only plead for understanding, mutual respect while encouraging further negotiations, and I fully agree that it is through negotiations that there will be a sustainable and lasting peace here in this region and even in this country.
Thank you very much.
Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Israel: Turkey wants confrontation
Ynetnews | by Attila Somfalvi
Officials in Jerusalem say they were not surprised by reports that Israeli passengers were held up at the Istanbul airport Monday, charging that Ankara is seeking to provoke an open confrontation with Israel.
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TechCrunch gives Israelis own area
Ynetnews
Il-Il Ben Zur-Laron
It's unclear whether leading Web publication TechCrunch is alarmed or amazed by the number of Israeli startups flooding its Disrupt conference in the past few years, but to be on the safe side, it decided this year to dedicate a special area for the Israeli development groups.
The TechCrunch competition has been known to be a huge booster for new startup companies, both those who win and those who don't but manage to create a buzz and gain exposure for their ideas and products.
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Israeli Rabbi ‘Fixes Up’ Orthodox Jewish Gay Men With Orthodox Jewish Lesbians
TheBlaze.com
by Christopher Santarelli
His matchmaking service, which has just gone online, has met criticism on opposing fronts. Orthodox Jewish rabbis say Harel should be doing more to encourage gays and lesbians to try to change their sexual orientation. Liberal religious gay groups see Harel’s approach as a ploy to suppress homosexuality.
The matchmaking presents an array of challenges. The relationship may be loveless. The partners may be tempted to seek sexual satisfaction outside the marriage. And the couple may need assistance to get pregnant. But Harel insists he just wants to help people have children, an important commandment of Jewish law.
“The main aspiration here is parenthood,” said Harel, 36, from his home in the Jewish West Bank settlement of Shilo. “It allows them to become parents in a way that is permitted by religious Jewish law and prevents a conflict between their religious world and their sexual world.”
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Wounded Anti-Terrorist Dog Back at Work
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| Sgt. Kiril Golnshein and Mako |
Israel National News
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Mako, the dog wounded by Gaza terrorists who killed his handler and who neutralized the terrorists, is back in action – this time with the police.
During Operation “Autumn Cloud” in northern Gaza in 2006, Givati solider Sgt. Kiril Golnshein died from critical wounds in his leg during a clash with terrorists. Mako also was hurt but still was able to attack the terrorists and keep them from continuing to shoot.
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Israel shouldn’t apologize
Ynetnews
by Ron Ben-Yishai
A close review of the full Palmer Report leaves Israeli readers with an uncomfortable feeling. As opposed to the impression created by leaks to the media, the United Nations did not absolve Israel of guilt. The UN indeed justified the Gaza blockade, legally and morally, yet the report’s authors rather explicitly assigned Israel the main blame for the death of nine Turkish nationals and the wounding of others. Another charge is the improper treatment of flotilla activists after they were detained and brought to Israel.
The report does not ignore the deliberately violent abandon of members of Islamist Turkish group IHH and the abuse of Navy commandoes aboard the Marmara. The flotilla members are described in harsh terms, yet in the same breath the authors make claims implying that Navy commandoes were trigger-happy and caused needless deaths.
Read more »
Full text of Palmer Report
Runner races Jerusalem tram – and wins
Ynetnews
by Danny Adeno Abebe
It may be light, but in the meantime it's very slow. After hearing complaints from passengers that the Jerusalem light rail was as slow as a turtle, a young Jerusalem man decided to race the tram in order to test that theory.
The complaints proved to be right, as he managed to beat the train in a pretty effortless jog.
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Golda Sought Bombing of Auschwitz
Israel National News
by Dr. Rafael Medoff
Seventy years ago today, the first gassing of prisoners was carried out in the Auschwitz death camp. Now researchers have found evidence that Golda Meir, the future prime minister of Israel, tried to persuade the United States government to bomb the camp.
On September 3, 1941, the Nazis gassed to death 850 prisoners in Auschwitz. During the next three years, an estimated 1.75-million prisoners, most of them Jews, were murdered in the gas chambers there.
A number of Jewish leaders asked the Roosevelt administration to bomb the camp, or the railways leading to it, in 1944. What was not known until now is that one of those who sought the bombing was a young Zionist leader in Palestine who would later become Israel's prime minister: Golda Meir.
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Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Israel Philharmonic performance
Israel Hayom
Pro-Palestinian activists disrupted a Thursday night concert in London by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, causing so much disturbance that the BBC had to cut short its live broadcast of the show.
The orchestra, under the direction of acclaimed conductor Zubin Mehta, was performing at the Royal Albert Hall for the Proms, an eight-week summer series of daily classical music performances in London.
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UN report vindicates Israel's naval blockade of Gaza and right to use force against violence
NYDailyNews.com
The panel's conclusion vindicated totally Israel's legal authority to stop the flotilla of six ships that sought to break the embargo in 2010. There were two rationales that bear clear statement:
First: The blockade was imposed to stop Hamas and other radical Palestinians from importing weaponry after raining thousands of rockets into Israel. Second: Preventing shipping into Gaza has a negligible impact on Palestinians' quality of life because the territory's ports cannot berth ships with substantial cargoes of humanitarian supplies.
Those truths make the Palmer Commission report a stunning rebuttal to the world chorus condemning Israeli military action that led to nine deaths on a vessel called the Mavi Marmara that refused to turn back. Chief among those rebuked was the government of Turkey, where the flotilla debarked and which served as its enabler.
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‘Israel’s bullying in eastern Med is over’
Hürriyet Daily News
by Serkan Demirtaş
The official said this would be the outcome of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s statement earlier in the day that “Turkey would take every precaution it deems necessary for the safety of maritime navigation in the eastern Mediterranean.”
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Germany pulls out of Durban III anti-racism conference
JPost
In addition to Germany, a total of nine countries from the UN’s 193 member nations have pulled out of Durban III, including the US, Canada, Italy, Austria, Australia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Israel.
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Iran’s Ominous Red Sea Move
FrontPage Magazine
by P. David Hornik
An earlier report on Ynet noted that Iran’s 15th fleet comprises a submarine and several warships.
Although it’s an uncertain call, the reports give the impression that Israel’s move came first and Iran’s is a response. As Ynet also reports:
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EU appears split on Palestinian statehood bid two days after Sarkozy’s call for the EU ‘to speak with one voice’
EJP
France and other countries, including Britain, might follow the same path if there is no progress in restarting Israeli-Palestinian talks.
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Israel - Health Ministry: 'Haredi Sector Suffers from Obesity'
VosIzNeias.com
Yair Amikam stressed in a letter to the chairman of the ministerial Tender Committee that “the problem is seven times worse in the haredi sector than among seculars.”
At first, Amikam stated, the Dairy Board and ministry would work to raise awareness to the issue among children and teenagers. The campaign was to be brought to the sector’s members through a haredi radio children’s show.
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No Democracy for Palestine
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| PA Security in Action |
Hudson New York
by Khaled Abu Toameh
The 122 countries that have promised to vote in favor of a Palestinian state at the United Nations need to ask the Palestinian leadership whether the new state would be free and democratic and respect human rights and freedom of expression.
The Palestinians want a political system that resembles the one in Israel and other Western democracies. They do not want regimes like the ones in Syria, Libya, and many other Arab countries.
The fact that hundreds of Palestinians are being held in Palestinian-controlled jails without trial and are being subjected to various methods of torture shows that democracy and respect for human rights do not exist in the Palestinian Authority's lexicon.
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Israeli aid group off to Africa
The Jerusalem Post
by GIL SHEFLER
An Israeli humanitarian group has sent a delegation to the border of Kenya and Somalia to aid tens of thousands of locals displaced by the worst drought to have hit the Horn of Africa in over 60 years.
IsraAID, in partnership with Operation Blessing International, said on Thursday it had dispatched four Israeli aid workers to a town near the border between the two countries earlier in the week.
“Words cannot describe the situation here. I have never seen anything like it,” said Dana Manor, an experienced aid worker who was in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami and in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. “We visited the camps and the overwhelming refugee influx is putting a stress on the existing infrastructure, people are constantly requesting food, tents [shelters], access to the schools, and water.”
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Jerusalem - Rav Chaim Amsalem Slams Charedi Education, Says Torah Study With Trade To Support One’s Family Is What Chazal Clearly State
VosIzNeias.com
Haredi schools not following Jewish tradition!? Aren’t they the ones who do uphold tradition? Haven’t the more modern movements veered from the path?
The answer is simply that any movement which teaches its children only Torah is a modern aberration.
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BBC Proms radio broadcast pulled after Israel protest
The Telegraph
The orchestra was due to perform at the prestigious BBC Proms in London despite calls for a boycott of its performance.
But the live broadcast of the performance was pulled from air after protesters interrupted the concert at the Royal Albert Hall, west London.
A BBC spokeswoman confirmed the live broadcast had been taken off air on Radio 3 "as a result of sustained audience disruption".
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The Jordan opportunity
Ynetnews
by Yoel Meltzer
Should the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN fail to produce any tangible results, current events in Syria may have the unexpected effect of presenting Israel and the region with a very rare opportunity.
In addition to Hezbollah possibly losing support from Syria should Assad fall, the ouster of the Syrian dictator could have serious ramifications for the Hashemite regime in Jordan.
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Israeli circumcision skills saving Zulu men
ISRAEL21c
by Karin Kloosterman
While San Francisco politicians debate the necessity of the male foreskin removal rite, citing human rights concerns, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini of KwaZulu-Natal nods his head. The tribal leader of KwaZulu-Natal, a province of 10 million people in South Africa, recently rescinded a 200-year-old ban on the age-old practice of male circumcision, still conducted in many regions in Africa, after seeing the evidence on the spread of AIDS.
Some estimates suggest than more than half of all HIV infections could be stopped if men are circumcised. Very conservative estimates are one in 10.
"Circumcision is one of the interventions that reduce the risk of transmission," says Maureen Malowany, a medical historian grounded in evidence-based medicine. The Canadian-Israeli woman has started volunteering for the Jerusalem AIDS Project (JAIP), and since March, as the NGO's country coordinator for South Africa, has traveled there twice to help train Zulu medical personnel in the practice of male medical circumcision.
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Ramallah - Report: Israeli Orthodox Rabbi Expresses Support For Palestinian UN Bid
VosIzNeias.com
Froman said that establishing a Palestinian state benefits the peace process and Israel, as well as working to achieve comprehensive, just peace and stability for the region and the world.
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Official Palestinian Authority Daily Cartoon: All of Israel is "Palestine" and there can be no compromise
Hudson New York
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
The Palestinian Authority is telling its people that peace with Israel is not a goal. Instead, the PA says that all of Israel is "Palestine," and that no compromise is acceptable because this principle is "the only red line." This message was expressed by the regular cartoonist, Muhammad Sabaaneh, in the official PA daily.
Published this week, his cartoon displayed a map of all of Israel (excluding the Golan Heights) and the PA areas, with the following text written across the map:
The cartoon is a clear example of the PA's lack of recognition of Israel's right to exist, and sends a message that the PA's real goal is a complete dismantling of Israel and its replacement by a Palestinian state. This sentiment is implicit in PA ideology but only occasionally is it expressed so explicitly in its controlled media.
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by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
The Palestinian Authority is telling its people that peace with Israel is not a goal. Instead, the PA says that all of Israel is "Palestine," and that no compromise is acceptable because this principle is "the only red line." This message was expressed by the regular cartoonist, Muhammad Sabaaneh, in the official PA daily.
Published this week, his cartoon displayed a map of all of Israel (excluding the Golan Heights) and the PA areas, with the following text written across the map:
"The only red line"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 21, 2011]
The cartoon is a clear example of the PA's lack of recognition of Israel's right to exist, and sends a message that the PA's real goal is a complete dismantling of Israel and its replacement by a Palestinian state. This sentiment is implicit in PA ideology but only occasionally is it expressed so explicitly in its controlled media.
Read more »
Austria pulls out of 'anti-Israel' Durban III conference
The Jerusalem Post
BERLIN – Austria does not plan to attend the so-called Durban III antiracism conference, which is slated to take place on September 22 in New York City, a spokesman for Austria’s Foreign Ministry told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.
Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Schallenberg told the Post that “we have no intention of participating in Durban III in September.” Austria has now joined the anti-Durban group of countries, which includes Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Australia, the United States, Canada and Israel.
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Israel and Jerusalem in International Law: The Importance of San Remo
In April, 2010, upon the 90th anniversary of the San Remo Conference, Eli Hertz writes,
Reaffirming the importance of the San Remo Resolution of April 25, 1920 - which included the Balfour Declaration in its entirety - in shaping the map of the modern Middle East, as agreed upon by the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers (Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States acting as an observer), and later approved unanimously by the League of Nations; the Resolution remains irrevocable, legally binding and valid to this day.He goes on to write,
Jews are in the Land of Israel as of right and not on sufferance. It is important to point out that political right to self-determination as a polity for Arabs, was guaranteed by the same League of Nations in four other mandates - in Lebanon and Syria [The French Mandate], Iraq, and later Trans-Jordan [The British Mandate].The film can be seen here.
Source: CAMERA Snapshots
Is BDS campaign working?
It's working in ways the organizers have not intended it to. As it affects primarily commodities (agricultural products, natural resources) it is facilitating Israel's restructuring to high tech economy; which is virtually impossible to boycott (Israel is already producing products that have no competition and the trend will intensity). One other unintended consequence: reduction in demand for low quality labor, and therefore the need for foreign workers and Palestinians. Palestinians are the ones who will really suffer from this boycott as it picks up. As for the Jews: it's a reincarnation of the old prohibition for the Jews to work in agriculture. New form - old substance: we will handle this. If not for the message they are sending I would join the picket lines.
Here is the article:
Here is the article:
Anti-Israel boycotters increasingly successful in strangling economy of Jewish state: More than 20 organizations in Europe in 13 countries endorse boycott of Agrexco, Israel’s leading flower exporter
Ynetnews
by Giulio Meotti
Many Israeli agricultural products have been recently targeted by the Israel boycott campaign: tomatoes, peppers, citrus fruit, carrots, melons, strawberries and celery. But the flowers have been the primary obsession of the divestment movement, which wants to strangle the Israeli economy.
Agrexco, Israel’s leading flower exporter, has recently declared bankruptcy, partially due to the global boycott of its produce, according to some reports. More than 20 organizations in Europe in 13 countries endorsed a boycott of Agrexco.
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Coming to a theater near you... Jerusalem in 3D
JPost
by Melanie Lidman
Jerusalem is a city that likes to think of itself as the center of the world and as larger than life. Starting in 2013, it will be larger than life – and 3D – at movie theaters in 35 countries.
Swooping over the Old City, with bird’s eye views in eyepopping 3D projected onto a giant screen, JERUSALEM: IMAX 3D is not your typical documentary about Israel’s ancient capital.
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Jerusalem | Filmed in Imax 3D from JerusalemGiantScreen on Vimeo.
IDF rescues Palestinians during mortar attack on Erez Crossing
On Thursday night (August 25th), the terror organizations from the Gaza Strip continued launching rockets and mortar shells towards Israel.
During the attack several mortar shells hit the Erez Crossing, just as three Palestinian women and two infants were crossing back into the Gaza Strip after receiving medical treatment in Israel, causing damage to the crossing's infrastructure and an electrical shutdown. The power outage disabled gates at the crossing. Two of the women passed through safely but a third woman, along with her infant daughter, got caught between two disabled gates while rockets were falling.
The commander of the Erez crossing and another security officer rescued the woman and her daughter. All of the Palestinian women were brought to a protected shelter at the crossing where they were given a meal for the end of the daily Ramadan fast.
The squad of terrorists that fired a mortar shell hitting the Erez Crossing was targeted shortly afterwards by an IAF aircraft, in the northern Gaza Strip.
 |
| Erez Crossing damaged by mortar fire |
The Erez Crossing is used for the movement of Palestinians and foreign staff members of international organizations in and out of the Gaza Strip. It should be noted that this is the second time this week the Erez Crossing has been hit by mortar shells and rockets. Despite rocket attacks from Gaza, the Erez crossing continued to operate in recent days, allowing for the passage of Palestinian medical patients and staff members of international organizations. The supply crossings into Gaza continued to operate, delivering over 150 truckloads of goods and food.
Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Who will endorse Palestine?
Ynetnews
by Ronen Medzini
On September 20th, the Palestinian Authority will submit its statehood bid at the United Nations General Assembly; the process will culminate with the UN's 193 member states voting on recognizing a Palestinian state. What can we expect at the vote?
Officials in Jerusalem presume that should a vote indeed take place, the Palestinians will win an automatic majority thanks to the guaranteed support of the 116 "non aligned" states," which tend to vote as a bloc and promote joint interests. Hence, Foreign Ministry officials are focusing their efforts at what they refer to as the "moral majority," that is, large, influential states – this list includes the 27 members of the European Union, global powers, and several other key states.
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