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
 |
| 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
 |
| 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
 |
| 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
 |
| 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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
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.”
Read more »
Wounded Anti-Terrorist Dog Back at Work
 |
| 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.
Read more »
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.
Read more »
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)