Archive for April 27, 2012

Israelis to sue Swiss banks for refusing to return money deposited during Holocaust

The plaintiffs say they intend to file the lawsuit next week in U.S. court, under a U.S. law enabling them to sue foreign states in matters pertaining to the Holocaust.

 

Two Israelis are preparing to file a NIS 1 billion lawsuit against the Swiss government and two Swiss banks for allegedly refusing to return money and valuables deposited by their parents shortly before World War II.

Credit Suisse bank in Zurich.

Credit Suisse bank in Zurich - Photo by: AP

The plaintiffs say they intend to file the lawsuit next week in U.S. court, under a U.S. law enabling them to sue foreign states in matters pertaining to the Holocaust.

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Syria’s Grand Mufti Blames Arab Spring on West, Israel

The Grand Mufti of Syria says the Arab Spring is nothing but a Western plot that will “benefit the Zionist entity”.

The Grand Mufti of Syria, Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, has described the battle that is currently taking place in Syria as a “battle against our roots” and has claimed that the Arab Spring is nothing but a Western plot.

Smoke rises from Syrian shelling of Homs

Smoke rises from Syrian shelling of Homs - Photo by Reuters

According to a report on Thursday in the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Hassoun said that “if Syria collapses, this will lead to the collapse of neighboring states, starting with Lebanon and ending with Saudi Arabia, through Jordan and Iraq; this is because the plan for the Arab and Islamic world is to ensure that no strong state remains, and for our people to kill one another.” Continue Reading »

Attackers throw Molotov cocktails at TA migrants

Neighborhood activist: Those who incite racism should go to jail; police do not consider incident “serious.”

 

Unidentified attackers on Friday threw Molotov cocktails at four houses and one kindergarten connected to a community of African asylum seekers in the Shapira neighborhood of Tel Aviv.

African migrants protest in Tel Aviv - Photo: Reuters

African migrants protest in Tel Aviv - Photo: Reuters

No one was injured, but there was property damage, and neighbors believed that the attack was organized and specifically directed against the refugees. Police arrived in the neighborhood to investigate the case after the incident.

Police would not comment in detail on what they referred to as the “attempted arson.”

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Essay by Kasim Hafeez – Muslim, Zionist and proud

Op-ed: His father praised Hitler, but Kasim Hafeez writes about love for Israel, Jewish people

 

I am a Zionist, a proud Muslim Zionist, and I love Israel, but this was not always the case. In fact, for many years I was quite the extreme opposite. I experienced the high levels of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity taking place on British university campuses, because I was the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel activist.

Growing up in the Muslim community in the UK I was exposed to materials and opinions at best condemning Israel, painting Jews as usurpers and murderers, and at worse calling for the wholesale destruction of the “Zionist Entity” and all Jews. Continue Reading »

Jewish refugee rights is an unsolved human rights issue

The issue of Jewish refugee rights is not a spanner in the works. It remains a key, unresolved human rights issue.

Refael Bigio remembers the moment in 1962 that the regime of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser seized his family’s property. Police had cordoned off the Bigio bottling plant at 14 Aswan Street in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis. A policeman barked at Bigio and his father: “Hand over the keys!”

The Forgotten Million Jewish Refugees Expelled from Arab countries

The Forgotten Million Jewish Refugees Expelled from Arab countries

The nightmare of dispossession that was destined to afflict some 870,000 Jews across the Arab world – forced out or expelled with just the shirts on their backs – had caught up with the Bigio family. Continue Reading »

New York Times Ad Slams BDS

An ad placed in the New York Times on Wednesday accused BDS supporters of contributing to anti-Semitism worldwide.

American conservative writer and advocate, David Horowitz, placed an advertisement in the New York Times on Wednesday, accusing supporters of the Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement of contributing to anti-Semitism worldwide.

“The Holocaust began with boycotts of Jewish stores and ended with death camps,” the ad begins. “The calls for a new Holocaust can be heard throughout the Middle East and Europe as well.”

It also references Mohammed Merah, the terrorist who killed 4 people at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France last month, claiming that “ancient blood libels” supported by the BDS movement contributed to the murders. Continue Reading »

India: Iranian was Watching Jewish Sites

India has expelled an Iranian man who gathered information on Jewish sites and local Jewish businessmen.

India has expelled an Iranian man accused of gathering information on Jewish sites in the city of Pune. 40-year-old Hamid Kashkouli passed his findings on to Iran.

One of the sites Kashkouli spied on was the local Chabad House. In 2008 a Chabad House was among the targets when terrorists launched a multi-pronged attack in Mumbai. Nine were murdered, among them Chabad Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his wife Rivka, 28.

Kashkouli had been in India as a PhD student. However, in his three years in the country, he made no progress in his doctorate work. Continue Reading »

‘Arabs attacked us on Independence Day’

Tzipi Shukrun recalls brutal attack on her family during barbecue in heart of Jerusalem; assailants used chains, shouted ‘yahud’

Three members of the Shukrun family were hospitalized overnight Thursday following an attack by a group of young Arabs. Two of the family members were moderately wounded in the attack, while the third suffered light injuries.

Police said they are looking into the possibility that the attack was nationalistically-motivated, but are exploring other possibilities as well

“I tried running away with my children and sister, but they kept coming back to hit us,” Tzipi Shukrun told Ynet. “They kids are traumatized.”

The family arrived at a park located in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the Jerusalem Cinematheque, to celebrate Independence Day. Continue Reading »

Experts: Iran Preparing for Cyberwar Against U.S.

Experts say Iran is busy acquiring the technical know-how to launch a cyber-attack on the United States and its allies.

Iran is busy acquiring the technical know-how to launch a potentially crippling cyber-attack on the United States and its allies, experts told a congressional hearing on Thursday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Photo by Reuters

“Over the past three years, the Iranian regime has invested heavily in both defensive and offensive capabilities in cyberspace,” Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, was quoted by AFP as having told a House Homeland Security subcommittee.

He added, “Equally significant, its leaders now increasingly appear to view cyber-warfare as a potential avenue of action against the United States.” Continue Reading »

Egypt’s women urge MPs not to pass early marriage, sex-after-death laws

Egyptian women object to 2 new laws: legalizing the marriage of girls from the age of 14 & allowing husbands to have sex with dead wife within 6 hours following her death.

 

The parliamentary attacks on women’s rights has drawn great criticism from women’s organizations in Egypt. (File photo)
The parliamentary attacks on women’s rights has drawn great criticism from women’s organizations in Egypt – File photo-Al Arabiya

Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW) has appealed to the Islamist-dominated parliament not to approve two controversial laws on the minimum age of marriage and allowing a husband to have sex with his dead wife within six hours of her death according to a report in an Egyptian newspaper.

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Essay – Why Americans don’t understand Israeli Jews

A lack of trust in the market, passion for the military and jokes about the Holocaust. What is it about Israeli Jews that Americans just don’t get?

 

About two weeks ago, I wrote an article entitled “Why Israelis don’t understand Jewish Americans,” where I made assertions as to what drives rifts between the two peoples. This time, I’ve flipped the coin and am taking a look at why Americans don’t understand Israeli Jews, either.

Hadag Nachash has rapped it, and Israelis around the world have screamed it: they are not “friars”, or “suckers.” Israelis are well known for questioning sources and trying to “game” the system. Continue Reading »

Israeli Exports Up Nearly 15,000% Since 1948

In 1948, Israel exported $6 million worth of products, but by 2011, that number had jumped to about $90 billion – a rise of 1,400,000%

In the 64 years since its establishment, exports from Israel have grown by some 15,000%. In 1948, Israel exported $6 million worth of products, but by 2011, that number had jumped to about $90 billion – a rise of 1,400,000%. The per capita export rate – the amount of export in terms of population – was at the end of last year 173 times greater than it was in 1948.

The statistics were released Thursday in honor of Independence Day by the Israel Export Institute. Continue Reading »

The enzyme that sharpens memory

Rats in an Israeli lab were able to form stronger memories after receiving a certain enzyme. In the future, this may have applications for humans.

 

Imagine never forgetting a single detail of your life — what you got for your 14th birthday, or the phone numbers of every one of your romantic interests. New science from Israel shows that this might be in the realm of possibility. The big question is: Would it be good for us?

The breakthrough Israeli-US research project, for the first time anywhere, has found a compound in the brain to enhance memory. Whether the enzyme responsible could ever be made into a “super pill” (like the one imagined in the science-fiction flick Limitless to boost brainpower) is quite speculative, says Reut Shema from Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science. Continue Reading »

Pupils learn to buy Israeli chocolate, tomatoes

‘We Are Blue and White’ curriculum, launched last year as a pilot program, will be taught to 50,000 pupils each year, in hope that they will influence their parents’ choices

 

A new addition to the school curriculum is encouraging Israeli pupils to opt for the Shahar brand of chocolate spread, eat Pri Hagalil canned goods, and put fresh cherry tomatoes in their salads. The program, which focuses on buying Israeli goods, also teaches the children about leading Israeli innovations like the flash drive, ICQ, and drip irrigation.

Tomatoes - buy Israeli Photo: Index Open

Tomatoes; buy Israeli - Photo: Index Open

The new program, launched by the Education Ministry and the Industry, Trade, and Labor Ministry, is intended to instill in pupils a sense of pride in Israeli industry and products and convey the message that if Israelis don’t buy locally-produced goods, employment will drop and families won’t be able to make a living. Continue Reading »

IDF chief: Other countries are prepared for possible Iran strike

Following recent comments that appeared to put Lt. Gen. Gantz at odds with other senior Israeli officials, the IDF Chief of Staff strongly hints that other nations could be backing military action.

 

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said on Thursday that other countries have readied their armed forces for a potential strike against Iran’s nuclear sites to keep Tehran from acquiring atomic weapons.

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz - Archive

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz - Photo by Archive

Gantz did not specify which nations might be willing to support or take direct action against Iran. Still, his comments were one of the strongest hints yet that Israel may have the backing of other countries to strike the Islamic Republic to prevent it from developing nuclear arms.”The

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