Archive for April 22, 2012

Sinai Bedouin factions demand Egypt amend peace accord with Israel

Demands come as Israel Counterterrorism Bureau calls on Israelis to leave Sinai, citing immediate threats.

The heads of Bedouin communities in northern Sinai are demanding the Egyptian parliament amend the Camp David Accords with Israel, claiming they do not guarantee national security and do not provide for the Bedouin population’s participation in security plans for the Peninsula.

Bedouin Sinai - Reuters - 15.3.12

Bedouin squat over a hilly area overlooking Gaza, in Rafah city, north Sinai - Photo by: Reuters

The Bedouins’ demands were made on Thursday, when members of the Egyptian national Security Council visited the coastal town of Al-Arish to inspect the community’s economic situation and assess the security situation. Continue Reading »

GOP Backing $680M for Iron Dome

Republicans are pushing for a large military aid allotment for Israel’s Iron Dome system due to Obama’s refusal to name a figure.

 

US lawmakers are considering an aid allotment of $680 million to strengthen Israel’s Iron Dome short-range rocket shield.

The move by Republican lawmakers comes in the face of previous attempts by the Obama administration to prune defense aid to Israel.

An Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket

An Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket - Photo by Reuters

Senior Republicans Howard McKeon (R-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) criticized Obama for his lack of support of a “vital defense cooperation program.”

The Obama administration earlier announced that an “appropriate” level of funding will be provided for this program, but did not request any specific sum for 2012. Continue Reading »

Syrian Opposition Leader Says Syrian People Want Peace

One of the leaders of the Syrian opposition is saying that the Syrian people will seek regional peace, including with Israel.

Syrians Protest for Freedom

Syrians Protest for Freedom - Photo by Reuters

In an interview with Kol Yisrael radio, portions of which were released on Friday, Nofal al-Dawalibi, said that if Presdient Bashar Assad’s regime falls, the Syrian people will realize their deprived rights and will seek peace in the region.

Speaking from Paris, al-Dawalibi said that the Friends of the Syria conference which was held in Paris this week does not bode well for the Syrian people, and that it offered no practical solutions for the ongoing crisis in the country. Continue Reading »

‘Hamas-Israel truce to be like with Lebanon, Syria’

Abu Marzouk also continued Hamas’ refusal to recognize any future peace treaty signed by Israel, PA.

 

Hamas rejects any peace treaty with Israel, but supports the possibility of establishing a lasting ceasefire such as the one between Israel and Lebanon or Israel and Syria, a top Hamas official said in a rare interview with an American-Jewish newspaper published on Friday.

Hamas leaders Khaled Meshaal, Moussa Abu Marzouk -Photo: Khaled Al Hariri / Reuters

Hamas leaders Khaled Meshaal, Moussa Abu Marzouk -Photo: Khaled Al Hariri / Reuters

Speaking with The Jewish Daily Forward, Hamas’s Mousa Abu Marzouk expressed views ranging from Hamas’ willingness for a “Hudna,” or truce, with Israel, to a possible willingness to change Hamas’ charter regarding Jews, to a refusal to recognize any future peace treaty signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Continue Reading »

Israelis taking over online advertising

In recent years, digital advertising in Israel has quietly grown to $500M a year industry

The growing prevalence of the Internet in all areas of life is changing the map of advertising as well, with advertisers and agencies allocating more and more funds to digital advertising.

Archives Photo: Gilad Kavalerchik

Archives Photo: Gilad Kavalerchik

This trend has seen Israel quietly turning into a hub for digital advertising optimization. Between 2007 and 2011 the industry doubled its revenues, according to Yankee Group, a research and advisory firm. Although TV advertising still draws larger budges than its digital counterpart, the gap is expected to narrow in the next few years, according to digital marketing consulting firm eMarketer. Continue Reading »

The Catholic priest who discovered he was a Jew

Jacob Weksler was raised a Catholic and became a priest. He later learned he was Jewish and came to Israel, where he found ultra-Orthodox relatives, a mixed welcome at a kibbutz ulpan and a confrontation with the Law of Return.

 

One night at the end of the winter of 1943, a frightened young woman knocked on the window of the Waszkinel family home in Stare Swieciany, a small town located not far from Vilnius, which was part of Poland at the time. The young woman quickly handed a carefully wrapped little bundle to Emilia Waszkinel. The bundle contained a newborn infant. Continue Reading »

UN Rights Office: Hamas Executions ‘Unlawful’

Hamas has violated the rights of three executed men, as well as PA law, human rights officials say.

The UN human rights office on Friday charged that three men sentenced to death in Hamas-run Gaza were executed unlawfully.

Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights -Photo Reuters

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s spokesman, Rupert Colville, told reporters in Geneva that the death sentences carried out by hanging on April 7 weren’t approved by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as required by law.
He also said the men didn’t have regular access to lawyers and were tried by a military court despite being civilians.
Continue Reading »

Melanie Phillips: The destruction of free speech: Europe’s auto-immune disease

In decadent Europe, freedom of speech is dying. Loudly trumpeted as a ‘human right’ for any attacks on America, Israel, Christians or on the core values of the west, it is swiftly transformed into ‘hate speech’ and the shutters are slammed down on the speaker whenever Islam is in the frame.

Lars Hedegaard is President of the Danish Free Press Society, which is devoted to defending freedom of expression

Lars Hedegaard is President of the Danish Free Press Society, which is devoted to defending freedom of expression.

Lars Hedegaard is President of the Danish Free Press Society, which is devoted to defending freedom of expression – particularly against the threat from radical Islam to extinguish it on the spurious grounds of ‘Islamophobia’. Continue Reading »

US mulls prosecution of Schalit deal prisoners

FBI, US Justice Dept. “reviewing info” about prisoners freed in Schalit deal for “potential prosecution,” ‘Post’ learns.

The US is reviewing terror attacks linked to Palestinian security prisoners released in exchange for soldier Gilad Schalit, for further investigation and potential prosecution in US courts, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Freed Palestinian prisoners honored entering Gaza - Photo: REUTERS

Freed Palestinian prisoners honored entering Gaza - Photo: REUTERS

Those involved include the FBI, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and the National Security Division’s Counter-terrorism Section. However, according to US Assistant Attorney-General Ronald Weich, there are “significant impediments” to prosecuting Palestinian terrorists in the US who are connected to attacks in which Americans are killed or maimed.

Continue Reading »

‘Memory of 6 million must never be trivialized’

US Congress marks Holocaust Day; Israeli Ambassador to DC warns: “We cannot ignore similarities between conditions that fostered Holocaust, those we now witness daily’

WASHINGTON – The US Congress marked Holocaust Remembrance Day during its Thursday session.

Michael Oren Photo: AP

Michael Oren - Photo by AP

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren addressed Congress and warned of the similarities between pre-WWII climate and the one prevalent today.

“Human history is rife with atrocities, massacres, and wars, but nothing can be equated with the enormity of the Holocaust,” he said. “It is profoundly, unbearably, unique.”

The legacy of the Holocaust, he added, “Endows us with a double duty. Continue Reading »

Senior Hamas official: No Israel-PA deal will be permanent

Moussa Abu Marzouk’s statements reflect a harder line than the stance of the group’s political leader, Khaled Meshal,

 

Any agreement the Palestinian Authority might reach with Israel would be subject to significant changes, a senior Hamas official has told the American newspaper The Forward.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, left, shaking hands with the imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, left, shaking hands with the imam of Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque, on a recent visit to Egypt - Photo by AP

Moussa Abu Marzouk said in an interview to be published next Friday that if Hamas came to power, any treaty would be an interim truce, a hudna, not a permanent accord. This would be the case even if a referendum ratified the deal.

Continue Reading »

Israeli Volunteers Provide Free Surgery to Thousands in Ethiopia

The Israeli volunteer organization Eye from Zion is providing free cataract surgery to thousands of people in Ethiopia.

The Israeli volunteer organization Eye from Zion is providing free cataract surgery to thousands of patients in Ethiopia, according to a press release issue by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

When the delegation of volunteers first arrived in Ethiopia in February, they were expecting to treat dozens of patients. Instead, they were confronted with thousands of people in need of medical care, who were on the verge of being blinded by cataracts.

“They told us 70, and when we arrived there were 1,400 waiting for us,” said Nati Marcus, Founder of Eye from Zion. Continue Reading »

Israeli Harvard students take to ‘Hasbara’

After Harvard hosts controversial “One-State Solution” conference, Israelis try to change students’ perceptions on home country.

 

Israeli students at Harvard University have long felt that many aspects of their country get overlooked in the campus dialogue. This week, they hope that will change.

Harvard University - Photo: Thinkstock

Harvard University - Photo: Thinkstock

Last month, Harvard students hosted the controversial ‘One-State Solution’ conference. But long before that meeting took place, a group of Israeli Harvard students has been hard at work planning a two-day inaugural Israel Conference at Harvard to shine a light on the reality of Israel.

On April 19 and 20, a group of non-partisan Israeli Harvard students will gather to feature a confab of top leaders in Israeli discourse and innovation to promote another face of Israel.The

Continue Reading »

‘PRC behind Eilat missile attacks’

Defense establishment source says it is highly likely that Popular Resistance Committees was behind missile fire at southern city of Eilat two weeks ago

 

A defense establishment source said Thursday that it is highly likely that the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) was behind the missile fire at the southern city of Eilat two weeks ago.

Grad rocket explodes near Eilat Photo: Yair Sagi, Yedioth Ahronoth
Grad rocket explodes near Eilat – Photo: Yair Sagi, Yedioth Ahronoth

Israeli officials believe that the terror cell that carried out the attack infiltrated the Sinai Peninsula from Gaza and fired the missiles as an act of revenge over the assassination of the secretary general of the PRC Zuhair Qaisiat the beginning of last month

The missile fire on Eilat did not result in any injuries or damage, yet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear after the attack that those responsible would pay the price. Continue Reading »

Defense establishment source says it is highly likely that Popular Resistance Committees was behind missile fire at southern city of Eilat two weeks ago

 

A defense establishment source said Thursday that it is highly likely that the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) was behind the missile fire at the southern city of Eilat two weeks ago.

Grad rocket explodes near Eilat Photo: Yair Sagi, Yedioth Ahronoth

Grad rocket explodes near Eilat - Photo: Yair Sagi, Yedioth Ahronoth

Israeli officials believe that the terror cell that carried out the attack infiltrated the Sinai Peninsula from Gaza and fired the missiles as an act of revenge over the assassination of the secretary general of the PRC Zuhair Qaisiat the beginning of last month

The missile fire on Eilat did not result in any injuries or damage, yet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear after the attack that those responsible would pay the price. Continue Reading »