Archive for May 14, 2012

Israel lets Gaza export clothes after long break

Egyptian-Israeli embargo on Gaza Strip export lifted as shipment of Palestinian clothing let out of Gaza en route to Britain

 

Israel allowed on Monday the export of Palestinian-made clothes from the Gaza Strip for the first time in at least five years, a Palestinian official said.

Raed Fattouh, who coordinates supplies into Gaza, said a truck carrying 2,000 pieces of mainly woolen garments were exported through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing towards an Israeli seaport en route to Britain.

Kerem Shalom crossing Photo: AP

Kerem Shalom crossing - Photo: AP

Home to 1.7 million people, Gaza has been under tight embargo by both Israel and Egypt since the Islamist group Hamas took control of the coastal enclave in 2007. Continue Reading »

More than 60 nuclear experts at work building Iranian nuclear bomb

The names and addresses of 60 Iranian experts employed by 11 different Iranian agencies under the control of the Iranian Defense Ministry were revealed Saturday, May 12, by the main Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI). 

This is the first time an extensive, highly secret, central organizational structure dedicated to building a nuclear weapon has been revealed in detail – specifically the Ministry of Defense under the command of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which also runs the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.

The information updated to April 2012 was provided by “sources within the Iranian regime’s agencies, including military institutions.”

Malek Ashtar University: Nuclear bomb project HQ
Malek Ashtar University: Nuclear bomb project HQ

It contradicts the fundamental conclusion reached by the US and five world powers and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – that Iran’s nuclear program is not run by a single organization – on the basis of which they entered into negotiation with Tehran. Continue Reading »

NATO Ousts Israel from Upcoming Chicago Summit

Israel will not be invited to the upcoming NATO summit that is scheduled to take place May 20-21 in Chicago, the alliance’s top official said Friday.

The official denied that Turkey had blocked Israel’s participation and claimed that NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the reason is because Israel does not participate in NATO’s military missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo, the Associated Press reported.

NATO Summit

NATO Summit - Reuters

According to reports, however, Turkey has blocked Israel’s participation in the summit and has maintained that NATO–Israel relations cannot be restored until Turkey-Israel relations are normalized.

Relations between the two countries became increasingly hostile following the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident in 2010, when Israeli commandos bordered the vessel in an attempt to prevent IHH terror activists from breaching Israel’s borders and endangering the country’s national security. Continue Reading »

9 PhD students to receive Adams fellowships

Fellowships equal upwards of $100,000; each student will also receive exemption from tuition.

 

Nine doctoral students in the sciences will receive a total of $1 million in stipends for up to four years of PhD studies donated by Canadian philanthropist Marcel Adams.

Each student will also receive an exemption from tuition. The nine students will be presented with their fellowships at the annual Adams Seminar on May 20 at the Israel Academy of Sciences.

Marcel Adams meets with previous recepients - Photo: Israel Academy of Sciences
Marcel Adams meets with previous recipients – Photo: Israel Academy of Sciences

Graduates of the fellowship program are currently conducting postdoctoral training in universities around the world, including Columbia, Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Cornell.

Continue Reading »

Leading Egypt candidate calls ‘racist’ Israel a threat

Front runner in May 23-24 election, Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, says 1979 peace treaty ‘a national security threat’

 

A leading Islamist candidate in Egypt’s presidential election has branded Israel a “racist state” and said a shared 1979 peace treaty was “a national security threat” that should be revised.

Fotouh also denounced al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden’s assassination by US special forces as an act of “state terrorism,” in a late Saturday Egyptian television interview.

Abul Fotouh, a front runner in the May 23-24 election according to polls, had earlier described Israel as an “enemy” in a televised debate with his main contender, former foreign minister and Arab League chief Amr Moussa. Continue Reading »

PA arrests former top militant after attack on Palestinian official’s home

Zakaria Zubeidi, who Israel again listed as ‘wanted’ as of late 2011, is considered to be one of the most powerful people in Jenin’s refugee camp.

Palestinian Authority forces arrested former top militant Zakaria Zubeidi on Sunday, over his suspected link to a recent attack on the house of a top PA official.

Earlier this month Jenin District Governor Kadura Musa died of a heart attack, shortly after armed attackers opened fire on his home.

A number of assailants took positions outside Musa’s home, before opening fire. The governor’s bodyguards returned fire, and Musa himself came out of his house and fired a number of shots into the air. Continue Reading »

Iran to Execute Spy for Israel

Iran upholds a death sentence against a man convicted for assassinating a nuclear physicist. Thirteen others may face the same fate.

Iran upheld on a death sentence against a man convicted for assassinating a nuclear physicist two year ago, and 13 others may face the same fate after having been found guilty on Sunday for working for the Israeli Mossad spy agency.

Motorcyle bomb aftermath (illustrative)

Motorcyle bomb aftermath (illustrative) - Reuters

The Tehran prosecutor said on Sunday that Majid Jamali Fashi, convicted for assassinating nuclear physicist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, will be executed as planned, the Tehran Times reported. The death sentence reportedly will be carried out on Tuesday. Continue Reading »

US to announce massive Iron Dome package

Defense Minister Ehud Barak and US counterpart to announce plans for $680 million in aid to fund 3-4 additional batteries.

 

The Obama administration is planning to announce this week a $680 million aid package to Israel for the procurement of additional Iron Dome batteries.

The announcement will be made following a meeting between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the Pentagon on Thursday. The two will hold a joint press conference following the meeting.

Iron Dome battery - Photo: Marc Israel Sellem

Iron Dome battery - Photo: Marc Israel Sellem

Israel currently has four operational Iron Dome batteries and the Air Force plans to deploy an additional 3 over the coming year.

Continue Reading »

Teva Pharma 1Q profit climbs 13%

Israeli company’s adjusted earnings beat Wall Street estimates; revenue rose about 25% to $5.1 billion from $4.08 billion a year ago

 

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s first quarter earnings climbed 13% as sales of branded drugs that came with the acquisition of Cephalon Inc. increased revenue for the world’s largest generic drugmaker.

Its adjusted earnings beat Wall Street estimates but revenue came in short, and its US shares fell 77 cents, or 1.7%, to $43.70 in premarket trading.

Teva plant in Jerusalem Photo: Reuters

Teva plant in Jerusalem - Photo: Reuters

The Israeli company said Wednesday that its net income rose to $859 million, or 97 cents per share, in the three months that ended March 31. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu ordered evacuation of Hebron home over fears of war crimes suits

AG’s fear of legal action against Israeli officials at The Hague also reason for state’s hesitance regarding authorization of the Ulpana Hill West Bank outpost.

 

Senior officials in the prime minister’s office said at the time that the evacuation was carried out after careful coordination between the defense minister and the prime minister. Nevertheless, Netanyahu’s aides went on the defensive against right-wing criticism and said that the premier had no choice but to approve the evacuation out of security and legal consideration.

 

Hebron evacuation - Olivier Fitoussi - 4.4.2012
Border Police officials evacuating a Hebron house taken over by settlers, April 4, 2012. Photo by Olivier Fitoussi

The aides said that during the late night discussion prior to the evacuation no decisions were made regarding the immediate evacuation of the house. Continue Reading »

Illegal Entry: No Need to Sneak In, Just Take the Bus

PA Arabs are able to enter Israel illegally without cutting through fences, simply by getting on public transport.

Soldiers, Border Police, and other security forces work around the clock to fight illegal Palestinian Authority entry to Israel. At the same time, however, PA Arabs are able to travel to the heart of central Israel without the need to go through any security checks, simply by boarding a bus.

Malkiel Feder of Har Bracha in Samaria was traveling to the city of Ramat Gan on a bus run by the Afikim company when he noticed that PA Arabs were getting on and off freely. Continue Reading »

‘Fatah prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza go on hunger strike’

Sources say prisoners initiate hunger strike to protest their incarceration, show solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israel; Hamas denies Fatah claim that prisoners being held without trial.

 

Fatah prisoners held in Hamas jails in the Gaza Strip have gone on hunger strike in protest against their incarceration, Palestinian sources reported Sunday.

The hunger strike is also in solidarity with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons who have also been refusing food for the past few weeks, the sources said.

Palestinians in Gaza rally to free hunger strikers -  Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Palestinians in Gaza rally to free hunger strikers - Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

The Fatah-affiliated Palestine Press News Agency published a letter from the striking prisoners in the Gaza Strip in which they hold Hamas responsible for their continued imprisonment.

Continue Reading »

Drawing focuses on Iran’s nuke work

Image from inside Iranian military site shows type of explosives containment chamber needed for nuclear tests. Former IAEA official: Drawing is accurate

 

An image said to come from inside an Iranian military site shows an explosives containment chamber of the type needed for nuclear arms-related tests that UN inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted at the site. Iran denies such testing and has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a chamber.

The image was provided to The Associated Press by an official of a country tracking Iran’s nuclear program who said the drawing proves the structure exists, despite Tehran’s refusal to acknowledge it. Continue Reading »

IDF ‘pit’ project halted over missile fears

Plans for construction of new underground command headquarters, known as ‘the pit,’ have been halted due to concerns it would collapse if hit by missile

Last weekend Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah threatened once again to attack specific targets in Tel Aviv. One of the most sensitive targets is the IDF command headquarters at the Kirya base, especially the underground command center, also known as “the pit.”

Kirya base: The pit Photo: Dana Koppel

Kirya base, The pit - Photo: Dana Koppel

Yet plans for the construction of the new command center, for which tens of millions of shekels have already been invested, have been halted due to concerns it would collapse if hit by a missile, Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Sunday. Continue Reading »

New York’s kosher-labeling rules are kosher, court rules

Federal Court says law aims to protect more than just Jews, who represent only about 30 percent of kosher-food consumers, according to New York state.

New York’s kosher-labeling rules interfere with freedom of religion about as much as St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, a federal appeals court has decided.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld New York’s Kosher Law Protection Act, passed in 2004, ruling that it does not interfere with religion in any way and exists solely for preventing fraud.

A man shops at the West Store supermarket in Port Stanley, March 14, 2012.

A man shops at the West Store supermarket in Port Stanley - Photo by Reuters

 

“The labeling law has the secular purpose of protecting against fraud by informing a consumer that a particular seller believes a product is kosher,” the decision released Thursday said, affirming Brooklyn federal court judge Nina Gershon’s 2011 opinion. Continue Reading »