May 2012 Archives

Israel to Search for Oil on the Golan Heights

Report: Israel has decided to search for oil on the Golan Heights after 20 years of delay due to objections from Syria.

Israel has decided to search for oil on the Golan Heights after 20 years of delay due to objections from Syria, according to Globes, which quoted the Hebrew daily Yediot Aharanoth.

After Israel formally took sovereignty over the strategic area in 1980, the Petroleum Act was applied to the area, allowing for the search for oil.

If Israel were to discover oil on the Golan Heights, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad would undoubtedly launch an international crisis. The international community, including the United States, does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan, despite the absence of any communities in the area when it was under Syrian occupation. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: energy, Golan Heights, Syria

Erdan: Cut Gaza power to avoid shortages in Israel

Minister says it is “absurd” that Israel should experience power shortages while the “terror entity next to us will get electricity.”

Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan on Sunday called on the government to cut off the supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip in order to avoid electricity shortages it is feared could affect Israel this summer.

Electric lines -illustrative photo: Thinkstock/Imagebank

Speaking in an interview with Army Radio, Erdan said that Gaza has its own power stations and legally, it is not clear that Israel is responsible for supplying power to Gaza, especially after Israel’s 2005 disengagement from the terrotory.

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Gaza, Power

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The top 12 ways Israel feeds the world

From drip irrigation to natural pesticides, Israeli innovations are helping to fill hungry bellies everywhere, but particularly in the developing world.

Food security is a major concern for our rapidly growing planet. As resources dwindle and the population rises, smart solutions for better agriculture and safer food storage are essential.

No other single country – certainly not one as young and as tiny as Israel – has contributed more breakthroughs in this area than Israel.

Since the 1950s, Israelis have not only been finding miraculous ways to green their own desert but have shared their discoveries far and wide through channels including MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries |

US actor relates nude confrontation at TA event

Mandy Patinkin tells leftists he supports boycotting settlements.

Once, as American actor and singer Mandy Patinkin stood naked in a locker room shower after a concert, a man verbally attacked him for his support of the left wing group Peace Now.“How can you raise money for them?” the man asked Patinkin.“In my nakedness, I said to him, ‘Look, I support Peace Now, If you want to support peace later that is your privilege,’” Patinkin said.

Mandy Patinkin (L) wth Peace Now director – Photo: Tovah Lazaroff

The actor related this anecdote as he spoke Friday in Tel Aviv at the second annual conference of the Israeli Left-wing camp, sponsored by Peace Now.He

Category: Israel News |

Essay by Alan M. Dershowitz: Radicals can be defeated

Op-ed: Alan Dershowitz shares his insights on best approach to use against anti-Israel extremists

I was gratified to read the article by Kasim Hafeez, a former anti-Semite who had become a Zionist. I was particularly gratified to learn that my book, The Case for Israel, played a role in his conversion from irrational hatred to support based on his own observations of the reality of Israel.

Alan M. Dershowitz

Hafeez’s article came at a time when I was becoming skeptical of my own ability, and that of others who try to make the civil liberties case for Israel, to influence public opinion. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Hasbara

Lack of shade makes Western Wall visit unbearable for tourists

Judaism’s holiest site is also one of the most unpleasant places to visit.

It was a beautiful, partially cloudy spring day in Jerusalem on Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 25 degrees Celsius in the shade. A perfect day for strolling around nearly any part of the city, with one truly glaring exception: the Western Wall Plaza. The glaring whiteness of the plaza pavement reflected the heat, and the complete absence of trees, buildings and pergolas ensured that there was not a speck of shade. The result is an almost unbearable experience for worshipers and tourists who congregate at the Judaism’s holiest site.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel tourism, Jerusalem, Western Wall

IDF: Mainstream Media Ignoring Terrorist Attacks

The IDF confirms mainstream media ignore significant terrorist attacks, nine of which were virtually unreported except by Arutz Sheva.

Mainstream media’s habit of ignoring terrorist attacks has been confirmed by the IDF, which details nine attacks, most of which were virtually unreported except by Arutz Sheva.

The cover-up is part of a general policy of local and foreign media to generate a positive image of the Palestinian Authority and a negative picture of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The media agenda encourages international pressure on Israel to meet PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ demand that Israel stop activities in favor of a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria and parts of Jerusalem, particularly outside of large centers of Jewish population. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: IDF, Media, Palestinian Authority, Terror

Ahmadinejad: Cut ties with Zionists

Israel will be destroyed if regional states cut their ties with Jewish state, Iranian president says; Western powers arrogant, bad-tempered, Ahmadinejad says

More hostile words from Iran: Regional states can destroy Israel by cutting their ties with the Jewish state, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday.

No fan of Israel – Ahmadinejad Photo: EPA

Speaking to locals during a tour, the Iranian leader said that regional countries do not need to purchase arms in order to “fight the Zionist regime of Israel.”

“If the rulers are wise enough, they will not sell their petrol to pay 60 billion dollars to others for arms,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Ahmadinejad, Iran

Brave filmmaker shatters silence over sexual assault of Arab women

Abeer Zeibak Haddad’s ‘Duma’ is a groundbreaking, harrowing documentary that skeptics said she’d never be able to make

Actress/educator-turned-filmmaker Abeer Zeibak Haddad is hitting the road with her documentary “Duma” — “dolls” in Arabic — the first film by an Arabic speaker to confront the taboo of sexual violence against Arab women, who are often forced into silence to preserve their family’s honor.

The film was screened to a packed room on Saturday at the Arab Hebrew Theater in Jaffa as part of the Hebrew Arab Women’s Festival, and has been brought to cities throughout Israel and to film festivals in Holland, Mumbai and Belgrade. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: sexual abuse

Palestinian parliamentarian slams PA over rank corruption

Corruption is now more widespread than ever with ministers receiving high salaries, cars, Palestinian Legislative Council speaker tells ‘Al-Quds Al-Arabi,’ scoffing at PA’s talk of a financial crisis in the West Bank.

Hasan Khreishah, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Saturday held the Palestinian Authority responsible for rampant corruption and human rights violations.

He also blasted the PA and Hamas governments for human rights abuses, especially against Palestinian journalists.

“Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, we have had 12 Palestinian governments,” Khreishah said in an interview with the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper.

–

PA President Abbas and PM Fayyad file - Photo by Fadi Arouri/Reuters

“Each government consisted of at least 24 ministers.

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: PA corruption

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Christians, Jews to unite against Islam?

Op-ed: Will Jews, Christians finally join forces in battle against genocidal Islamic hatred?

The Coliseum, where thousands upon thousands of “Judaeis” have been massacred by the Roman emperors, became for one night an arena for alliance between Christians and Jews against “odium fidei,” or religious hatred.

Last Wednesday in Rome, Jewish leaders for the first time rallied alongside Christians in a candlelit vigil to denounce the attacks in the Middle East and Africa. It was “interfaith” or “ecumenical” dialogue at its best. Forget the theological questions, which remain unsolvable. There is an urgent mutual solidarity about the single most defining issue of our time: religious freedom. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Christians, Islam

Christchurch mayor looks to Israeli example in wake of massive earthquake

Mayor Parker referred to Israeli ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘innovation’ critical capabilities he says burgeoning city will require to sustain vast economic recovery.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker radiates a remarkable sense of calm for a man whose city was virtually leveled following a two-year string of earthquakes and aftershocks. The 59-year-old former broadcaster seems undaunted by the Herculean task of rebuilding the New Zealand city in the wake of last February’s tragedy, in which a 6.3-magnitude earthquake took the lives of 185 people – including three Israelis.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker - Photo courtesy of Christchurch Mayor's Office.

This week Parker joined dozens of his peers in Israel at the International Conference of Mayors, co-sponsored by the American Council for World Jewry, Israel’s Foreign Ministry and the Union for Local Authorities.

Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: earthquake

Terrorists Fire Qassam Rocket at Southern Israel

A Qassam rocket fired by terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza explodes in an open area of the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council.

A Qassam rocket launched by terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza exploded on Friday afternoon in an open area of the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council.

The “Red Alert” siren was sounded in the area before the rocket exploded. There were no reports of physical injuries or damage.

On Wednesday evening, at least one Grad rocket was fired into southern Israel. The rocket landed in an open field in the Shaar HaNegev council region near Saad.

No physical injuries or property damage was reported in the attack, which happened as Israelis began their Lag Ba’Omer celebrations. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Gaza rockets, Palestinian attack