Archive for May 9, 2012

Finance Minister Steinitz: 44,300 new jobs created in March

Finance Minister presents government with data that some 44,300 new job opportunities opened in March, could Indicate period of economic growth

 

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz on Monday presented the government with data that stated that some 44,300 new job opportunities opened in March. This after the number of jobs on the market decreased by 16,200 in February.

According to the minister, some 270,000 new jobs were created over the past three years. He added that it was possible to see that over the last few years the Israeli market was creating jobs at a higher rate than the rate of employees joining the market, which may indicate that the drop in unemployment in Israel comes as a result of growth rather than a low percentage of participation in the workforce. Continue Reading »

Like Ariel Sharon, Netanyahu has been pushed to the center

Finally we have a government representing the Israeli majority, a government that no niche party can extort. Finally we have a government with a clear Zionist majority.

 

There’s one thing Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t like being, and that’s a Thanksgiving stuffed turkey. On Sunday night, at the Likud convention, Netanyahu started to feel like a stuffed turkey. The disruption by the right-wing lunatic fringe at the central event of the ruling party made the prime minister realize what he should have understood long ago: Likud has lost its mind.

And since Likud has lost its mind there was a real danger that it would do poorly in an election and he would be unable to put together a strong government afterward. Continue Reading »

Terrorists Fire on Jewish Motorist in Samaria

A Jewish motorist passing the Arab village of Sinjil in Samaria was fired upon; she escaped harm; IDF searching for terrorists in force

Terrorists on Tuesday evening opened fire on a Jewish motorist travelling on Route 60.

The incident occurred near the Arab village of Sinjil, which is north of the Jewish community of Ofra.

No one was injured in the incident, but an examination of the vehicle by police revealed damage from bullets.

A large IDF force was called to the scene and is presently sweeping the area in search of the terrorists.

Arutz Sheva reported on Monday the attempted carjacking of a Jewish woman in Samaria as she headed to her father’s home in Elon Moreh. Continue Reading »

PM, Mofaz form largest coalition in 28 years

Poll: 44% of Israelis back Likud-Kadima unity government deal, 37% oppose it.

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu shocked the political establishment on Tuesday by delaying planned early elections and signing a deal with Kadima to form a 94-MK coalition, the widest coalition since 1984.

The national unity coalition formed by rotating prime ministers Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir had 97 MKs, which was the largest ever, except when Israel formed emergency governments, most notably the Six Day War coalition in 1967 that had 111 MKs.

The Knesset - Photo: Ammar Awad / Reuters

The Knesset - Photo: Ammar Awad/Reuters

At a Knesset press conference with Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz, Netanyahu said a large coalition was needed to deal with the challenges the country is facing on the socioeconomic, diplomatic and security fronts.

Continue Reading »

Turkey ready to indict flotilla soldiers

Ankara’s State Prosecution still waiting for Israel to send names of soldiers who took part in Marmara raid. ‘When we receive the info, we’ll issue indictments,’ says justice minister

 

The Turkish Justice Ministry on Tuesday announced that the State Prosecutor’s Office has completed its probe into the IDF raid on the Turkish Marmara ship in May 2010, which resulted in the deaths of nine pro-Palestinian activists.

Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said that his bureau had approached the Israeli Foreign Ministry in a request to receive a list of the names of Israeli soldiers who are supposed to stand trial. “When we receive the information, we will issue indictments to the relevant courts,” Ergin told Turkish news agency Anatolya. Continue Reading »

Abbas says ready to engage with Netanyahu on Middle East peace process

PA president says he will renew unilateral push for recognition of statehood at the UN if no breakthrough occurs in stalled Israel-Palestinian peace process.

By Reuters Tags: Middle East peace Benjamin Netanyahu Shaul MofazMahmoud Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday he was ready to engage with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a Middle East peace agreement if he proposes “anything promising or positive”.

Abbas, speaking to Reuters after Netanyahu announced a grand coalition that will strengthen the Israeli leader’s hand, said Netanyahu had to realize that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were destroying hopes of peace and must cease.

Continue Reading »

Arab Journalist Blames Radical Islam for Toulouse Murders

‘Palestinian’ journalist faults radical Islam for Toulouse murders, expresses understanding for security checks.

A ‘Palestinian’ journalist, reacting to March’s Toulouse murders, in which a Muslim extremist shot and killed three Jewish children and a rabbi, said that France’s measures against radical Islam are justified.

Lighting a candle in memory of Toulouse terror victims

Lighting a candle in memory of Toulouse terror victims - Reuters

According the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Ahlam Akram, a female Palestinian journalist living in London, wrote: “Wouldn’t any mother [prefer] for her son [to] be detained for a while rather than have him sacrifice his life for the sake of goals that do not [even] serve the Muslims? Continue Reading »

‘Egypt launches op to purge Sinai of terrorists’

Security forces in Sinai arrest Egyptians and Palestinians linked to Hamas’s armed wing, according to “Al Shorouk.”

 

Egyptian security forces launched an operation to combat the rising violence in Sinai, with raids resulting in the arrest of Egyptians and Palestinians linked to Hamas’s armed wing, Al Shorouk reported today.

The operations, which included military and Interior Ministry forces, were in response to recent attacks on Egyptian security patrols in the strategic peninsula, the independent newspaper reported today, citing an unidentified security official. It was unclear how long the operations would continue.

 

Image illustrative
Photo: Reuters

Separately, an official with the Islamic Jihad group warned that Egypt could see a period of renewed bloodshed if the president elected in a May 23 vote isn’t a candidate supported by those who adhere to the idea of jihad, or holy war, or doesn’t back the imposition of Islamic law in the country, the independent Al Masry Al Youm reported.Nabil
Continue Reading »

Google Earth Outs Hizbullah Bases

New satellite images uploaded to the Internet reveal new Hizbullah bases and roadways in the Bekaa Valley and South Lebanon.

Recently uploaded satellite images to Google Earth reveal what appears to be a Hizbullah terror training ground constructed after the 2006 Lebanon War.

According to military analysts, the facility near Janta in the Bekaa Vaalley includes a suspected driver training course, a 100-meter firing range, and a possible urban terrain assault course.

The Google Earth images also reveal considerable overt construction activity in sealed-off Hizbullah security pockets in southern Lebanon, particularly in the hills south of Jezzine.

The area was designated the terror groups primary staging line following the redeployment of UNIFIL peacekeepers on the Blue Line, which separates Israel from Lebanon. Continue Reading »

ICRC, UN appeal for Palestinian hunger strikers

Int’l Red Cross urges Israel to transfer 6 prisoners to hospital, to allow family visits; UN also expresses concern.

 

GENEVA – The International Committee of the Red Cross called on Israel on Tuesday to transfer six Palestinians who have been on hunger strike for weeks to hospital and allow visits from their families.

PALESTINIANS RALLY in Ramallah for Prisoners Day - Photo: Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

PALESTINIANS RALLY in Ramallah for Prisoners Day - Photo: Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

All six are in prison under Israel’s long-standing policy of detaining people it suspects of security offenses or plotting attacks in a closed military proceeding between security forces and military judges rather than after a formal trial.

Continue Reading »

Israeli students win int’l robotics competition

Team from Savionim middle school in Yahud-Monosson won first place in First Lego League International Robotics Competition. ‘We are very proud to have won award for Israel,’ says one team member

 

A team from the Savionim middle school in Yahud-Monosson on Sunday won first place in the First Lego League International Robotics Competition which was held in Orlando Florida.

The Israeli team which calls itself “The Pink Eagles” and includes three boys and two girls, came out victorious against 64 teams from around the world. The theme of this year’s competition was food safety and the Israeli students managed to develop a sophisticated robot that gave an optimal solution to food quality problems. Continue Reading »

Mossad agent Bar Refaeli seduces Hamas man in cinematic depiction of Dubai operation

Speaking on new film ‘Kidon,’ Israeli supermodel says: I would love to be in the Mossad and maybe I am. Who knows? I think that being a famous model is the best cover.

 

The brazen 2010 assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai, in which Israel’s Mossad was accused, unfurled like a spy movie thriller — and in fact much of it was caught on camera. Now an Israeli movie plays it as a spy caper, complete with a sly seductress played by Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli.

Israeli Supermodel Bar Rafaeli.

Israeli supermodel Bar Rafaeli - Photo by: Guy Kushi & Yariv Fine

The movie “Kidon”, or Spear, gives the plot a twist by having a small-time gang of criminals murder Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in an attempt to frame Israel’s Mossad spy agency.

Continue Reading »

Evidence of Canaanite Jewish Rituals in Reign of King David

An archaeologist finds spectacular evidence confirming the reign of King David and that non-Jews believed in one Creator.

A Hebrew University archaeologist has uncovered spectacular evidence confirming the reign of King David and that non-Jews believed in one Creator. Architecture that was uncovered pre-dates the First Temple built by King Solomon.

Prof. Yosef Garfinkel with a stone shrine model - Prof. Yosef Garfinkel with a stone shrine model Israel news photo courtesy of Hebrew U.
Prof. Yosef Garfinkel with a stone shrine model
Israel news photo courtesy of Hebrew U.

 

Prof. Yosef Garfinkel announced on Tuesday the discovery of objects found in the ruins called  Khirbet Qeiyafa, a fortified border city in the Kingdom of Judah adjacent to the Valley of Elah, less than 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem and half five miles west of Gush Etzion. Continue Reading »

Zimbabwe’s ‘black Jews’ observe traditions, if not faith

The Lemba tribe  say they are the descendants of white men who came from a place believed to be modern Yemen. But their ties to Judaism are cultural and not religious.

 

GUTU, Zimbabwe — Yarmulkes bob as voices swell in a sacred song carried from ancient Judea to the scenic fields of a far-flung southern African village that is home to a “lost tribe” of Israel.

“We have been singing this song for about 2,600 years. It’s an old, old song,” said Perez Hamandishe, wearing a white crocheted skullcup with a blue Star of David in a small village near Gutu, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of the capital Harare. Continue Reading »

Many sheep die in Southern Israel from poisoned water

Over 100 sheep died over the weekend after drinking from a poisoned watering hole in Sharsheret Forest, in southern Israel


Poisoned sheep lay dead.

Poisoned sheep lay dead.

Agriculture and Environmental Protection ministries’ officials and Society for Protection of Nature in Israel officers have corded off the area and have taken water samples for analysis, in order to deterring the exact nature of the poison.
The Netivot Police, who has jurisdiction over the area, is investigating.

According to the information available, Salam al-Assam, a shepherd from Beersheba, who arrived with his herd to the area – apparently as a matter of routine – was left helpless as he saw sheep that drank from the water die a short time afterwards. Continue Reading »