Archive for June 12, 2012

Bedouins block Sinai-Israel passage

Truck drivers say Bedouins protesting Cairo’s policy towards them burn tires, but allow Gaza-bound vehicles through

By Ynet

 

A group of Egyptian Bedouins blocked on Monday the main road leading to the Nitzana border crossing between the Sinai Peninsula and Israel, the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency reported.

Archives Photo: AP

Archives - Photo: AP

According to the report, the Bedouins blocked the passage as an act of protest against the detention of Bedouins in the Sinai by Egyptian authorities.

Truck drivers reported seeing burning tires and rocks along the road, as well as gunmen armed with machine guns.

However, the truck drivers said, vehicles that were headed to Gaza, including fuel tankers delivering diesel from Qatar, were allowed through. Continue Reading »

Forbes presents: The richest rabbis in Israel

Descendents of the Baba Sali known for working miracles – which seem to include accumulating bills and coins – top the list.

Descendents of Rabbi Israel Abuhatzeira, or “the Baba Sali,” a renowned Kabbalist who immigrated to Israel from Morocco and founded his court in Netivot, are known as righteous men, knowledgeable in Kabbalah, and miracle workers – though it is possible that their miracle is accumulating bills and coins.

Two of the “admorim” (admor is an acronym in Hebrew for our master, our teacher, and our rabbi ) from the Abuhatzeira dynasty top the list of wealthiest rabbis published by Forbes Israel this week, as part of a comprehensive briefing on the “Baba” economy in Israel. Continue Reading »

Peres Will Ask Obama for Humanitarian Pardon for Pollard

President Shimon Peres will ask President Barack Obama to grant a pardon for Jonathan Pollard on humanitarian grounds.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

President Shimon Peres will ask President Barack Obama to grant a pardon for Jonathan Pollard on humanitarian grounds.

Shimon Peres and Jonathan Pollard

Shimon Peres and Jonathan Pollard - INN archive photo

Pollard, incarcerated for some 27 years on a single charge of passing classified information to an ally (Israel), has been in increasingly poor health. He was hospitalized several times over the past year, including for emergency surgery.

Peres has said he will discuss the issue of a pardon for Pollard with Obama during a private meeting. Continue Reading »

‘If he could, Assad would do to us what he’s doing to his own people’

Israel Hayom Staff, Eli Leon and News Agencies

 

 

IDF Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh warns Syrian missiles “can reach any point in Israel and therefore we must remain vigilant” • Syria is believed to possess the world’s largest stockpile of chemical weapons, including some of the deadliest chemical agents known, such as sarin and the nerve agent VX. Their chemical agents have already been integrated in warheads mounted on advanced Scud missiles.

 

Syria possesses the largest chemical weapons stocks in the world, including missiles and rockets that can reach any point in Israel, Israel Defense Forces Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj.
Continue Reading »

PM sprains ankle at Arab-Jewish kids soccer game

After 5 minutes of game-time, Netanyahu misses swipe at soccer ball, falls; Likud cancels faction meeting following injury

 

 

By JPOST.COM STAFF

With leadership like this, it’s no wonder Israel failed to qualify for the Euro 2012.

 

 

joint Arab-Jewish soccer gameJoint Arab-Jewish soccer game – Photo: Moshe Milner GPO

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday sprained his ankle while participating in a joint Arab-Jewish soccer game for children at Jerusalem’s Kraft Stadium.

The Likud party canceled its faction meeting in light of the injury.

Netanyahu joined the game, staged for Peter Greenberg’s show “The Royal Tour,” but fell after five minutes following a failed swipe at the soccer ball.

Continue Reading »

South Sudan migrants ‘ready to go home’

African migrants come to terms with imminent deportation as Immigration Authority inspectors sweep through major cities: ‘Now we are free to return to an independent country’

 

By Ynet reporters

 

“All South Sudanese migrants want to go back home. Israel is not our country,” one migrant told Ynet Monday as dozens of Africans were detained nationwide ahead of their deportation.

Detained migrants in Eilat Photo courtesy of Immigration Authority

Detained migrants in Eilat - Photo courtesy of Immigration Authority

“When I came here my country was at war and it was dangerous,” said John, who crossed into Israel from Egypt five years ago and settled in Eilat. “Now I’m ready to go back. Continue Reading »

Mubarak in ‘full coma,’ Egyptian government says

Lawyer Fareed El Deeb said a prosecutor had denied his request to transfer Mubarak from prison to a military hospital. El Deeb said he was appealing that decision, arguing that the prison hospital was poorly equipped to handle Mubarak’s care.

 

By the CNN Wire Staff

 

Cairo (CNN) — Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was in a coma Monday in a Cairo prison hospital, a spokesman for the country’s Interior Ministry said.

“Mubarak entered today into full coma. His two sons Gamal and Alaa submitted a request to the prison authority to move beside him and it has been accepted,” ministry spokesman Alaa Mahmoud said. Continue Reading »

With New Cameras, IAF Could Peek into the Ground

Hyperspectral camera could allow UAVs to detect hidden weapons and chemical agents.

By Gil Ronen

 

The Israel Air Force is currently examining hyper-spectral camera technology, which could allow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to collect a wide variety of information, some invisible to the human eye, the IAF Website writes. Among other things, the camera could identify hidden weapons and underground bunkers camouflaged with vegetation.

“The camera will alert its operator regarding the location of suspicious targets and even of spots that are saturated with chemicals and other substances,” Lt. Col. Yoav, chief of the Intelligence Department of the IAF’s Equipment Squadron, told the website. Continue Reading »

Pollard clemency campaign shifts into high gear with Peres visit

Freed soldier Gilad Schalit, Israeli Nobel laureates and intellectuals sign online petition asking President Shimon Peres to use his rapport with U.S. President Barack Obama during this week’s Washington visit to secure Israeli spy’s release • Peres reportedly planning to seek clemency for convicted spy on humanitarian grounds.

 

 

Bt Yori Yalon and Israel Hayom Staff

Some 70,000 Israelis have signed an online petition asking President Shimon Peres to use his upcoming meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama to seek the release of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. Peres is traveling to Washington this week to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the U.S.
Continue Reading »

Vatican: Christians expelled from war-torn Syrian town

Most of the city’s 10,000 Christians have fled the city, situated in the battleground province of Homs.

BEIRUT — Much of the Christian population of the besieged Syrian city of Qusair has abandoned the town after an “ultimatum” from the rebel military chief there, reports Agenzia Fides, the official Vatican news agency.The ultimatum expired Thursday, the agency reported, adding that most of the city’s 10,000 Christians have fled the city, situated in the battleground province of Homs.
Christians flee Syrian city

New recruits to the Free Syrian Army participate in a parade last week in Qusair, Syria, near the city of Homs - Photo: AFP/Getty Images

“Some mosques in the city have relaunched the message, announcing from the minarets: ‘Christians must leave Quasir,’ ” read the report from the Vatican agency, which has sought to document the parlous plight of Syria’s ancient Christian community. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem man calls on US A-G to support flotilla lawsuit

American Alan Bauer cites rarely-used law allowing US to seize vessels that tried to break Gaza blockade.

 

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK

A US citizen who filed a lawsuit asking the US authorities to seize the Mavi Marmara and 13 other Gaza flotilla ships has called on US Attorney-General Eric Holder to support the suit, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday.

Dr. Alan J. Bauer, an American citizen living in Jerusalem, filed the suit last June in the US federal court in New York with the help of Shurat HaDin (The Israel Law Center).

The precedent-setting lawsuit, which has since been transferred to the District of Columbia District Court, asks the US authorities to seize the flotilla vessels on the grounds that groups and individuals – including the Free Gaza and US to Gaza campaigns – violated US law by raising funds in the US to furnish and fit out the ships, whose intent was to commit hostilities against US ally Israel.

Continue Reading »

Bibi tours: PM to act as tour guide for 300 million viewers

Netanyahu will join journalist Peter Greenberg on Royal Tour, popular TV show that follows heads of state as they present their country’s tourism sites

By Ynet

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon add another role to his impressive resume – that of tour guide.

The prime minister has been taking part in an international project to promote Israeli tourism through the international TV show ‘The Royal Tour’ where heads of state present their country’s major tourist sites.

Netanyahu and Greenberg at Banana plantation Photo: GPO

Netanyahu and Greenberg at Banana plantation - Photo: GP

Netanyahu began filming for the show on Saturday in Rosh Hanikra in northern Israel. Continue Reading »

Hate Vandals Deface Yad VaShem Holocaust Museum

Yad VaShem Holocaust Museum officials were shocked Monday morning to discover anti-Zionist hate slogans and graffiti praising Hitler.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

“Hitler, thanks for the Holocaust” and “If Hitler didn’t exist the Zionists would have had to invent him” were among the graffiti scrawled on the walls of the plaza. Another hate message stated, “Jews wake up – the Zionist regime is dangerous,” and the vandalism was signed by “The global Zionist mafia.”

Yad VaShem director Avner Shalev said, “I am shocked and horrified by this blatant act of burning hatred against the country and against Zionism. It has crossed the red line and is very worrisome.” Continue Reading »

Researchers Find Cluster Of Genes That Predict Parkinson’s

Technion researchers from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine have identified five genes that predict Parkinson’s disease.

 

 

Blood Test - Health News - Israel - Photo by Jeremy L. Grisham for the U.S. Navy

Blood Test – Health News – Israel – Photo by Jeremy L. Grisham for the U.S. Navy

 

“Currently, there is no blood test that can diagnose PD, making the detection of individuals at risk or at earliest stages of PD practically impossible. Instead it is identified by a clinical neurological examination based on findings suggestive of Parkinson’s disease,” says Dr. Silvia Mandel, Vice Director of the Eve Topf Center

Mandel adds that “finding biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease will help to capture those high-risk subjects before symptoms develop, a stage where prevention treatment efforts might be expected to have their greatest impact to slow disease progression.” Continue Reading »

Without a Trace

Russia may sell technology to cover up tracks made by Russian-produced ballistic missile launchers

Russia may sell a new technology to countries that utilizes Russian-produced ballistic missiles. According to Israeli assessments, the technology in question covers up tracks made by missile launchers from their hiding-place up to the launch point.

A Russian missile launcher

A Russian missile launcher

According to reports from foreign sources, Russia will soon equip all of its portable ballistic missile launchers with a system that covers up the traces left on the ground by the launcher’s wheels. These traces aid intelligence sensors, such as espionage satellites, to identify the hiding places of the missiles, which can destroy the missile in advance.

Continue Reading »