Archive for June 9, 2012

Report: Iranians fall for ‘Pepsi in the moon’ hoax

Thousands of Iranians fall prey to Internet rumors that Pepsi will shoot laser beams at sky to display logo on the moon, French news network reports

Ynet

Thousands of Iranians looked up at the sky in the hopes of seeing the Pepsi logo appear on the moon on Tuesday night, France 24 reported Friday.

According to the report, rumors that have gone viral on Iranian websites and social networks in recent days claimed that Pepsi Co. was going to shoot powerful lasers beams at the moon to display the brand’s logo on its surface.

Not a face, but soda Photo: EPA

Not a face, but soda - Photo: EPA

Some web surfers perceived it as a joke, while others bought the hoax. Continue Reading »

Israelis flock by the thousands to Tel Aviv’s annual Gay Pride Parade

Speaking at the event, attended by thousands of tourists U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro says: Human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights.

By Ilan Lior

Thousands of people participated in Tel Aviv’s 14th Gay Pride Parade on Friday, including many tourists arrived in Israel to attend the annual gay pride week-long events.

The parade got underway in Gan Meir park, following an event which marked the conclusion of the week-long carnival in Israel’s largest city. Among the speakers were top political and municipal officials, including U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro.

Tel Aviv Gay Pride - Hadar Cohen - 8.6.2012

Women kissing during Tel Aviv's annual Gay Pride Parade, June 8, 2012.

Continue Reading »

Muslim Cleric: Jerusalem to be Capital of Egypt Under Mursi Rule

Muslim Brotherhood candidate: Jerusalem, not Cairo, will be capital of Egypt.

 

If Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi were to become president, Egypt’s capital would no longer be Cairo, but would be Jerusalem, a prominent Egyptian cleric said at a presidential campaign rally, which was aired by an Egyptian private television channel.

“Our capital shall not be Cairo, Mecca or Medina. It shall be Jerusalem with God’s will. Our chants shall be: ‘millions of martyrs will march towards Jerusalem,’” Safwat Hagazy said, according to the video aired by Egypt’s religious Annas TV.

The video, which went viral after being posted on YouTube, was translated into English by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Continue Reading »

Dore Gold: Why the Six-Day War still matters

 

Forty-five years ago this week, the Israel Defense Forces liberated the Old City of Jerusalem and re-united Israel’s capital. Today, most of the battles that took place back then are almost a distant memory. Few recall that on the eve of the Six-Day War most of the brigades of Jordanian Army were deployed right next to the Green Line and encircled Jerusalem on three sides. Moreover, an Iraqi expeditionary force was poised to join them across the Jordan River. When the Jordanian artillery opened fire, nearly 6,000 artillery shells fell on Jewish neighborhoods in the western side of Jerusalem, leaving 1,000 Israelis wounded.

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Israeli technology turns greenhouse gas into fuel

Technology developed by head of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Energy Center creates mixture that can be used for car fuel.

A new Israeli solar Technology is able to transform greenhouse gas emissions from the dirtiest of pollutants into a useable fuel for automobiles.Israeli startup NewCO2Fuels Ltd., in partnership with Australian firm Greenearth Energy Ltd., has acquired the license for a technology developed by Prof. Jacob Karni, head of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Energy Center in the department of environmental sciences and energy research, as well as supervisor for the institute’s solar program.

The innovation uses concentrated solar energy to dissociate carbon dioxideinto carbon monoxide and oxygen, as well as water into hydrogen and oxygen, allowing for the synthesis of the carbon monoxide and hydrogen into a gaseous hydrocarbon mixture called Syngas.

Continue Reading »

Syria atrocities to go on

Op-ed: Condemnations of Assad meaningless as long as China, Russia and Iran think he’s legitimate

 

The Russians have no problem telling the truth: They have no idea of the direction the Syrian crisis is heading to. In ongoing diplomatic contacts among Israel and senior Russian officials, the Russians admit that their policy is determined from one week to the next.

Houla massacre Photo: AP

Houla massacre - Photo: AP

In fact, they’re not alone. The Russian policy, which the Chinese share, is no different in essence than Europe’s and America’s policy towards Syria. In Mideastern terms we can say that both sides are making their decisions from one massacre to the next. Continue Reading »

Why are some people prejudiced against Jews? A bottle of wine awaits the best answer

Since no Jewish organization is ever going to hold an essay-writing competition on this subject, we are going to have to do it here.

The last time I sat for a written test was 16 years ago, so I took my time answering the question put to British high-school students in a national exam last month: “Explain, briefly, why some people are prejudiced against Jews.” This question, which appeared in a religious studies examination taken by about 1,000 students, many of them at Jewish schools, has since been the subject of a mini-storm.

 

Britain's Education Secretary Michael Gove arrives at Downing Street.

Britain's Education Secretary Michael Gove arrives at Downing Street for a cabinet meeting in central London - Photo by Reuters

 

Jewish leaders attacked it as “insensitive” and Britain’s education secretary, Michael Gove, said to the Jewish Chronicle, which broke the story, that “to suggest that anti-Semitism can ever be explained, rather than condemned, is insensitive and, frankly, bizarre.” Continue Reading »

Katif Expellees Stuck as Caravans Taken for Expulsion

Expellee families have new jobs, new schools, but nowhere to live as government reassigns their new caravan homes to Beit El.

The government’s plan to demolish homes in Beit El’s Ulpana neighborhood threatens to leave more than one set of families homeless. In addition to the 30 families facing eviction in Beit El, 40 young families of Gush Katif expellees are facing the prospect of another year in the temporary caravan sites that have become long-term homes.

The young families were told they could start a long-awaited mass relocation to the Lachish region and would be given 40 mobile homes to stay in while they wait for construction of permanent homes. Continue Reading »

White House talks with ‘anti-Israel’ preacher panned

Christians United for Israel executive-director David Brog tells ‘Post’ that preacher Serge Duss holds views “very offensive to Jews and Bible-believing Christians.”

The head of one of the most prominent pro-Israel Christian organizations in the United States slammed the White House on Wednesday for agreeing to several meetings with an “anti-Israel” preacher who denies that Jews have a historical link to Israel.

According to the online news outlet Washington Free Beacon, preacher Serge Duss “propagates borderline anti- Semitic conspiracy theories and advises several groups that have stigmatized the Israeli government – [and] has made at least four trips to the Obama White House for several high-level powwows with top administration officials, records show.”

Continue Reading »

Was UFO a Russian ballistic missile?

Russian Defense Ministry says it successfully test-fired intercontinental ballistic missile Thursday; earlier, unidentified flying object reported in Israel, Lebanon, other states in region

 

The glowing light reported in Israel‘s skies around 8:45 pm Thursday apparently resulted from of a failed intercontinental ballistic missile test by the Russian military, according to estimates.

 

Glowing light in Israel's skies (Video: Hitham Abu Saada)
Glowing light in Israel’s skies (Photo from Video by Hitham Abu Saada)

 

Hundreds of Israelis nationwide flooded police hotlines Thursday evening with reports of an unidentified flying object in the nation’s skies.

Later Thursday, Russian news agency Novosti quoted the Defense Ministry in Moscow, which confirmed that a missile was test-fired from the Astrakhan region in central Russia. Continue Reading »

Religious Zionist rabbis to be allowed to perform weddings

Prior to the signing of the agreement with Tzohar several days ago, the Chief Rabbinate limited the authority of rabbis to perform weddings.

A formal agreement has been signed between the Tzohar organization of moderate religious Zionist rabbis and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger to greatly increase the number of rabbis who can perform weddings. In the process, it substantially enhances the status of Modern Orthodox rabbis.

The agreement includes a provision allowing some Orthodox rabbis who have no official position on religious councils as well as the heads of hesder yeshivas (where students combine religious study with military service ) and rabbis from other Orthodox educational institutions to perform weddings anywhere in Israel. Continue Reading »

Report: Assad’s Forces Using Unidentified Gas on Civilians

Syrian opposition claims Assad using toxic material, unidentified gas on Syrian civilians.

Syrian opposition sources claimed on Thursday that aircraft belonging to the Syrian Air Force have dropped toxic material into the province of Daraa, the Al-Jazeera network reported.

Bashar Assad

Bashar Assad - Reuters

According to the report, the unidentified material smells like sulfur and causes drowsiness and unconsciousness.

No further information on these materials was provided, but the report also said that Assad’s forces had used unidentified gas shells on civilians in Daraa, Hama and Deir ez-Zor.

The fact that Syria has a stockpile of unconventional weapons, including chemical weapons, is well-known. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu to Vanity Fair: ‘I’m not naturally manipulative’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to intrigue the foreign media – after being crowned as ‘King Bibi’ on TIME magazine’s cover, he is profiled in Vanity Fair’s July issue, which tries to decipher ‘The Netanyahu Paradox.’

Vanity Fair has published an in-depth profile of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in its upcoming July issue, in which Netanyahu emphasized that he is “not a natural politician.”

In the article, David Margolick explores Netanyahu’s effort to “vanquish his domestic foes” such as the Israeli media and the political opposition.

Netanyahu in Vanity Fair -Photo by http://www.vanityfair.com/

Netanyahu in Vanity Fair - Photo by http://www.vanityfair.com/

In an interview in Jerusalem, Netanyahu echoed recent statements by U.S. Continue Reading »

Court: Palestinians must stop building near Sussiya

Ruling came against backdrop of advocacy group petition to compel Civilian Administration to demolish Palestinian structures.

The High Court of Justice on Thursday issued an interim order restraining approximately 30 Palestinians from building in the Sussiya settlement area, south of Mount Hebron.The order came against the backdrop of a petition filed by the Regavim organization requesting that the court order the Civilian Administration for the West Bank to demolish what it characterized as illegally built Palestinian structures.

 

Construction in Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood - Photo: REUTERS
Construction in Jerusalem’s Har Homa neighborhood – Photo: REUTERS

The Palestinians with built structures and those seeking to continue to build in the area asked the court to restrain the Civilian Administration from issuing any demolition orders.In Continue Reading »

US, Israel to boost cyber warfare cooperation

Deputy FM Ayalon, head of US anti-terror bureau meet, agree that experts should convene regularly. Russian whose lab exposed Flame virus tells Tel Aviv conference: Cyber terror can lead to ‘end of the world as we know it’

 

The US and Israel have agreed to boost their cooperation in the field of cyber warfare, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Thursday.

Flame-infected data Photo: Kaspersky Lab

Flame-infected data - Photo: Kaspersky Lab

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Counter-Terrorism Bureau Director Eitan Ben David met on Tuesday with Ambassador-at-Large Dan Benjamin, who heads the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism. The officials agreed that cyber experts from both countries would meet regularly. Continue Reading »