Archive for June 16, 2012

Remains of 2nd Grad rocket found at Mitzpe Ramon

Discovery comes after rocket shell found in Arava region; IDF investigating if fired from Egypt or Jordan; no injuries or damage.

 

 

Police bomb squad officers found the remains of a second rocket fired deep into southern Israel on Saturday, at Mitzpe Ramon, in the heart of the Negev desert.

“It’s a 122 millimeter diameter Grad-type rocket. The same type of rocket that was fired earlier at Uvda,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The Jerusalem Post.

Police officers remove the remains of Grad rocket – Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Security officials are examining when the rocket was fired, as well as additional circumstances surrounding the incident.

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BGU students develop autonomous drone

Software engineering students’ program enables AR Drone helicopter to fly automatically, without remote control

By Vita Kairys

 

 

Maxim Kirilov, Yuri Bakolin, and Yuval Kovler, three software engineering students from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, have developed a program that makes the AR Drone helicopter autonomous – allowing it to fly without being remote-controlled.

The drone Screenshot

The drone - Screenshot

With the new program, the drone – equipped with two cameras and an ultrasound sensor – receives instructions by Wi-fi from a computer in range.

Kirilov, Bakolin and Kubler developed the project to see how an autonomous drone could be used for various daily purposes, such as security sweeps of the university’s corridors. Continue Reading »

Abbas: Release Prisoners, then I’ll Meet Netanyahu

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will demand the release of 123 prisoners before agreeing to meet PM Binyamin Netanyahu, says PLO negotiator.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

 

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will demand the release of 123 long-term prisoners before agreeing to meet Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Friday.

Saeb Erekat

Saeb Erekat - Reuters

Speaking to the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency, Erekat said Abbas wants Israel to free 123 prisoners detained before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

Erekat also said Abbas may meet with Israel’s deputy prime minister Shaul Mofaz, but noted that no date has been set for such a meeting. Continue Reading »

Audrey Russo’s The Invisible Refugees Of 1948

By Audrey Russo

The constant bombardment, via the media, of the so-called palestinian refugees is beyond an emetic. It’s been evident to those with ears to hear and eyes to see, that this manufactured problem was part of a grander machination by the Arab/Muslim nations. How can this be said with any integrity? When the facts are revealed…the dots will be connected.

And the true, yet oddly imperceptible…refugees will make the proper nexus…

Almost 1 million Jews lived in diverse Arab countries in 1945. The majority of those communities dated back to Biblical times.

From 1947-48, Jews in these countries were persecuted.

Continue Reading »

PMW’s ‘Puppet Show’ Report Shuts Down PA Website

APalestinian Media Watch (PMW) report on a PA puppet show encouraging children to replace cigarettes with guns led to one PA website shutdown and a probe of an NGO.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

One non-governmental organization website has been shut down, and a second NGO is under investigation by funding agency “Save the Children UK” following an article published by Arutz Sheva quoting a report by media watchdog agency the Palestinian Media Watch.

כל אחד רוצה להיות שאהיד. ילדים במסיבת הסיום

'Until I die as a shahid.' Gaza kids during party

Earlier this week, the PMW had reported on two Palestinian Authority NGOs that were spreading hate speech and promoting violence against Jews and Israel. Continue Reading »

Report: Turkey probes IHH head for ties to al-Qaida

The head of the organization that sponsored the ill-fated 2010 flotilla to the Gaza Strip is being investigated for allegedly financing al-Qaida through his organization • Bulent Yildirim is being probed by a specially authorized Istanbul prosecutor.

By Israel Hayom Staff

 

The head of the Turkish organization that sponsored the 2010 flotilla to the Gaza Strip is being investigated for allegedly financing al-Qaida through his organization, the Turkish daily Haberturk reported on Friday.

Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) President Bulent Yildirim is being investigated by a specially authorized prosecutor in Istanbul over allegations of “providing financial aid to al-Qaida via his foundation” in absolute secrecy, without official numbering and identification, Haberturk reported.

Continue Reading »

Violence erupts on Gaza border

Palestinian snipers open fire at farmers near Gaza fence, open fire at firefighters extinguishing blaze.

 

 

IDF troops exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Thursday night.

A Palestinian sniper in southern Gaza fired at a tractor traveling on a road in Kibbutz Nir Oz close to the border fence. The driver of the tractor was not injured, but the sniper’s fire shattered the vehicle’s windshield.

Palestinian terrorists fire a mortar shell in Gaza - Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters
Palestinian terrorists fire a mortar shell in Gaza – Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters

IDF soldiers arrived at the scene, evacuating the man to safety.

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Katsav threatened in prison

Five inmates caught threatening former president: ‘Don’t go to the canteen, we’ll get you’. Perpetrators punished with loss of privileges

By Meir Turgeman

 

 

Former president Moshe Katsav has become a target of other inmates at the Maasiyahu Prison, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday.

According to residents of the prison’s religious wing, for three nights shouts and insults were aimed at the former president by inmates of the adjacent wing. Five prisoners have been disciplined in the matter and had their privileges revoked.

The shouts began one evening last week. According to one prisneor, Katsav with sitting in the religious wing when prisoners next door began swearing at him, calling his name and hurling sexual insults and threats. Continue Reading »

Israel-Loving Ex-Terrorist in Open Visit

The ‘Son of Hamas’ who helped Israel’s war on terror has made his first open visit, expresses love for Israeli people.

 

By Maayana Miskin

 

 

Mosab Hassan Yousef’s life has been far from simple. Born in Ramallah to the founder and leader of Hamas, he made an about-face as a young adult and for several years helped Israel fight terrorism.

Yousef later converted to Christianity and moved to the United States. He wrote a book about his life story, titled Son of Hamas.

Now he is making his first open trip to Israel, as a guest of Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara. Continue Reading »

‘Olmert bombed Syria reactor despite US push for diplomacy’

In exclusive interview with ‘Post’, former US foreign policy advisor Elliott Abrams defends Netanyahu over critical State Comptroller report, says more important than preparation is the right people making the right decisions.

 

By HERB KEINON

 

Former  prime minister Ehud Olmert decided in September 2007 to bomb the al-Kabir nuclear facility in Syria after then-president George W. Bush told him the US had opted for the diplomatic route and was trying to get the International Atomic Energy Agency to close the site, Elliott Abrams told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

Asked about Wednesday’s Israeli State Comptroller’s Report chastising the government for a haphazard decision-making process, Abrams said Bush was provided with impeccable options, policy papers and intelligence.“We Continue Reading »

Settlement Committee won’t cut Barak’s authority

Despite expected establishment of committee on settlement affairs, Defense Ministry sources say Ehud Barak’s jurisdiction over settlement matters will not diminish

By Attila Somfalvi

 

The Government is expected to approve the establishment of a Ministerial Committee for Settlement Affairs led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during its Sunday session. However, sources in the Defense Ministry have said that the PM’s move, which is meant to placate right-wing ministers and settlers, will not rescind Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s authority over settlement matters.

The committee, which was established last week as the settlement regulation bill failed to pass its Knesset vote, will be authorized to present government policy pertaining to unregulated construction on private and State land, including fundamental issues that will reach the courts. Continue Reading »

Haaretz Reporter: “Israelis Believe There is no Peace Partner”

At American Jewish Journalists’ Conference, Haaretz reporter says: PA incitement is not important enough for his paper to report.

By Mark Langfan

 

 

Today, in his on-the-record remarks in front a conference of American Jewish journalists at the annual American Jewish Press Association convention, Chemi Shalev, a veteran Haaretz reporter, calmly stated that PM Netanyahu has no Israeli domestic pressure to make concessions in the peace process.

The reason?  It is because “Israelis believe Israel has no Palestinian partner for peace.” Shalev, US Editor and a veteran foreign policy analyst, further explained, “Israelis are very happy with the status quo.” Continue Reading »

Alert System Texts You When Your Dog Feels Threatened

For owners worried about their dog’s safety, a new system developed in Israel is able to recognize when a dog feels threatened or is stressed

 

Dog may be man’s best friends, but while most people would not leave their children home alone, dogs are often left unattended.

For owners worried about their dog’s safety, a new system developed in Israel is able to recognize when a dog feels threatened or is stressed and then send an SMS to the pet owner’s mobile phone.

According to Bio-Sense, the company behind the technology, “to a human being, all barks sound the same; science tells us they are not.” Continue Reading »

White House Pours Cold Water on Pollard Release Plea

Ahead of meeting between Obama and Peres on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney tells reporters, “Our position [on Pollard] has not changed and will not change today” • Peres still asks Obama to give Pollard clemency, expresses optimism.

By Yoni Hirsch, Yori Yalon and Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

The White House’s position on granting clemency to convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard has not changed “and will not change today,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday, essentially pouring cold water on any prospects for Pollard’s release after 26 years in a U.S. prison.

Carney’s comments came just a few hours before President Shimon Peres met U.S.

Continue Reading »

Israel is less peaceful than Syria and Iran, study finds

 

‘Perhaps in some parallel universe,’ scoffs Foreign Ministry spokesman

 

The Global Peace Index ranked Israel as one of the least peaceful countries in the world in an annual study released this week, lower than Iran, Egypt or Syria.

The index, known as the GPI, ranked 158 countries and listed Israel at 150. Only one other Middle Eastern country, Iraq — number 155 — ranked lower.

Israel’s ranking placed it behind Iran, which ranked 128th. Syria, where an estimated 13,000 people have been killed in unrest in the past 15 months, ranked 147th. Egypt was listed at number 111. Continue Reading »