Archive for August 3, 2012

Boycotting the Rabbinate, 20,000 Israelis get married abroad annually

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, figures show that 47,855 Israeli couples marry via Orthodox Rabbinical Courts.

 

 

Close to 20,000 Israelis tie the knot overseas every year, mainly to avoid the tortuous process of a religious marriage at home.

Tali Haberfeld-Adar, 42, married David, 48, two months ago at a speedy ceremony in Cyprus. For both, it was a second marriage. Having already suffered the rabbinate, they chose another way.

Civil wedding - Archive

A civil wedding in Tel Aviv. – Photo by Archive

Haberfeld-Adar said her first marriage via the rabbinate “dealt mainly with paperwork, forms and fees.” Continue Reading »

Is Nasrallah Being Recalled to Iran?

Report in A Siasa, a Kuwaiti newspaper: Iran has ordered Hizbullah head to leave Lebanon if Assad falls.

By Gil Ronen

 

Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has instructed the head of Iranian proxy Hizbullah to leave Lebanon and move to Iran if Syria’s Bashar Assad falls from power, a Kuwaiti newspaper reports.

The paper, A Siasa, explains that the Iranian leadership has been weighing two possible courses of action, in case Iran’s protégé and partner Assad is toppled.

The first option includes supplying Hizbullah with state-of-the-art heavy weapons and enlarging the number of Iranian soldiers in Lebanon. Continue Reading »

‘Missile falling on Tel Aviv will unleash unprecedented Israeli response’

Former intelligence chief Amos Yadlin: When missiles start falling on Tel Aviv Israel’s legitimacy will drastically increase, as will our ability to do things not done before.

The real threat facing Israel is not long-range missiles, but small rockets, former Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, who heads the Institute for National Security Studies, said on Thursday at a conference on “Israel’s Homefront Preparedness.”

Former Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. (res) Amos Yadlin says when missiles fall on the Gush Dan area, “Israel’s legitimacy to take action will drastically increase,” – Photo: Yoav Ari Dudkevitch

“Israel is not threatened by 200,000 missiles, as previously claimed.

Continue Reading »

U.S. Congress considers recognizing Jewish refugees

Bill requires Obama to pair Palestinian refugees with plight of 850,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries.

By JTA

 

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of six Congress members is sponsoring a bill that would ensure recognition of the plight of 850,000 Jewish refugees displaced from Arab countries since Israel’s War of Independence in 1948.

Jewish refugees arrive in Palestine - Photo: REUTERS

Jewish refugees arrive in Palestine – Photo: REUTERS

Their bill in the US House of Representatives also would recognize other displaced populations, including Christians from countries in the Middle East, North Africa and the Persian Gulf.

The legislation specifically calls on the Obama administration to pair any explicit reference to Palestinian refugees with a similar reference to Jewish or other refugee populations.

Continue Reading »

Counter-Terrorism Bureau: Israelis must leave Sinai at once

CTB issues repeated warning against traveling to  the Sinai Peninsula, citing concrete info on terror groups’ intention to carry out attacks against Israelis

Attila Somfalvi

 

The Counter-Terrorism Bureau at the National Security Council on Thursday issued a repeated travel warning to the Sinai Peninsula, calling on all Israelis who are planning to travel to or who are currently staying in Sinai to return to Israel immediately.

A travel warning to the area has been in place for a long time, however the Bureau is now reiterating its call, citing terror groups’ intention to carry out attacks against Israeli citizens. Continue Reading »

Ahmadinejad: Annihilate Israel, ‘Zionism is the modern times plight of the human society’

Iran’s President Ahmadinejad, again calls for the annihilation of Israel, saying its “the axis of unity of the world hegemonic powers.”

By Chana Ya’ar

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has once again called for the annihilation of Israel, which he labeled “the axis of unity of the world hegemonic powers.”

Speaking in advance of International Qods Day, set this year for August 17, Ahmadinejad repeated his annual litany of hate for the Jewish State in a meeting with ambassadors and embassy personnel of Islamic nations in Tehran, according to the official state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), quoting from a statement posted on the website of his presidential office. Continue Reading »

6 Palestinians arrested, 1 sentenced to 30 days in prison for eating in public during Ramadan

Leading PA cleric: “Our streets are Islamic,” therefore even non-Muslims should be “severely punished” for eating in public during Ramadan

By Itamar Marcus & Barbara Crook

 

 

Six people have been arrested and one sentenced to a month in prison for eating in public during the month of Ramadan, according to the official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper. Under Islamic law, eating is prohibited from sunrise until sunset during the entire month.

Picture

A Palestinian police patrol passes  the Stars & Bucks Cafe in Manara Square in Ramallah – Photo: Getty Images

In addition, the Chairman of the PA Supreme Court for Shari’ah Law said PA law should prohibit even non-Muslims and those who cannot fast for health reasons from eating in public during the month. Continue Reading »

Arab Protest in Bethlehem Denounce Uncurtailed Violence Against Women

Dozens of women & rights activists in Bethlehem demanded stricter laws to stop the violence against women.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

Dozens of women and rights activists in Bethlehem demanded stricter laws to end violence against women.

The crowd demonstrated at the site where a 29-year-old woman was stabbed to death before witnesses in broad daylight just two days earlier by her estranged husband.

Women chanted demands that the government punish those who attack them, and held banners demanding respect for women.

Police said Nancy Zaboun’s husband had beaten her Sunday night, according to the Ma’an news agency. But when officers were called to the scene, they only asked him to sign a pledge not to do it again. Continue Reading »

Google and Apple both remove Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV streaming app

The Anti-Defamation League welcomes move, commends Apple for its vigilance in ensuring that terrorist-affiliated orgs don’t have access as Apple’s customers.

By Israel Hayom Staff

 

Google and Apple have both removed a Hezbollah application for streaming video from its Al-Manar satellite network from their respective app stores, tech media website CNET reported on Tuesday.

 

Al-Manar is the broadcasting arm of Hezbollah.
Photo credit: Al-Manar

The Anti-Defamation League wrote to Apple on Friday when it became aware of the app. It was removed from the iTunes store on Sunday. A spokesman for Google told CNET on Tuesday that it had also removed the app from Google Play.

Continue Reading »

Lebanese Security Arrest 36 Men in Gay Beirut Cinema

Security authorities reportedly perform rectal probes on detainees; unknown number released after exam to detect sperm.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

 

BERLIN – Lebanese security authorities swooped in on a gay cinema in Beirut on Saturday and shut down the movie house, arresting 36 male attendees and performing anal probes on them.

Hezbollah posters on a Beirut street.

Hezbollah posters on a Beirut street. – Photo: Bloomberg

According to a report on the Gay Star News website on Monday, “an unknown number” of the 36 had been released after an unnamed doctor administered the anal exam – a procedure meant to detect sperm.

The website NOW Lebanon reported on Tuesday that the theater, Plaza Cinema, was not the first such venue that authorities had closed down.

Continue Reading »

IDF tank-shield ‘Windbreaker’ intercepts missile

Israel’s Merkava tank escapes missile hit thanks to IDF’s High-Tech Defense System

By Yoav Zitun

The IDF‘s Windbreaker defense system has intercepted an anti-tank missile fired at a tank in the central Gaza Strip, near Kissufim on Wednesday.

Windbreaker Courtesy: Ministry of Defense

Windbreaker Courtesy: Ministry of Defense

 

An IDF inquiry suggests that the tank shield detected a missile launch during operational activity near the border fence. No injuries were reported.

The IDF considers the firing of the missile a very unusual event. Windbreaker has rarely been called into action since becoming operational two years ago. In March 2011, it successfully intercepted an RPG rocket fired at a tank. Continue Reading »

Hamas outraged at Palestinian official’s Auschwitz trip

Hamas official expresses the Islamic militant group’s official position: That Holocaust ‘is a big lie.’

 

 

Gaza’s ruling party, Hamas, has criticized a Palestinian official for visiting a memorial at the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz and paying respects to its 1.5 million victims there, most of them Jews.

Auschwitz death showers – Photo: Phillip Pasmanick

 

Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum, expressing the Islamic militant group’s position, claimed Wednesday that the Holocaust “is a big lie.” He said last week’s visit to the Auschwitz by Ziad al-Bandak, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, went against Palestinian public opinion. Continue Reading »

U.S. Report: Obama Authorized American Support for the Syrian Rebels

U.S. President Barack Obama signed a secret order authorizing American support for rebels in Syria, sources say.

By Elad Benari

 

President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama – Reuters

The sources said that Obama’s order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence “finding,” broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.

Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined and the full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear, Reuters reported. Continue Reading »

Israeli Hi-Tech Radar Will Protect US-Mexican Border

The U.S. has selected an Israeli company for the placement of a radar system to detect infiltrators at the border with Mexico.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

The United States has selected an Israeli company for the placement of a radar system to detect infiltrators at the border with Mexico.

Mexican Soldiers inspect the entrance of a cross border tunnel running to California and seized some

Mexican Soldiers inspect the entrance of a cross border tunnel running to California and seized contraband and infiltrators. – Reuters

Elta, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), won the tender with its systems that can identify individuals from distances between 300 meters and 20 kilometers (approximately 13 miles), and vehicles from twice that distance. Continue Reading »

PM: Time is running out to resolve Iran’s standoff peacefully.

Panetta suggests that the US is prepared to use military force. Says: “we have options that we are prepared to implement to ensure” Iran doesn’t obtain a nuclear weapon.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that time was running out to resolve the conflict with Iran over its nuclear program peacefully.

Netanyahu made his remarks at the opening of his meeting with visiting US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.

Leon Panetta and Binyamin Netanyahu. - Photo: Moshe Milner/GPO

Leon Panetta and Binyamin Netanyahu. – Photo: Moshe Milner/GPO

The prime minister said that Iran believed that the international community was not actually serious or committed in trying to stop it from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Continue Reading »