Archive for August 29, 2012

Free Power for Israel Electric Company Workers Blows a Fuse

Yiftach Ron-Tal, the IEC Chairman told a Knesset committee Wednesday the company is prepared to end its free electricity perk to their workers

By Chana Ya’ar

 

IEC Chairman Yiftach Ron-Tal told Knesset members on Wednesday the company is willing to end a decades-old perk to workers: free electricity.

In discussions with the Knesset Finance Committee, Ron-Tal promised that “as part of reform, we will get rid of the phenomenon of free electricity.”

The company’s workers are among the highest-paid in the country, and its union, which includes some 9,000 members, is one of the strongest. The company also employs 4,000 temporary workers, but fires them within five years – before they have remained long enough to earn tenure. Continue Reading »

Here’s the top 10 Facebook apps from Israel

 

If you can purchase gifts, share referrals, play games, & recognize friends through Facebook, it’s probably due to an Israeli startup. ISRAEL21c brings you the top 10 apps.

When Facebook acquired Israeli facial recognition app maker Face.com for an estimated $100 million in June, it highlighted a growing category of made-in-Israel apps specifically built for the Facebook ecosystem.

Face.com already powered Facebook’s own photo-tagging suggestions functionality, and made two of Facebook’s must-have apps – Photo Finder, which helps people find untagged pictures of themselves and their friends, and Photo Tagger for quickly assigning tags to group photos. Continue Reading »

Apparently President Obama Can Stop Iran

The sanctions, while hurting the Iranian economy and making life more difficult for the average Iranian, are having zero impact on the Iranian nuclear program, which according to objective intelligence reports, is gathering steam and moving even more quickly toward its ultimate goal of a nuclear weapon that will be a game changer. Continue Reading »

French Police Opens Murder Investigation into Arafat’s 2004 Demise

With allegations of foul play & discoveries of the radioactive element polonium-210 on Arafat’s clothing, the French court opens murder inquiry even though the symptoms described in Arafat’s medical reports are not consistent with polonium-210 poisoning.

By Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

 

A French court has opened a murder inquiry into the death eight years ago of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, prosecutors said on Tuesday, following claims by his widow that he may have been poisoned.

Not yet Deceased PLO leader Yasser Arafat with his French doctor. – Photo: Reuters

Arafat died in a Paris military hospital in November 2004, a month after being flown, seriously ill, from his headquarters in Ramallah, where he had been essentially confined for more than two and a half years. Continue Reading »

City of David Jewely: Ancient fashion comes alive with beautiful replicas

Israeli Models in the the City of David display exquisite replicas of the ancient jewelry discovered there.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Models in the the City of David flaunted replicas of ancient jewelry discovered there.

A replica of an ancient ring found in Jerusalem. - Shushi Beinish

A replica of an ancient ring found in Jerusalem. – Shushi Beinish

Situated deep below ground in the Arab village of Silwan outside the Old City’s Dung Gate, the City of David holds the remains of the once-grand citadel where a dynasty of Judean kings once ruled.

City of David jewelry – earrings – Photo: Shushi Beinish

 

The City of David is believed to be where King David laid the foundations for the city of Jerusalem around 1000 BC. Continue Reading »

Egypt expands its Sinai campaign against local terrorists

Israel voices concerns over increased deployment in Sinai peninsula as Egyptian military offensive against terrorists is to be expanded.

By Reuters

 

Egypt’s military said on Wednesday it would broaden its offensive against terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula, a campaign that has raised concerns in Israel  about the movement of heavy armor into the area near its border.

Egyptian forces during their recent campaign to eradicate global jihad elements in Sinai. – Photo: AFP

Egyptian forces during their recent campaign to eradicate global jihad elements in Sinai. – Photo: AFP

After terrorists attacked and killed 16 border guards on August 5, Egypt launched an operation using the army and police to raid terrorist hideouts, arrest suspects and seize weapons, including rockets and other arms, which are rife in the area. Continue Reading »

Stone Age Figurine Unearthed In Jerusalem Highway Work

Prior to work to widen the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, Israeli Archeologists have discovered Stone Age figurines.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

Archeologists have discovered Stone Age figurines in excavations carried out prior to work to widen the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway.

Stone Age figurine found near Jerusalem highway

Stone Age figurine found near Jerusalem highway – Photo: Yael Yolovitch, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Two figurines, which experts claim are 9,500 years old, were found in the Tel Motza area less than five miles south of Jerusalem. They are images of a ram and a wild bovine and point to the existence of a cultic belief in the region in the New Stone Age, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Continue Reading »

Ya’alon says Iran must choose, a nuclear bomb or survival

At the memorial ceremony for Burgas terror victims, vice premier says world must confront ‘radical Islamist terror funded by Tehran’

By Gilad Morag

“Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. We must act together, determinedly and firmly, with all the means at our disposal in order to (achieve this goal),” Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Tuesday during a commemoration ceremony for the victims of the terror attack in Burgas, Bulgaria.

The ceremony, which took place in Sofia’s main synagogue opened with a moment of silence for the victims. Bulgaria’s president and the Israeli ambassador were among the dignitaries who attended the event. Continue Reading »

France launches official murder investigation into Arafat’s death

Police Investigation after formal complaint by Arafat’s widow following traces of highly radioactive polonium on Arafat’s underwear.

By DPA and Haaretz

 

 

French prosecutors have launched a formal murder investigation into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2004, AFP news agency reported Tuesday.

 

Yasser Arafat and his wife Suha hold hands prior to Arafat's departure from Ramallah, Oct. 29, 2004.

Yasser Arafat and his wife Suha hold hands prior to Arafat’s departure from Ramallah, October 29, 2004. – Photo by AP

AFP reported that the prosecutor’s office in the town of Nanterre west of Paris had ordered a murder investigation following a formal complaint by Arafat’s widow, Suha Arafat. The probe will be carried out by one or more investigating magistrate, who will have the power to summon witnesses. Continue Reading »

Lieberman to Morsi: Visit Jerusalem, for Peace is Not an Abstract Ideal

FM Avigdor Lieberman said “peace also has tangible expressions.”& that he is pleased to hear Morsi’s commitment to int’l treaties

By Rachel Hirshfeld

 

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said at a legal conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that while he is pleased to hear of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s statements regarding Egypt’s commitment to abide by all international treaties, such affirmations are not merely be abstract ideals.

“I was pleased to hear Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s speech regarding Egypt’s’ commitment to peace with Israel, to the Camp David treaty and the struggle against terrorism,” Lieberman said. “That is a very important message.” Continue Reading »

Israel’s neighborhood becoming more Islamist, increasingly volatile

Military Intelligence Chief presents annual intel assessment to the IDF’s general staff • US’s weapons sales tripled last year to $66.3 billion as Gulf states sought to build up their military supplies amid tensions with Iran.

By Lilach Shoval, Eli Leon, Daniel Siryoti, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Director of Military Intelligence Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi warned on Monday that Israel will face an increasingly volatile region in the coming year, one that is “more tense and Islamist in nature than before.” Kochavi presented his annual intelligence assessment to Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and the Israel Defense Forces’ general staff.

Continue Reading »

Israel among the world’s top arms exporters & importers

Ranked 8th among worlds largest arms suppliers, Israel’s arms transfer agreements are worth $12.9 billion.

By GLOBES

 

Israel is one of the world’s top arms exporters, and most of its customers are developing countries. Israel is also one of the world’s biggest arms buyers, according to a report, Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 2004-2011, by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) at the Library of Congress. The report was sent to Congress on Friday.

Uzi model submachine gun - Photo: Reuters

Uzi model submachine gun – Photo: Reuters

In 2004-11, Israel signed arms transfer agreements worth $12.9 billion, putting it in eighth place among the world’s eleven biggest arms suppliers (behind the US, Russia, France, the UK, Germany, China, and Italy). Continue Reading »

Rachel Corrie’s family civil suit dismissed by Haifa District Court

Judge Oded Gershon rules that Rachel Corrie, a pro-Palestinian activist ‘consciously put herself in harm’s way’ by ignoring warning after warning

By Ahiya Raved, Reuters,

 

The Haifa District Court rejected on Tuesday accusations that Israel was at fault over the death of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an army bulldozer during a 2003 pro-Palestinian demonstration in Gaza.

Corrie’s family had accused Israel of intentionally and unlawfully killing their 23-year-old daughter, launching a civil case in Haifa after a military investigation had cleared the army of wrong-doing.

הוריה של רייצ'ל קורי. "היא העמידה עצמה במודע בסכנה" (צילום: אבישג שאר-ישוב)

Rachel Corrie’s parents in court – Photo: Avishag Shaar-Yeshuv

In a ruling read out to the court, Judge Oded Gershon called Corrie’s death a “regrettable accident”, but said the state was not responsible because the incident had occurred during what he termed a war-time situation. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Solar Power Struggles Against Gov’t Red Tape

Recognizing solar power’s potential, the Israeli gov’t set up an incentive in 2008, which pays the developers higher-than-retail prices for the unused solar energy that’s fed back into the national power grid.

By BLAKE SOBCZAK The Associated Press
KVUTZAT YAVNE, (AP)

 

Israel has developed some of the world’s most advanced solar energy equipment and enjoys a nearly endless supply of sunshine, but when it comes to deploying large-scale solar technology at home, the country remains in the dark ages.

solar technology at home

Solar power provides just a tiny percentage of Israel’s energy needs, leaving it far behind colder, cloudier counterparts in Europe.

Continue Reading »

IDF Caught & Arrest a PA ‘Axe Terrorist’ Who Attacked Jew

Axe-wielding PA Arab terrorist attacked & wounded a Jew in Samaria & was arrested by the IDF

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

The IDF has captured an axe-wielding Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist who attacked and wounded a Jew in the community of Maaleh Levona Tuesday morning.

The attack occurred at the entrance to the community, located in Samaria.

Medics treated the victim for light-to-moderate wounds in chest and evacuated him to Sha’arei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

Security personnel of the Binyamin region of Samaria, along with the IDF, scouted the area under a barrage of rocks thrown by local Arabs but managed to catch the attacker. Continue Reading »