Jerusalem does not have enough public bomb shelters in older neighborhoods, but that doesn’t really bother residents of those neighborhoods, The Jerusalem Post found on Tuesday during an informal survey judging the city’s readiness for emergency situations.
Israelis sit in a bomb shelter – Photo: Amir Cohen / Reuters
By AFP
A baby boy was born by Caesarian section on Monday, the product of a successful smuggling attempt by a Palestinian prisoner who managed to sneak out a sperm sample to his wife.
No conjugal visits – Photo: Moti Kimhi
Baby Muhammad was born in a Nablus hospital to Dallal Ziben, a 32-year-old mother-of-two from a village in the northern West Bank, whose husband Ammar is currently serving 32 life sentences in an Israeli prison.
Palestinians are not permitted to receive conjugal visits, and although Dallal Ziben has not set eyes on her husband for 15 years, she says she fell pregnant after being artificially inseminated by sperm her 37-year-old husband managed to sneak out of Hadarim prison in central Israel. Continue Reading »
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Elite Navy commandos rescued parents and three children whose disabled yacht was stranded dangerously close to Lebanon early Tuesday.
Israeli navy ship to the rescue!
Israel news photo: IDF spokesman
The Navy ship, outfitted with missiles, rushed out on the high seas after officials received an SOS call from the yacht ”Odelia” late Monday night.
Water began seeping in after the boat’s engine failed approximately 30 miles off the Lebanese coast.
The family had left the port of Haifa and was on the way to Cyprus, Voice of Israel government radio reported. Continue Reading »
By Chana Ya’ar and Reuters
Dozens more people have died since twin earthquakes struck the towns of Ahar, Haris and Varzaqan in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province on Saturday.
From an initial death toll of 250, the numbers have now reached as high as 306, including 219 women and children.
More than 3,000 people were injured in the 6.3 and 6.4-magnitude temblors that struck northwestern Iran, according to Health Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjierdi.
Iran’s Red Crescent Society spokesman Pouya Haijan told the ISNA news agency the organization can handle the crisis on its own. Continue Reading »
Hamas is prepared to stop tunnel smuggling activity between Sinai and the Gaza Strip if the Egyptians order the reopening of the Rafah border crossing, which has been closed since the Sinai terror attack last week, Hamas senior official Salah al-Bardawil said on Sunday.
Egyptian security forces arrest suspected militants in Sinai – Photo: Reuters
Egypt completely closed the border crossing to the passage of people and goods after terrorists, some of whom were suspected of coming from the Gaza Strip, attacked an army outpost in Sinai on August 5, killing 16 Egyptian soldiers.
Ambassador to South Africa Dov Segev-Steinberg will ask Pretoria for clarifications regarding what is viewed in Jerusalem as nothing less than a South African call for a boycott of Israel, diplomatic sources said on Monday.
South Africans protest Israel – Photo: Reuters
AFP
Dozens of people demonstrated outside the law courts in the Lebanese capital on Saturday to protest the use of anal “tests” on men suspected of homosexuality, which is a criminal offence in the Arab country.
Rally in Beirut – Photo: AFP
The rally followed a July 28 police raid on a gay venue in a working class district of Beirut when 36 men were taken into custody and forced to undergo the examinations, reportedly to determine their sexual orientation.
Lebanon-based HELEM, considered the Arab world’s leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights group, called for the rally under the slogan: “Stand up against the tests of shame, vaginal or anal.” Continue Reading »
Russia sharply criticized new U.S. sanctions against Iran on Monday, saying the measures to punish banks, insurance companies and shippers that help Iran sell its oil would harm Moscow’s ties with Washington if Russian firms are affected.
Iran’s Natanz reactor – Photo by AP
Russia, which has long opposed sanctions beyond those approved by the UN Security Council to pressure Tehran over its nuclear program, called the measures “overt blackmail” and a “crude contradiction of international law.”
Gloom and doomers warn that war with Iran could cripple the economy, but Israel has a weapon: $70 billion in dollar reserves.
Many international financial wizards scoffed at Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer three years when he bought billions of dollars, ostensibly to keep the then-mighty shekel from growing even stronger. Israeli exporters were suffering from low revenue due to a lower shekel rate for the dollar and the euro.
Globes reported that a senior Bank of Israel official said, “We have $76 billion in foreign currency reserves, which says it all. Continue Reading »
One hundred and twenty-seven young American and Canadian immigrants will arrive in Israel on Tuesday to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. The record number of North American new immigrants ensliting in the IDF are part of an overall group of 350 olim who will touch down at Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday morning.
“Enlisting in the IDF feels like the right thing to do,” says Alona Bargi.
Israel may need to destroy parts of Lebanon and Gaza if Hezbollah and Hamas rain missiles upon the country in response to an Israeli attack on Iran, former Mossad head Danny Yatom said Monday.
Rockets fired from gaza – Photo: Nikola Solic/Reuters
Yatom, in an interview on Israel Radio, warned against presenting an apocalyptic picture of how Iran will respond if Israel takes military action against its nuclear program.
A Florida woman reportedly is suing El Al for gender discrimination after she was forced to change seats to accommodate an ultra-Orthodox man.
Debra Ryder charged that a flight steward moved her to a seat in the back without her prior consent, Israeli media reported. The ultra-Orthodox man had refused to sit next to her and then moved into her aisle seat.
El Al plane – Photo by Nir Keidar
Ryder reportedly filed a lawsuit on Aug. 9 seeking some $12,500 in compensation, including for distress. She had obtained an aisle seat for medical reasons, she told Army Radio. Continue Reading »
By Gil Ronen
Israel has received assurances from the administration of Barack Obama, as well as the camp of Republican presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney, that the United States will join a war against Iran on Israel’s side, if such a war breaks out.
USS Nimitz
Reuters
The daily newspaper Maariv reported Monday that the assurances were delivered in secret messages to senior officials in the bureau of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, from officials close to Obama and from Romney political advisors as well as Republicans who served in senior roles in former administrations and are expected to serve in important roles again if Romney is elected. Continue Reading »
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
An Islamic Jihad official told Iran that a popular uprising in Jordan would break the last part of Israel’s security chain.”
Abu Sharif stressed that the recent popular uprisings in the region have harmed the interests of Israel, according to the Iran’s controlled Fars News Agency.
Soldiers patrol Jordanian border
Israel news photo: IDF spokesmen
“These developments (popular uprisings) in the region are in the interest of the regional nations and against the interests of the Zionist regime and have disturbed the power balance between the supporters and opponents of the Zionist regime,” Abu Sharif said. Continue Reading »