March 2012 Archives

Assad Threatens Israel With Missiles if Syria is Attacked

Report: Assad has ordered his military to hit Israel with a barrage of missiles should there be any foreign intervention in Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has ordered the heads of his military to hit Israel with a barrage of missiles should there be any foreign intervention in Syria, a Jordanian news website reported on Saturday.

According to the site, Our Country’s News, Assad gave the order in a secret meeting with the heads of the Syrian army last Thursday, in light of his fear of a U.S. military strike in Syria.

The report said that Assad ordered that if any military action is started against Syria, the Syrian army should respond by firing missiles in Israel, with a particular emphasis on Israeli military airports. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Bashar Assad, Hizbullah, Iran, missiles, Syria Unrest

israelandstuffcom | March 4, 2012

Mud-brick builders go from the desert to the Waldorf

A luxury hotel going up in Jerusalem drew on the eco-building talents of the members of a tiny kibbutz in Israel’s Negev Desert.

The Art Center at Kibbutz Neot Semadar.

Take the Waldorf-Astoria — a beacon of luxury — and add a group of environmentally conscious mud-brick builders from the middle of the Negev Desert. Though an unlikely partnership from the outset, together they cooperated on a building that is sure to be designated one of Jerusalem’s most inspired architectural works.

The interior design of the soon-to-be-opened upmarket hotel is the work of acclaimed Turkish architect Sinan Kafadar. Knowing that the Waldorf-Astoria is located on the grounds of the former Palace Hotel, Kafadar painstakingly preserved and restored the 1923 building to its original magnificence. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries | Tags: eco-building, Kibbutz Neot Semadar

Jordan’s lukewarm welcome for Gazan job seekers

Reconciliation with Hamas prompts easier rules, but native Jordanian East Bankers are still nervous.

A Palestinian laborer in Amman, Jordan [file]

By REUTERS/Ali

Jarekji AMMAN — Jordan is reportedly taking steps toward easing restrictions on Palestinians from the Gaza Strip looking for work in the kingdom, but progress has been slow amid controversy over its impact on the unemployment rate and the country’s sensitive demographics.

But even as progress has been slow, Gazans living in the kingdom like Ahmed Abdel Munim, who lives in a refugee camp near the Roman-era city of Jerash and is one of the beneficiaries, say they are already feeling the change.

Sharing a small house with his wife and eight children, Ahmed said that until recently he was prohibited from owning property, despite earning and saving enough from his small construction company to afford a home. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Gazans, Jordan

Sbarro terrorist gets TV show

Ahlam Tamimi, Hamas operative freed in Shalit deal, hosts weekly show about Palestinian prisoners

Ahlam Tamimi, the Hamas terrorist who drove a suicide bomber to the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem where 15 people were consequently killed, has gotten her own television show, according to Israel’s Ynet.

Tamimi, who was sentenced to 16 life terms in Israeli prison, was freed in October as part of the swap that bought IDF soldier Gilad Shalit‘s freedom. She was deported to Jordan, where she appears to have launched a television career.

The Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds satellite channel has slotted Tamimi to present a weekly show called “Nassim al-Ahrar,” which deals with Palestinian convicts imprisoned in Israel, and those who have been freed. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Hamas terrorist, restaurant, Sbarro, TV Show

Morocco: Man jailed for flying Israel flag

Mohammed Jadidi protests authorities by raising Jewish State’s flag over his home. Court finds him guilty of sacrilege, sends him to six months in prison

A Moroccan court sentenced a man who flew the Israeli flag over his home to six months in jail, Ynet leaned Saturday.

According to an Al-Arabiya report, Mohammed Jadidi, 42, raised the flag over his Nador home as means of protest against local authorities over the disconnection of electricity and water supplies to his residence.

Jadidi was arrested on Monday and was charged with “sacrilege” via the “undermining the Moroccan national flag.”

Original protest: Hoisting Israeli Flag - Photo: AP

According to the report, Jadidi’s mother appeared on a video circulated on Moroccan websites appealing King Mohammad VI to release her son. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Israeli flag

Lieberman: Israel ready to provide aid to wounded Syrians

FM says Israel willing to supply Syrians wounded in uprising against Assad ‘all humanitarian aid at any minute it is requested.’

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Friday that Israel is ready to help treat Syrians wounded in the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman - Photo by: Daniel Bar-On

A Friday statement from Lieberman’s office quotes him as saying that Israel is willing to provide wounded Syrians “all humanitarian aid at any minute it is requested.”

Lieberman’s spokesman Tzachi Moshe says Israel would provide the aid through the United Nations or other international organizations. The aid would be purely humanitarian, and Israel would not get involved in Syria’s affairs.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Avigdor Lieberman, Bashar Assad, Syria

Egypt: Christians, Actors Targeted as Islam Rises

Actresses, comedians and Christians among the targets of a new rash of accusations of “insult to Islam” in Muslim Brotherhood Egypt.

As Islamist parties gain power in Egypt, the country has seen a wave of lawsuits accusing various figures of “insulting Islam.” In the latest case, a group of lawyers belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood have accused high-profile Egyptian women of provocative behavior.

The lawyers argue that the women “encourage sexuality and other inappropriate behaviors.” The Egyptian paper Al-Bawaba named two of the targets as actresses Ghada Abd al-Raziq and Summaya al-Khashab.

The same lawyers previously accused renowned comic actor Adel Imam of insulting Islam. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Coptic Christian, Egypt, Muslim extremism

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Hamas Diverts Blame of Gaza Power Crisis on Egypt in Rare Rift

Hamas criticizes Egypt for blocking oil supplies; fuel crisis has caused lengthy electricity blackouts.

Palestinian sits in Egypt-Gaza smuggling tunnel - Photo By REUTERS

GAZA – Gaza’s top political leader blamed Egypt on Friday for causing a power crisis that has triggered lengthy blackouts in the Palestinian enclave, laying bare tensions between his Islamist group Hamas and Cairo.

The outages started in mid February, leaving households with just six hours of electricity a day, provoking widespread criticism within the territory of Hamas, which governs Gaza.

Looking to deflect the anger, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told supporters that Egypt controlled the flow of fuel into Gaza and suggested the authorities in Cairo should have done more to help following the downfall of former president Hosni Mubarak.”Is

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Egypt, fuel, Gaza, hamas

Israel named world’s 2nd-best cleantech innovator

Cleantech Group, World Wildlife Fund release first-ever global cleantech innovation ranking. Denmark, Israel and Sweden dominate top-three slots

Israel is among the top-three nations worldwide that provide the best conditions for clean technology startup companies, a recent ranking by the CleanTech Group stated. Topping the list was Denmark, followed by Israel, Sweden, Finland and the United States.

A leader in cleantech innovations per capita Illustration

“Coming Clean: The Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2012,” is a first-of-its-kind ranking, complied by the CleanTech Group and the World Wildlife Fund. It listed the top 38 countries worldwide to offer clean energy projects the most favorable conditions. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: Cleantech, Israel Environment

Congressmen call on A-G to indict freed terrorists

52 co-signatories tell US A-G Eric Holder say those freed in Schalit deal who harmed Americans should be prosecuted.

Freed Palestinian prisoners wave a Hamas flag By REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A group of 52 congressmen and women called on US Attorney-General Eric Holder on Thursday to prosecute Palestinian terrorists responsible for killing and maiming Americans.

In a bipartisan letter sponsored by congressmen Joe Walsh (R-Illinois) and Howard Berman (D-California), the lawmakers said Israel released more than a dozen such terrorists in October 2011 as part of its deal with Hamas to free kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit.

“Because of the circumstances of this forced release, their prosecution under American law is not precluded by principles of double jeopardy, and they should, if prosecuted, suffer the full consequences of having violated American law,” the letter says of those terrorists.Under

Category: Israel News | Tags: congressmen, Eric Holder

Israel is more focused on ‘hasbara’ than it is on policy

‘Hasbara,’ the act or profession of explaining, has become an excuse for not seriously addressing Israel’s real problems, and a substitute for policymaking.

Hasbara is one of those wacky Israeli words that defy translation. I say Israeli, because the Hebrew term can be translated – hasbara is simply the act or profession of explaining. But in the world of Israeli politics and diplomacy, hasbara has acquired a much more complex meaning.

Hasbara campaign showing a foreign reporter with a camel

A hasbara campaign depicting foreign reporters as propagating myths about Israel. Photo by: Haaretz

Some would say that hasbara is a “laundered word,” the term used by David Grossman in his book “The Yellow Wind” to describe innocuous words used by Israelis to cover up inconvenient truths, and that hasbara’s true meaning is propaganda.

Category: Israel News | Tags: AIPAC, anti-Semitism, Zionism

Syrian rebel connects with IDF spokesman on Facebook

Opposition element writes on Yoav Mordechai’s Facebook page rebels don’t want war with Israel, not interested in Golan Heights

A surprising connection was formed this week between a Syrian opposition element and IDF Spokesman Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai on the latter’s Facebook page, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday.

IDF Spokesman Yoav Mordechai Photo: Alex Kolomoisky

A Syrian citizen named Abdul Khader wrote the following on Mordechai’s Facebook wall: “We want to get rid of Assad and his regime and modernize Syria by promoting freedom of religion and freedom of thought. We do not want war with you and are definitely not interested in the Golan Heights.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: Assad, Facebook, Syrian rebels

Suicide Attempts Cause Facebook Controversy

Activists call to allow teachers greater Facebook freedom as two students attempt suicide over comments on site.

Two young students attempted suicide this week over bullying, some of which took place on the social networking site Facebook. Now some activists say the tragic case may have been preventable, and are calling on the Education Ministry to change its rules regarding Facebook use.

Rabbi Shai Piron of the Hakol Chinuch movement called Thursday for the Education Ministry to allow teachers to “friend” their students on Facebook. Currently, teachers are forbidden to have any contact with students on social networking sites. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Facebook, Internet, students

israelandstuffcom | March 1, 2012