Archive for February 24, 2013

Palestinians suggest autopsy showed prisoner died of torture in Israeli jail

Territories erupts after Palestinian detainee’s death in Megiddo Prison Saturday

State autopsy performed in presence of Palestinian pathologist & several family members as other inmates continue their hunger strike

Elior Levy

 

Security forces and Palestinian youth clashed on Sunday in Hebron and in the Beit Einun village close to Saeer, where Arafat Jaradat resided until he died in Megiddo Prison on Saturday.

פלסטיני מיידה אבן בחברון, היום (צילום: AFP)

In Hebron, Sunday – Photo: AFP

Palestinian sources claimed that Jaradat’s autopsy reveals that he underwent torture, which caused his death.

Jaradat’s body was dissected in the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in the presence of a Palestinian pathologist, several family members and a legal team from the Palestinian Authority’s Prisoner Affairs office. Continue Reading »

IDF Officer Busted for Permitting ‘Harlem Shake’ Video Upload

Company commander received a 21 days jail sentence, and the cameraman gets 14 days for lewd video that “runs against IDF values.”

By Gil Ronen

 

The commander of the Keren battalion in the Artillery Corps court-martialed an officer and an enlisted man under his command for recording and uploading a short video of soldiers performing the “Harlem Shake.”

idf Harlem shakeChannel 2 reported that the company commander who authorized the uploading of the video to the internet received a 21-day jail sentence and was dismissed from his command position.

The soldier who recorded the video was sentenced to 14 days in jail. Continue Reading »

Best friends from New York successfully complete IDF training together

Just a year ago David Cohen, 18, & David Aharon, 18 flew to Israel to enlist in the IDF. last week, Cohen’s & Aharon’s parents flew in from NY to see their sons receive their Golani unit pin.

By Danny Brenner

 

 

Both are named David, both grew up in New York, they were in the same grade from pre-school onward and they are best friends. A year ago, they both flew to Israel to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces as lone soldiers. Last week, Corporals David Aharon, 18, and David Cohen, 18, completed nearly a year of rigorous training and joined the ranks of the illustrious Golani Infantry Brigade.

Continue Reading »

Purim’s atmosphere of merriment & glee spreads across Israel

View ‘Harlem Shake’ from Tel Aviv,  Purim Style

Women of the Wall to hold Megila reading at the Kotel (Western Wall)

 

Purim’s carnival atmosphere spread out across the country on Sunday, with revelers of all types and ages soaking up the holiday cheer, many bedecked in bright, loud and extravagant costumes.

Tel Aviv on Purim, 2013.

Tel Aviv on Purim, 2013. – Photo: REUTERS

As in every year, traditional ‘Adloyada’ Purim parades were held the length and breadth of Israel in cities and towns throughout the country, wending their way through town centers and major urban thoroughfares.

Holon’s Ad’deloyada, one of the most renowned, included more than 4,500 participants making merry, including dancers, artists, musicians and other performers from around the country who all marched through the streets of the city.

Continue Reading »

3 Books of Esther Survived the Holocaust from Warsaw Ghetto

Just in time for Purim, Shem Olam Institute presents holy items found in Warsaw Ghetto attic decades after surviving the Holocaust

By Kobi Nahshoni

 

Three Books of Esther kept in the attic of a house in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II have been returned to Jewish hands.

Scroll survives fire inside metal cylinder Photo courtesy of Shem Olam Institute

Scroll survives fire inside metal cylinder – Photo courtesy: Shem Olam Institute

In honor of Purim, the Shem Olam Institute for Holocaust education, documentation and research unveiled the rare holy items which were in Polish possession for dozens of years and were located and brought to Israel in the past year. Continue Reading »

Belgium home to a 30% rise in anti-Semitism reports

A Belgian gov’t agency reportes number of anti-Semitic complaints represent just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of real incidents & that the true figures (58%) correspond with last year’s rise in France.

By

 

Belgium saw a 30 percent increase in the number of anti-Semitic complaints filed in 2012, according to a government agency.

Boys with Israeli flags participate in a solidarity march for Israel in Brussels, Belgium

Boys with Israeli flags participate in a solidarity march for Israel in Brussels, Belgium, Nov. 25, 2012. – Photo by AP

Edouard Delruelle, president of the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism, a Belgian government agency, said his organization documented 88 complaints of anti-Semitism in 2012, compared to 62 the previous year and 57 the year before that. Continue Reading »

Sara Netanyahu sought out Lady Gaga for the latest fashion advice

Pop superstar to have a serious sit-down with PM Netanyahu to discuss his comb-over before his upcoming meeting with Obama.

Happy Purim!

By PAY WITH CASH MAN

 

 

Following the drubbing in the media that she took earlier this month for her questionable attire at the inauguration of the 19th Knesset, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, is making sure no repeat faux pas will take place when US President Barack Obama visits Israel next month.

SARA NETANYAHU looks to her mentor pop artist Lady Gaga

SARA NETANYAHU looks to her mentor pop artist Lady Gaga – Photo: Steve Linde

She’s turned to the queen of couture fashion – music superstar Lady Gaga – for a crash course in style and elegance ahead of the much-anticipated presidential visit.

Continue Reading »

3 Israeli Scientists patent new ‘Stealthy Fiber Optic Communications’

An eavesdropper listening in catches only noise, since the signal is hidden below the noise level & it will take years for the eavesdropper to break the encryption key.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

Two Israeli university professors and a PhD candidate have created a concept for “stealthy fiber optic communications.”

Developed by Ben Gurion University of the Negev’s Prof. Dan Sadot and Prof. Ze’ev Zalevsky of Bar Ilan University together with PhD student Tomer Yeminy, the new encryption method enables stealthy transmission of any optical communications signal.

Currently in the patenting process, the new encryption method spreads the transmission below the noise level in both time and frequency domains. Continue Reading »

Israeli Student Delegation Off to Africa to Eliminate Tropical Diseases

Many diseases the western world considers extinct are still very much a problem in 3rd world countries. A delegation of 9 students from Ben Gurion University was sent to Makele, Ethiopia, to take part in an extensive educational medical program which aims to eliminate neglected tropical diseases.

By

The program is led by Professor Zvi Bentwich and is being implemented by the Faculty of Health Science’s Center for Emerging Diseases, Tropical Diseases and AIDS (CEMTA) with the assistance of other bodies, including UN organizations, local government agencies and the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Social Awareness: Israeli Students Go To Africa To Battle Neglected Diseases

Social Awareness: Israeli Students Go To Africa To Battle Neglected Diseases – Photo: Ben Gurion University

According to Prof. Continue Reading »

Yesh Atid initiates a new Knesset Bible study group

Having been labeled anti-religious by some ultra-Orthodox leaders, Yesh Atid has since been the most dominant party getting  Israelis to study the Bible.

By  Israel Today Staff

 

We have already reported several times on Benjamin Netanyahu’s revival of the Prime Minister’s Bible Study group in Israel. Now the Knesset is getting in on the trend with the establishment of its own weekly sessions of scriptural enlightenment.

Bible – israeltoday.co.il

The initiative came from one of the new Knesset parties, the centrist Yesh Atid, which fields both secular and religious lawmakers.

Despite running an election campaign that emphasized an end to army exemptions for and exaggerated welfare payouts to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sector, and subsequently being labeled anti-religious by ultra-Orthodox leaders, Yesh Atid has since the election been the most outspoken party about getting more Israelis to study the Bible. Continue Reading »

Are the Haredim to ‘face the music’?

Is the Bennett-Lapid  alliance the revenge of the ‘knitted kippot’?

The Haredim annulled their conversions, called them “gentiles & heretics” and humiliated them at every possible opportunity.

The Haredim treated the national-religious sector like hired help for years, & systematically pushed them out of almost every state-religious institution.

By Yehuda Shlezinger

 

 

Yaakov Rivlin, one of the most respected commentators of the haredi system, recently expressed an insight that some would call historic. “The national-religious are about to take the place of the haredim in the religious and political systems of life in this country, and we must resign ourselves to that,” he wrote in the haredi newspaper BaKehila [In the community].

Continue Reading »

Israel awards the 1st drilling license for oil in Golan Heights

A New Jersey-based company is the 1st to receive a license to drill for oil covering half the length of the Golan Heights.

By GLOBES & JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Israel awarded the first license to drill for oil on the Golan Heights, local media reported Thursday. A New Jersey-based company was awarded the license, covering half the area of the Golan from the latitude of Katzrin in the north to Tzemach in the south.
The Golan Heights

The Golan Heights – Photo: Seth J. Frantzman

Sources informed ”Globes” that, a few days ago, the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources’ Petroleum Council recommended awarding the license to Genie Energy Ltd.,

Continue Reading »

Egypt arrested 4 students for ‘Harlem Shake’ video

4 pharmaceutical students from Cairo invoke the wrath of Egyptian authorities after posting lude Harlem Shake version.

Officials: ‘Scandalous act’.

View Clip….judge for yourselves.

AFP

 

Egyptian police said Saturday they have arrested four students who filmed themselves publicly dancing in their underwear, as more people around the world emulate a viral dance craze called the “Harlem Shake.”

The four pharmaceutical students shocked residents of a middle class Cairo neighbourhood when they removed most of their clothes and videotaped themselves performing the pelvis-thrusting dance, a police official said.

The hostile audience tried to assault the students, who are accused of committing “a scandalous act,” the official added. Continue Reading »

Arabs report 9 people wounded in clashes with Jewish residents near a Palestinian village

A 30 year-old Palestinian prisoner dies of a heart attack in Megiddo jail while another Palestinian reportedly hospitalized because of gunshot wound.

By Gili Cohen , and

 

Violent clashes erupted on Saturday near the West Bank village of Qusra, south of Nablus, between villagers and Jewish settlers from nearby Jewish outpost. IDF forces arrived on the scene and employed crowd-control measures.

Qusra - AFP

A Palestinian protestor (R) clashes with an Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Qusra near Nablus on February 23, 2013.- Photo: AFP

The Palestinians reported nine people wounded, among them seven from rubber bullets. Continue Reading »

Purim Starts Tonight with the Reading of the Megillah

Few people know that Purim, the ‘Holiday of Costumes & Merriment’ is one of Judaism’s most Holy days.

By Gil Ronen and Rochel Sylvetsky

 

Purim, 5773, officially began Saturday evening as the Megillah of Esther is being read in hundreds of synagogues in Israel alone. The holiday celebrates the defeat of one of Israel’s worst enemies, Haman the Wicked, in ancient Persia.

In Jerusalem, the Purim celebration will only begin Sunday evening. This has to do with the fact that Jerusalem was surrounded by walls from the time of the conquest of the Land of Israel by Joshua. Jewish tradition has it that Jews in the walled city of Shushan – the capital of ancient Persia – fought against their enemies for an extra day before defeating them, and therefore people living in walled cities begin celebrating Purim a day later than others. Continue Reading »