Archive for April 26, 2013

Asian-American Academic Association Adopts Boycotting Israeli Academia

The AAAS resolution passed unanimously, accusing Israeli universities of being complicit in violations of int’l law by the Israeli gov’t.

By JTA

 

The Association for Asian American Studies voted in favor of boycotting Israeli academic institutions.

The academic nonprofit, known by the acronym AAAS, passed the vote last week during its annual conference in Seattle, according to Inside Higher Ed.

AAAS

From AAAS website

The resolution calling for a boycott passed unanimously and accused Israeli universities of being complicit in violations of international law by the Israeli government.

In addition to other claims, the resolution also accused the universities of discriminating against Palestinian students and academics. Continue Reading »

Mayor Barkat secures funding for Jerusalem ‘Formula 1’ racing

 

Funding approved despite opposition from ultra-Orthodox city council members, who saw the cost a waste of valuable funds.


 

 
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat’s much-touted June Formula One “Peace Road Show” was nearly disqualified for a false start Thursday, before being approved in a last-minute City Council meeting that night.
Ferrari Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Spain

Ferrari Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Spain – Photo: REUTERS

The road show made headlines when it was announced earlier this month, but the Finance Committee had yet to approve the transfer of NIS 2.5 million to fund the event, due to opposition within the committee and from religious groups, Ynet reported.

Continue Reading »

Turkey trucks its goods via Israel to Jordan

In avoiding Syrian unrest, Turkish shipping has been docking at Haifa Port over the past 5 months, unloading its

cargo onto trucks bound for Jordan

By Lior El-Hai

The relationship between Turkey and Israel had been in a downward spiral up until a few weeks ago; now it seems that at least where trade is concerned, Middle East realities trump politics.

בדרך לעימות הגדול? נמל חיפה  (צילום: רויטרס)

Haifa port – Photo: Reuters

Just recently, the opposition party in Turkey attempted to embarrass its country’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, by revealing that a Turkish shipping company owned by his son was moving its cargo via Israel, in spite of the tensions between the two countries. Continue Reading »

Israel’s new gov’t is gunning for reform – but at who’s expense?

A month after Israel’s new gov’t took office, its ministers began to advanced a series of measures destined to appease the middle-class, but, does it matter if those reforms come at the expense of others, such as the ultra-Orthodox?

 

Without a doubt, the winds of reform and revolutions are blowing in our land. The finance minister declares “war” on behalf of the working man. The prime minister states that no labor strike will deter him from lowering the price of cars or from implementing a “huge” reform in the ports. The transportation minister has discovered that the sky’s the limit, the interior minister is considering extending daylight saving time, and the minister of communications is bent on shaking up the pay-per-view television market in favor of freebie TV. Continue Reading »

Gaza Rulers Blasts PA for Postponing Anti-Israel Resolutions

Hamas condemns PA compromise which allows the PA to postpone anti-Israel resolutions in exchange for a UNESCO ‘investigation’ on Jerusalem.

By Elad Benari

 

Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers condemned on Thursday a decision by the Palestinian Authority to postpone five UNESCO resolutions against Israel.

David's Citadel - IsraelandStuff-PP

David’s Citadel, Jerusalem – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

“This step is like a reward to the occupation for its crimes and violations,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement quoted by the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency.

“It is a contribution in erasing the Arabic and Islamic identity of Jerusalem, and it encourages the occupation to continue its Judaization program,” Barhoum said. Continue Reading »

UN Watch leads protest calling on Ban Ki-moon to condemned Richard Falk

Below is email I received from UN Watch:

Victory: UN reverses course, condemns Richard Falk * Now his defenders are attacking UN Watch

Hillel Neuer, UN Watch (briefing@unwatch.org)

 

To: Phillip Pasmanick
Picture of Hillel Neuer, UN Watch

 

Dear Phillip,

Good news: Thanks to a firestorm sparked by UN Watch, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — after initially refusing to act — has finally accepted our demand and condemned UN Palestine expert Richard Falk for justifying the Boston terrorist attack as a form of “resistance” to the sins of America and Israel. As a result, UN Watch is now under attack.

Here’s how it all happened. Continue Reading »

IDF shoots down Hezbollah drone off Haifa coastline

Israeli F-16 fighter bombers track unmanned aircraft apparently sent by Nasrallah, destroy it about 8 kms off Haifa shore.
Israel Navy vessels searching for wreckage

By Ynet

 

 

It has been cleared for publication that Israeli F-16 fighter jets downed a drone off of Haifa’s coastline at around noon Thursday.

Downing of drone that entered Israeli airspace in October - Screenshot of IDF video clip

Downing of drone that entered Israeli airspace in October – Screenshot of IDF video clip

The unmanned aircraft apparently entered Israel’s airspace from the north and was heading south. Explosions were heard in the area.

Israel Navy vessels were searching for the wreckage. The drone was apparently sent by Hezbollah in Lebanon. Continue Reading »

Sunni cleric calls on Lebanese Youth for ‘Jihad’ Against Hizbullah

Sunni cleric Ahmad Assir, said it was a “a religious duty” for Sunni followers to join “armed Jihad in Syria” against the Hizbullah & Syrian regime.

By Elad Benari

 

Lebanese youth from the city of Saida, south of Beirut, began on Wednesday to sign up for “armed Jihad in Syria”, Al Arabiya reported.

Hezbollah terrorists - Photo by EPA

Hezbollah terrorists – Photo by EPA

The youth were responding to a call a day earlier by Sunni cleric Ahmad Assir, who called on Lebanese youth to fight the Hizbullah terrorist group.

Individuals in charge of enlisting the youth told Al Arabiya that “hundreds” have signed up so far and that the number is expected to reach thousands. Continue Reading »

Zygier hung himself after devastating visit from wife & daughter

Gag order lifted by court. Timeline & details up to Ben Zygier’s suicide now public record.

Israel Hayom Staff

 

The Rishon Lezion Magistrates’ Court has lifted the gag order placed on the internal investigation into the death of Mossad agent Ben Zygier, also known as Prisoner X, in the custody of the Israel Prison Service.

Continue Reading »

Judge: ‘Women shouldn’t have been arrested at Western Wall’

Judge Moshe Sobell ruled that the women were not a danger to the public & that their prayer did not disturb the public order.

 

JERUSALEM  — Women praying together out loud at the Western Wall in prayer shawls did not disturb the public order and should not have been arrested, an Israeli court found.

2010 IN PICTURES JULY

Anat Hoffman, leader of the Women of the Wall, is arrested for holding a Torah scroll at Judaism’s holiest site. – Photo: Michal Fattal

 

The Jerusalem District Court on Thursday ruled that five women from the Women of The Wall group should not have been arrested and rejected a police request for a restraining order against the women from the site. Continue Reading »

Mayor of Tehran: Holocaust denial hurt Iran

Possible upcoming presidential candidate says Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial became excuse for Israel, harmed Iran & the Palestinians.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust has harmed Iran’s foreign relations, and did nothing to benefit the Palestinians, Tehran mayor and a potential candidate for the Iranian presidential elections said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency this week.

Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. – Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in excerpts translated from Farsi by Al-Monitor that Ahmadinejad’s statements denying the systematic extermination of six million Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II became an “excuse for our biggest enemies, which are the Zionists, and affected the goals of the Palestinians.”

Continue Reading »

Bennett & Lapid seek seaport reform

Economy and Trade Minister promises to break seaport monopoly. ‘It’ll hurt, but it’ll pass,’ Bennett says of expected union strikes.

By Moran Azulay

 

Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett is backing the seaport reform and has vowed to “break the seaport monopoly.”

נמל אשדוד. מו"מ עם הוועדים הוא הכרחי (צילום: אבי רוקח)

Ashdod port – Photo: Avi Rokach

“We’ll release the strangle-hold. We’re engaged in a historic process of opening up Israel‘s economy. The train has left the station,” he said.

Bennett’s statements follow that of Finance Minister Yair Lapid who on Tuesday announced his plans to privatize the state owned ports in Haifa and Ashdod and to support the construction of an additional port by a private entrepreneur. Continue Reading »

Amb. Rice: UN Official Falk ‘Spews Vitriol’, Has ‘No Place at UN’

American Ambassador to UN calls for dismissal of UN official who blamed Boston bombings on Israel.

By Arutz Sheva staff

 

United States ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, called on Wednesday for the dismissal of Richard Falk, a top official on the United Nations Human Rights Council, who attempted to explain the Boston Marathon bombings as a reaction to US policy in the Middle East.

Falk, whose official title is the “U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories,” implied that the Boston Marathon bombings were payback for America’s “geopolitical fantasy of global domination” and its continued affiliation with the international body only serves to undermine its credibility.  Continue Reading »

Egypt Reports: Mossad pays $1,000 per photo to ‘Israeli spy in Sinai’

Egyptian security source says Israeli ‘spy network’ discovered just days after Grad rockets fired from Sinai on Eilat

By Roi Kais

 

An Egyptian security source relayed on Wednesday to the Palestinian Maan news agency new details which he claims surfaced in the interrogation of the man arrested a few days ago in the Sinai Peninsula. The man allegedly stood at the head of a spy network, working in Israel’s favor there.

Egyptian SecurityThe source said that the accused is a 35-year-old Bedouin who admitted in his interrogation to passing along military, political and economic information to the Mossad.

The source told the Palestinian news agency that the information the man supplied revolved around protests that occurred in Egypt. Continue Reading »

MK Strock seeks law to also allow settlers to defend property with live fire

MK Orit Strock seeks equality under the law for settlers who “obey [the] rules of engagement, don’t shoot at burglars, & are forced to absorb heavy losses” whereas other Israelis don’t.

 

 

Settlers should have the same right to defend their property under the so-called Dromi Law as Israelis who live within the Green Line, MK Orit Strock (Habayit Hayehudi‏) said Tuesday.

Orit Strock

Orit Strock – Photo: Michal Fattal

Instead, she charged, their rights are restricted by the Israel Defense Forces’ rules of engagement.

She is therefore demanding that the rules be changed to allow settlers to confront “nationalist attacks” against Jewish property with live fire. Continue Reading »