Archive for May 30, 2013

Israel’s desalination technology is making water surplus possible

The new plant and several others along Israel’s coast  became a game-changing solution to the challenges of Israel’s famously fickle rainfall.

 

Water from the Mediterranean Sea rushes through pipes en route to being filtered for use across Israel in a process called desalination, which could soon account for 80 percent of the country's potable water. (Ben Sales/JTA)

Water from the Mediterranean Sea rushes through pipes en route to being filtered for use across Israel in a process called desalination, which could soon account for 80 percent of the country’s potable water. Photo: Ben Sales/JTA

Drawn from deep in the Mediterranean Sea, the water has flowed through pipelines reaching almost 4,000 feet off of Israel’s coast and, once in Israeli soil, buried almost 50 feet underground. Continue Reading »

Lapid relays ‘revolutionary’ plan for lower housing prices

 

Israel’s Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s plan calls for the construction of 25,000 new residential units annually, and for first time, greater Tel Aviv & central Israel would be home for majority of the building.

Zeev Klein

 

 

Finance Minister Yair Lapid unveiled on Wednesday his plan to reduce housing prices in Israel, calling for 25,000 new residential units to be built annually.

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Argentinian prosecutor alleges Tehran assembled South American terrorist network

The prosecutor said Iran organized a 1982 seminar in Tehran that was attended by 380 religious men from 70 countries. The meeting was a turning point in the regime’s method of exporting the revolution, which included the use of violence & terrorism.

By JTA

 

 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The Argentinian prosecutor in the AMIA Jewish center bombing case accused Iran of  building clandestine intelligence stations in South American countries from which to launch terror attacks.

Remains of the AMIA after the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Photo:  Wikipedia commons

Remains of the AMIA after the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina – Photo: Wikipedia commons

Prosecutor Alberto Nisman’s office made the accusations in a 502-page indictment released Wednesday that blames Iranian officials for the July 18, 1994 attack on the AMIA center, which killed 85 and injured hundreds.

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Canadian Protestants Boycotts 3 Israeli Companies

Canada’s Protestant church approves banning of settlement products.

By JTA

 

 

 

Canada’s largest Protestant church targeted three Israeli companies with operations in Jewish settlements for economic sanctions and boycott.

Protester calling for a boycott of Israel - Photo: REUTERS

Protester calling for a boycott of Israel – Photo: REUTERS

Last week, the United Church of Canada’s governing General Council approved the start of a boycott campaign, encouraging “economic action” against Keter Plastic, SodaStream and Ahava.

The move is an outgrowth of the church’s decision last year to boycott products exported by settlements on the West Bank and in eastern Jerusalem. At the time, the church called the settlements the “principal obstacle to peace in the region.”

Continue Reading »

WARNING: Palestinian Coke not kosher

 

 

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate warns public against drinking Coca-Cola bottled without Kosher supervision in PA.

Businesses asked to avoid selling the cola as not to get public used to ‘purchasing products without kosher mark’.

By Itzchak Tessler

 

 

The Chief Rabbinate released an urgent statement this week, warning the Israeli public against Coca-Cola manufactured in the West Bank town of Beitunia, near Ramallah, which is marketed alongside the strictly kosher beverage that has been manufactured in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak for the past decades.

Coca-Cola from Ramallah and Jordan - IsraelandStuff/PP

Coca-Cola from Ramallah and Jordan – IsraelandStuff/PP

According to the statement, written by Rabbi Yaakov Sabag, director of the Chief Rabbinates Kashrut Department, and Rabbi Rafi Yochai, head of the Kashrut Fraud Division, “We have recently discovered the marketing of a four-pack Coca-Cola, in which each bottle carries a caption in Arabic with no kashrut mark. Continue Reading »

Hezbollah exiles Hamas members & officials saying, ‘leave Lebanon immediately’

Lebanese Shiite terrorist movement’s decision to oust Hamas from Lebanon comes as response to Palestinian’s role in fighting against Assad’s rule in Syria.

By Middle East Online staff

 

BEIRUT – The powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah called on Hamas members and officials who are still present in Lebanon to leave the country ‘immediately and within hours.’ The decision comes as a response to the Palestinian Islamist movement’s role in the ongoing war in Syria against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

No longer friends, Hamas' Meshaal & Hezbollah's Nasrallah - Photo PIC

No longer friends, Hamas’ Mashaal & Hezbollah’s Nasrallah – Photo PIC

Media sources close to the Palestinian national liberation movement Fatah in Lebanon said a Hezbollah senior security official informed Hamas representative in Lebanon, Ali Baraka, that all of those related to Hamas on the Lebanese territory became have become unwelcome.

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Bahrain to seek Hezbollah added to Gulf States’ terror list

Not only are Gulf States consider placing Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Gulf terror blacklist, Iranian spy networks running amuck in Gulf states to be addressed.

By The Daily Star staff

 

KUWAIT CITY: Gulf Arab states will consider placing Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which is openly involved in the Syrian conflict, on its terror list, Al-Rai daily quoted highly placed diplomats on Thursday as saying.

Hezbollah rally in Lebanon (archive) Photo Reuters

Hezbollah rally in Lebanon – Photo: Reuters

Bahrain will ask foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss “placing Hezbollah on the terror list” at a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, the newspaper said.

Bahrain currently holds the GCC’s rotating presidency. Continue Reading »

Palestinian leader under int’l pressure to enter peace-talks

Aides reveal Mahmoud Abbas is torn between alienating Washington & Western countries or public backlash over his dropping settlement freeze as a precondition to begin negotiating.

Associated Press

 

The Palestinian president has told advisers that as the US tries to restart Mideast peace talks, he is under intense international pressure to return to negotiations with Israel and drop demands for a Jewish settlement freeze in the West Bank, officials said Wednesday.

Kerry, Abbas in Ramallah – Photo: AFP

In a closed meeting, Mahmoud Abbas lamented his difficult choice: Rebuff the Americans and alienate Washington, or cave in and face an uproar at home. Continue Reading »

Norwegian daily prints Anti-Semitic cartoon of gory circumcision

‘Cartoon crossed all lines of decency & is dripping with hate & anti-Semitism’ says President of the European Jewish Congress

 

A leading Norwegian daily  published a caricature depicting what some construed to be Jews torturing a baby during a circumcision.

The anti-Semitic cartoon published in Norway’s Dagbladet, Tuesday - Photo screenshot, Dagbladet.no

Anti-Semitic cartoon published in Norway’s Dagbladet, Tuesday – Photo: screenshot, Dagbladet.no

The caricature that appeared Tuesday in the Dagbladet newspaper –- the country’s third largest in terms of circulation — showed police officers looking on as a bearded man wearing a black hat and black coat sticks a three-tooth pitchfork into the head of a blood-soaked baby while holding a book.

Continue Reading »

Washington tells Hezbollah to leave Syria

U.S. St. Dept says Hezbollah involvement  broadens Syrian unrest and is an “unacceptable & extremely dangerous escalation”.

US went on to affirms Washington’s continuing efforts to aid & support Syrian opposition.

By REUTERS

 

 

WASHINGTON – The US State Department called on Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia on Wednesday to withdraw its fighters from Syria immediately, saying their involvement on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad signaled a dangerous broadening of the war.

Hezbollah terrorists - Photo by EPA

Hezbollah terrorists – Photo by EPA

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki condemned the declaration last weekend by the leader of the Lebanese guerrilla movement, Hasran Nasrallah. He confirmed his combatants were in Syria and vowed they would stay in the war “to the end of the road.”

Continue Reading »

Jerusalem will act to prevent Russia’s S-300 missile from becoming operational

Netanyahu informs European foreign ministers that after Russian missiles get to Assad, Israel’s ‘entire airspace will become a no-fly zone’ & therefore it ‘cannot stand idly by.’

 

 

Israel’s National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror sketched out what Jerusalem’s “red line” is vis-à-vis the S-300 missile systems Russia intends to send to Syria before the 27 European Union ambassadors in Israel.

IDF on Lebanese border

In this picture taken on Thursday May 23, 2013, Israeli soldiers patrol their side near the southern Lebanese-Israeli border of Hamames village, Lebanon. – Photo: AP

 

Two diplomats who were in the room during the briefing last Thursday, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was a closed event, said that Amidror stressed Israel will act “to prevent the S-300 missiles from becoming operational” on Syrian soil. Continue Reading »

Natanyahu’s Gov’t to Build 80,000 Housing Units

Gov’t plan calls 80,000 new housing units to be made available by end of 2014, and for marketing of plots for construction of at least 25,000 units per year.

By Gil Ronen

 

The Finance Ministry published the government’s housing plan for 2013-2014 Wednesday evening.

Har Homa neighborhood in Jerusalem

The multi-year plan calls for improvement of coordination between official agencies, enlarging the stock of housing plans, especially in the areas where there is high demand, and for a policy of urban renewal.

The plan calls for at least 80,000 new housing units to be made available by the end of 2014, and for marketing of plots for construction of at least 25,000 units annually. Continue Reading »

Canada freezes trade with Iran over nuclear ambitions & human rights record

Canada first nation to completely disengage from Iranian imports and exports calling Iran the biggest threat to global security.

By REUTERS

 

 

OTTAWA – Canada will freeze all remaining trade with Iran to protest Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and its human rights record, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Wednesday.
John Baird visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem - Photo by Sebastian Scheiner-AP

John Baird visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem – Photo: Sebastian Scheiner/AP

Canada, which has had increasingly poor relations with Iran for more than a decade, had already imposed a series of trade sanctions. In 2012, bilateral trade was worth around C$135 million ($130 million).

Baird said Canada was particularly concerned by the failure of the United Nations’ nuclear agency this month to persuade Iran to let it resume an investigation into suspected atomic bomb research.

Continue Reading »

Robert De Niro to Attend Peres’ Birthday Party in June

One of America’s

greatest Hollywood

actors to arrive in June for President Shimon Peres’ 90th birthday extravaganza. 

Itamar Eichner

Robert De Niro, considered one of the greatest American actors of all times, will arrive in Israel next month to attend the Israeli Presidential Conference and take part in President Shimon Peres‘ 90th birthday celebrations, Yedioth Ahronoth has learned.

Robert De Niro - Photo EPA

Robert De Niro – Photo: EPA

De Niro, 70, has won two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, and has starred in 74 films, many of which have become box-office hits, including “The Godfather,” “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “The Deer Hunter.” Continue Reading »

eBay halts bid for ‘Jewish Spot in Heaven’ at $100,000 citing rule violation

eBay was flooded with bids for ‘My Portion in Olam Habaah (Heaven) offered by a Jewish man from New Jersey.
Within just a few hours the price was nearly $100,000, but then eBay closed the site down.

By Debra Nussbaum Cohen

 
Want to make sure you land a spot in heaven?

No need to bother yourself with fulfilling commandments or doing good deeds. But it’s definitely going to cost you plenty.

Ari Mandel

Ari Mandel

Bidders flooded eBay with bids for “My Portion in Olam Habaah (Heaven),” which has been listed for sale by a Jewish man from Teaneck, N.J. The price started at 99 cents and skyrocketed within hours to nearly $100,000. Continue Reading »