Archive for June 30, 2013

IAF receives 1st of new super Hercules C-130J

New ‘Super’ Squadron is designed to upgrade IDF’s long range strategic capabilities in transport, fueling & rescue.

 

 

 
The Israel Air Force is preparing to set up its first squadron of “super” Hercules C-130J transport aircraft, after US defense manufactures officially handed over the first plane to Israel last week.

 

The Hercules C-130J – Photo: Courtesy- IAF

The new squadron, to be based at Nevatim airbase in the South, is designed to upgrade the IDF’s long-range strategic capabilities It can carry more soldiers, lift a greater load, and fly to further destinations than its predecessor Hercules aircraft, which has been in service in the air force for more than 40 years.

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Israel wants to save Ethiopian child’s life after a wild hyena attack

Abdul Razek, an 8-yr-old boy from Ethiopia was almost eaten to death by a wild hyena.
Israel joins efforts to save boy’s life, by bringindg him to Nahariya

, offering surgery and follow-up treatment.

By Itamar Eichner

Israeli officials joined efforts to save the life of Abdul Razek, an 8-year-old Muslim from Ethiopia who was almost eaten to death by a wild hyena.

Western Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya - Photo courtesy

Western Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya – Photo courtesy

The humanitarian operation involves Bedouin-Israeli diplomat Ismail Khaldi, Israeli Ambassador to Ethiopia Belaynesh Zevadia and the government-owned Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya. If enough contributions are raised to fund the operation, Razek would be brought to Israel within the week. Continue Reading »

Unemployment is Down in Israel…Again

In the face of ongoing problems in the world’s economy, the Israeli economy continues to do well with unemployment down again.

By David Lev

 

 

The Israeli economy continues to do well in the face of ongoing problems in the world economy. Israel’s unemployment rate remained a relatively mild 6.9% in May, the same as in April.

Experts said that the relatively stable employment situation was a sign that the Israeli economy was flexible and versatile enough to withstand the major fluctuations in the world economy – including the near-bankruptcy of several European countries (among them large importers of Israeli exports), continued weakness in the U.S., Continue Reading »

26% of European Jews were targeted by anti-Semites last year

Israel, sensing antisemitism will only worsen, Knesset recommends easing absorption of threatened Jewish communities

By Yossi Aloni

 

One-in-four European Jews (26 percent) experienced anti-Semitic harassment at least once over the past 12 months, and one-in-three (34 percent) were targeted in the last five years.

1-in-4 European Jews targeted by anti-Semites – Photo courtesy of Israel Today

Five percent of the victims reported that their property had been destroyed because they are Jewish, and seven percent suffered physical injury or were threatened with physical harm.

Forty-to-fifty percent of Jews in France, Belgium and Hungary said they are considering emigration because they now feel unsafe. Continue Reading »

What the White House Doesn’t Want to Know About Abbas

By Khaled Abu Toameh

 

As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pursues his efforts to revive the peace process in the Middle East, Palestinian officials in the West Bank are complaining that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is keeping them in the dark and refusing to brief them about his plans. Continue Reading »

Group of Orthodox Jews Promise to Protect London Mosque

The local Shomrim group, numbering 22 Jews, was set up in 2008 in part as a reaction to anti-Semitic incidents, have agreed to include the local mosques & other buildings as part of their routine patrols.

By JTA

 

 

An Orthodox Jewish patrol group in London said it would protect a mosque after a rise in hate crimes against Muslims.

North London Community Centre Mosque at Cazenove Road, London - Photo Courtesy

North London Community Center Mosque at Cazenove Road, London – Photo Courtesy

The Shomrim patrol group accepted a request for protection by the North London Community Centre in Cazenove Road, an Islamic institution situated in the heavily-Jewish Borough of Hackney in northern London.

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Netanyahu tells cabinet that any peace-accord with Arabs will go to referendum

As Kerry pushes to rejuvenate negotiations, the PM looks to neutralize future political crisis by assuring ministers opposed, that they need not resign from the gov’t over the peace issue because ultimately, it’s the public who will decide.

 

 

Any future agreement with the Palestinians will be brought to the country in the form of a referendum, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the outset of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, just hours after finishing a six-hour late-night meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

This was Netanyahu’s third meeting with Kerry since he arrived Thursday afternoon.

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Many Arrested in Bethlehem Counter-Terror Ops

Deputy Defense Minister Danon reports active battle against Bethlehem terrorism is ongoing, saying arrests have been made.

By Maayana Miskin

 

The IDF is engaged in an ongoing counter-terrorism push in the Bethlehem area, Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon revealed this weekend in response to an enquiry.

MK Nissim Zeev (Shas) had filed a parliamentary query regarding the IDF response to ongoing assaults at Kever Rachel in Bethlehem.

Terrorists have frequently attacked worshipers at the holy site – the burial place of the Biblical matriarch Rachel – located just minutes from Jerusalem. In some recent attacks terrorists have used makeshift grenades. Continue Reading »

German Report: U.S. spied on EU diplomats in Brussels, N.Y. & Washington

According to documents taken by whistleblower Snowden, NSA ‘bugs’ allowed to them to listen to conversations and hack EU computer networks.

By DPA

 

The U.S. National Security Agency allegedly conducted spying on European Union diplomats, according to classified documents taken by whistleblower Edward Snowden and reported by German news magazine Spiegel on Saturday.

Photos of Edward Snowden, a contractor at the NSA, and U.S. President Barack Obama in newspapers

Photos of Edward Snowden, a contractor at the NSA, and U.S. President Barack Obama are printed on Hong Kong newspapers in this illustration photo June 11, 2013. – Photo: Reuters

 

The NSA bugged EU offices in Washington and at the United Nations in New York and infiltrated internal computer networks, allowing the U.S. Continue Reading »

Arab Christians seek partnership demanding equal rights & equal duties

 

Arab Priest Gavriel (Jubrail) Nadaf is being persecuted by the Arab-Israeli political establishment for advocating an equal sharing of the burden amongst his Christian flock: “We want to connect with Jewish society in Israel,” he said. “We feel secure in Israel.”

By Daniel Siryoti

 

“We want young Christians to become totally integrated into Israeli society, which also entails shouldering their fair share of the burden of national service. Our future as a Christian minority is intertwined with that of the State of Israel. We want to give more to society and to contribute our share just like others do,” says Gavriel Nadaf, a 39-year-old Arab Christian priest who is being persecuted by the Arab Israeli establishment.

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France’s soaring anti-Semitism brings Jewish Defense League into the light

The French JDL number some 300 members & is now on a collision course with France’s Jewish community, which has condemned its activities & even threatened a lawsuit.

French Jewish Defense League activists demonstrating in Paris, 2011. (Ligue de Defense Juive)

French Jewish Defense League activists demonstrating in Paris, 2011. Photo: Ligue de Defense Juive

Using their helmets as bludgeons, members of France’s Jewish Defense League, or LDJ, set upon the Arabs and beat them.

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American Jewish college student stabbed to death in Egypt

Andrew Pochter (ז”ל), active at Hillel & teaching English to 7 & 8-yr-old Egyptian children, was stabbed in Alexandria when protesting against the Muslim Brotherhood.

By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – An American college student stabbed to death during a protest in Egypt was in the country teaching English to children and improving his Arabic, according to a Facebook post on Saturday that appeared to be from his family.

Protesters demonstrate in Sedy Gaber in Alexandria, June 28, 2013

Protesters demonstrate in Sedy Gaber in Alexandria, June 28, 2013 – Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghan

According to the The Kenyon Collegian, the student newspaper, Pochter was active in Hillel, the campus’s center for Jewish life, and lived at the group’s on-campus house. Continue Reading »

Amman Report: 4-way peace summit to be announced

Jordanian media reports Israel capitulates to advance peace-talks by agreeing to freeze settlements, release prisoners & define borders ahead of peace talks, according to unconfirmed Palestinian sources.

By Elior Levy

Jordanian media reported that a joint Israeli, Palestinian, American and Jordanian summit will possibly be announced soon, in a move which will signal the restarting of the stalled peace process.

נתיהו וקרי, מוקדם יותר השבוע (צילום: משה מילנר, לע"מ)

Netanyahu, Kerry earlier this week – Photo: Moshe Milner, GPO

According to the reports, which cite Palestinian sources, the Americans told the Palestinian side on Friday that Israel agreed to their preconditions of settlement construction freeze, prisoners’ release and defining the borders on which basis the negotiations will be held, though these will be implemented gradually, and not all at once. Continue Reading »

New Jewish Newswire Challenges JTA for Piece of Jewish Media Market

A new, more Right-leaning Jewish News Service (JNS) is trying to replace center, pro-Israel and established JTA.

By Josh Nathan-Kazis

 

A new, right-leaning Jewish newswire is seeking to displace the Jewish Telegraphic Agency as the Associated Press of the Jewish media.

Russel Pergament says his Jewish News Service is growing fast because Jewish newspapers appreciate its stridently pro-Israel tone - and its lower cost. - Photo by Courtesy of Boston Phoenix

Russel Pergament says his Jewish News Service is growing fast because Jewish newspapers appreciate its stridently pro-Israel tone – and its lower cost. – Photo by Courtesy of Boston Phoenix

 

Nearly two years after its launch, Jewish News Service is growing fast by promoting its pro-Israel perspective, offering ad-friendly special sections — and by giving it all away cheap. Continue Reading »

Real Apartheid: An Italian Jew is Banned from Joining PA Delegation

He sent Abbas a letter, a missive from a proud Jew whose words show up the cowardly Italian gov’t & the openly apartheid policies of Abbas’ Palestinian Authority.

By Giulio Meotti

 

The concept of removing a religious or ethnic community from a certain region brings back the dark memories of World War II, yet has become mainstream when it is applied to a part of the land of Israel.

Hamas cartoon – Israel news photo screenshotA recent official visit to Ramallah, the “capital” of the Palestinian Authority, by the official delegation of the Italian city of Turin, and led by leftist mayor Piero Fassino, could not include the Vice President of the Jewish Community, Emanuel Segre Amar. Continue Reading »