Archive for July 21, 2013

Record Breaking ‘Children’s Aliyah Flight’ Will Arrive Monday

Gilad Schalit will chaperone the Nefesh b’Nefesh flight of a record-breaking 106 children in 41 families.

By Arutz Sheva

 

North American aliyah organization Nefesh B’Nefesh is set to break a record Monday with an historic “children’s aliyah flight” that is to carry 106 children, in 41 families, to start new lives in Israel. All in all, the flight will carry 231 new olim (Jews returning to Israel) from North America.

New Israelis hit the ground – Photo: Sasson Tiram

Former abducted IDF soldier will Gilad Schalit will also be on board El Al flight LY3004, as a show of solidarity and appreciation. Continue Reading »

‘Hackathon’ aimed to develop a new app called ‘Open Budget’ to support Israel

Israeli & Jewish hackers hold simultaneous 24-hour coding session in Tel Aviv & Silicon Valley to allow Israelis to better understand how their money is being spent.

By Yossi Aloni

 

Last Friday, more than 120 hackers, developers and computer programmers from Israel and Jewish communities abroad took part in a hackathon that occurred simultaneously in California’s “Silicon Valley” and in Tel Aviv.

illustrative - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

illustrative – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Many of the Jewish hackers inCalifornia play leading roles in major high-tech companies like Google, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Under the title of “Friday Night Hack,”the event had two tracks, one focusing on Israel and the other on the Jewish communities around the world. Continue Reading »

By day a Rabbi, by night a Border Guard Police officer patrolling the Upper Galilee

 

Meir Ohana is the chief rabbi of Mushav Kfar Yuval in the Upper Galilee, but that doesn’t stop him from patrolling the north as head of a volunteer Border Guard police unit.

Ohana has always demonstrated his support of haredi integration in the IDF: “Studying Torah does not preclude ‘bearing the burden’.”

By Itsik Saban

When Rabbi Meir Ohana takes off his traditional black suit, he puts on a Border Police uniform. While much of the ultra-Orthodox world in Israel is up in arms over the so-called “sharing of the burden” — the state’s intent to compel Israeli ultra-Orthodox citizens to enlist in the military after years of enjoying blanket exemptions from service — Ohana is a rare sight among his ilk.

Continue Reading »

Germany rejects EU’s anti-Israel policies

German chancellor Merkel’s Bundestag spokesman says new EU guidelines are “pure ideology & symbolic politics,” and do not contribute to peace.

He added that the European regulations are not “objective requirements”

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT
 

 

Germany distances itself from the “controversial European Union guidelines” banning cooperation with Israeli entities beyond the Green Line, a foreign policy spokesman in the Bundestag announced on Friday.

Hamas cartoon

Palestinian sponsored boycott of Israel – Israel news photo screenshot

In a statement issued by MP Philipp Missfedler, the Bundestag spokesman for German chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party and its coalition partner the Bavarian Christian Social Union, he stated the guidelines are “pure ideology and symbolic politics” and will not contribute to finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Continue Reading »

Palestinian NGO spokeswoman says injured by rubber bullet during protest

 

Sarit Michaeli from B’Tselem says her injury came from a Border Guard Police officer who fired a rubber bullet at her during the Nabi Salah protest.

Itamar Fleishman

 

B’Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli was injured Friday by a rubber bullet fired at her by Border Guard officers during a demonstration in Nabi Salah, according to her.

Protest in Nabi Salah (Archive) – Photo: AFP

Michaeli, who had been documenting the protest, sustained light wounds to her thigh and was taken to the Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv. She is due to be discharged on Monday.

Michaeli claims that the officers were acting against orders by firing at her during a weekly protest that often leads to clashes between Palestinians protesters and security forces. Continue Reading »

Experts: EU’s New anti-Israel Policy Could Lead to a Legal Quagmire

Despite Jerusalem’s diplomatic efforts to stop the anti-Israel process, the EU on Friday published its new official policy boycotting the Jews of Judea and Samaria.

By David Lev

 

Despite Israel’s efforts to stop the process, the European Union on Friday published its new official policy boycotting Jews and Israelis in areas of Israel liberated in the 1967 Six Day War, including Judea and Samaria and most of Jerusalem. Beginning next January, contracts and agreements between EU entities and businesses, individuals, and institutions from those areas will not be legally recognized by EU courts and forums.

In a statement, EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton said that despite Israel’s protestations to the contrary, “in no way will this prejudge the outcome of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Continue Reading »

Lapid: Peace process must bring about ‘fair divorce ‘ from Palestinians

 

Meretz & Labor leaders offer PM support in attaining a peace treaty should coalition partners abandon Netanyahu.

 

 

 

Finance Minister Yair Lapid expressed cautious optimism about peace talks Saturday, after US Secretary of State John Kerry announced the opening of negotiations.

Yair Lapid

Yair Lapid – Photo: Baz Ratner/Reuters

“To the left we say: We must negotiate the way that is accepted in the Middle East – toughly, suspiciously, while trying to ‘sell at a high price’ and not compromise on the essential assets of the State of Israel,” Lapid wrote on Facebook.

The Yesh Atid leader’s message to the right is “we must separate ourselves from the Palestinians, because a bi-national state means the end of Zionism.

Continue Reading »

Minister Landau: Agreeing to release prisoners – BIG mistake

 

Tourism minister Uzi Landau says ‘no gestures should be made prior to talks’ & objects to discussing 1967 borders, dubbing them ‘Auschwitz’ borders.

Defense Minister Ya’alon confirms, ‘No preconditions’

By Attila Somfalvi

 

 

Before entering negotiations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have to confront voices within the coalition that oppose the release of over 100 Palestinian prisoners in order to renew talks. Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beitenu) told Ynet on Saturday that “the Israeli consent to release prisoners is a mistake. We must learn from past mistakes and not make any gestures before negotiations begin.”

Minister Uzi Landau – Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg

Although Netanyahu and his spokesmen insisted there would be no preconditions for the renewal of negotiations, Minister Landau expressed doubt: “I am not convinced there are no undisclosed understandings between Israel and the Americans in regards to Israel’s gestures.” Continue Reading »

Bennett: Negotiations won’t stop construction in Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria

Housing Minister: There will be no construction freeze, I’ll use my authority to supply needed housing.

By Gil Ronen

 

Bayit Yehudi Chairman and Economics Minister, Naftali Bennett, called Saturday for construction in Judea and Samaria to proceed even after negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) are launched.

“Our insistence on our principles paid off,” Bennett said in a statement following U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s announcement that peace talks were about to resume. “It has been proven that when we insist on our position, negotiations can be carried out without preconditions, without a freeze, and certainly without the delusional demand to carry them out on the basis of [pre-] 67 lines. Continue Reading »

Nasrallah: The Galilee will be in danger before Lebanon

 

Hezbollah’s leader responds to European criticism, says ‘no one will force their plans on Lebanon,’ and goes on to threaten Israel saying they will pay the price for aggression.

Roi Kais

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah , currently the center of an international debate, slammed the United States and Israel in a speech on Friday evening.

נסראללה עם אסד ואחמדינג'אד ב-2005. ארכיון (צילום: AP)

Nasrallah with Assad, Ahmadinejad in 2005. Archives – Photo: AP

“The US abandoned all her allies in favor of its own interests and Israel’s,” Nassrallah declared in a live broadcast via the Hezbollah Al-Manar TV channel.

Despite recent losses suffered by the Shiite organization, Nassrallah insisted: The Galilee will be in danger before Beirut is. Continue Reading »

Hamas: What Peace Talks? There’s No Negotiating with the Occupation

Hamas quickly rejects U.S. Sec of St announcement of a return to peace talks between the Abu Mazan & Israel.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

 

The Hamas terrorist group which controls Gaza was quick to pour cold water on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s announcement that peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority would resume.

“Hamas rejects Kerry’s announcement of a return to talks and considers the Palestinian Authority’s return to negotiations with the occupation to be at odds with the national consensus,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP on Friday, after Kerry announced at a press conference in Amman that negotiators from both sides will be meeting in Washington next week. Continue Reading »

Israel’s El Al Airlines Cancels Package for Roger Waters Concert

 

Israel’s national air carrier El Al Airlines drops promotional package for BDS activist Roger Waters that was advertized on its website.

 

 

El Al Israel Airlines said it promptly canceled a promotional package that appeared on its website for an August concert in Budapest by Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters—a vocal activist in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel—when it learned of the “sensitive issue” on Wednesday.

roger waters cancelled

 

“This matter was brought to my attention yesterday afternoon,” Sheryl Stein, an advertising/public relations/social media manager for El Al, wrote in an email to JNS.org Continue Reading »

NBA star Amare Stoudemire gets Presidential invitation to the Holy Land

Israel’s President Shimon Peres has always been a man with big ideas. But this is his biggest yet… Get Amar’e Stoudemire to play for the Israeli national team!

By

JERUSALEM (AP) — The president of Israel has invited New York Knicks star Amare Stoudemire to play for the country’s national basketball team because of his ties to Judaism.

Shimon Peres met with Stoudemire on Thursday to discuss the player’s charity efforts. Stoudemire, who says he has ”Hebrew roots,” has traveled to Israel before and Peres urged him to help the national team.

The six-time NBA All-Star already has significant ties to Israeli basketball.

Continue Reading »

Breakthrough? Kerry announces Abbas agrees to peace talks

Kerry’s hectic diplomacy appears to bear fruit as US Sec of St announces resumption of peace talks at Amman, Jordan press conference.

Negotiations scheduled to begin next week in Washington.

By Elior Levy

 

US State Secretary John Kerry announced an agreement has been reached on the resumption of peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians in a press conference in Jordan’s capital Amman, after a series of meetings in Jordan and Ramallah with Palestinian officials.

קרי בירדן, בדרך לרמאללה (צילום: AFP)

Kerry in Jordan – Photo: AFP

Tzipi Livni, the minister in charge of the negotiation on the Israeli side, the prime minister’s emissary Yitzhak Molcho and Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat are expected to meet in Washington as early as next week for the beginning of the talks. Continue Reading »

Lebanese official tells EU not to declare Hezbollah terrorist organization

Germany now leads European efforts to place Hezbollah’s military wing on EU terror blacklist following new evidence on the 2012 suicide bombing that killed 5 Israelis in Bulgaria.

The European Union is reassessing whether to declare Hezbollah’s military wing a terrorist organization, a move it has long avoided despite U.S. pressure.

Reenactment of the Burgas bus bombing.


Reenactment of the Burgas bus bombing.- Photo by AP

The move was bolstered by Germany’s policy change after long resisting calls to list Hezbollah for fear it could destabilize Lebanon.

Germany said it was pushed toward declaring Hezbollah a terror group by the 2012 attack in the Black Sea resort of Burgas in Bulgaria. Continue Reading »