Archive for December 17, 2013

New Legal Precedent: Family Court Rules Equality Trumps Child Support Payments

Family Court judge rules ‘courts’ verdicts must be fitted to the sweeping changes in family relations in our times.’

Feminists aghast but gender equality
campaigners, delighted.

By Gil Ronen

 

A ruling by a Family Court judge in Rishon Letzion is being hailed as a precedent by campaigners for gender equality in divorce, reports Maariv.

Divorce (illustration) – Thinkstock

Judge Yaakov Cohen ruled that a divorced father will not have to pay child support money to his ex-wife, because they took equal parts in raising the children when they were married, and have continued to do so since their divorce. Continue Reading »

Museum directors protest misleading term: ‘Polish death camps’

Directors of Polish museums of Nazi camps criticized the decision not open an investigation of the term ‘Polish death camps’ used by the German newspaper Rheinische Post.

WARSAW, Poland — Directors of museums located at the sites of former Nazi death camps are protesting a Polish prosecutor’s office decision not to initiate an investigation into the phrase “Polish death camps.”

Auschwitz Barracks - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Auschwitz Barracks – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

On Monday, a joint letter to the Polish Attorney General and Polish Minister of Justice signed by the heads of state museums at Auschwitz, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Kulmhof, Stutthof, Gross-Rosen and Majdanek , criticized the decision not open an investigation, saying that it undermines national efforts to eradicate the use of the term.

Continue Reading »

Illegal African Infiltrators protest: ‘We’re in danger, not dangerous’

 

Dozens of African asylum seekers who walked out of the southern detention facility marched to the country’s capital to hold a demonstration outside Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Office.

By Noam (Dabul) Dvir

 

Dozens of African asylum seekers who left the Holot open detention facility in southern Israel two days ago, arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning for a protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office.

Sign reads: 'We're in danger, not dangerous' (Photo: Yariv Katz)

Sign reads: ‘We’re in danger, not dangerous’ – Photo: Yariv Kat

The protestors arrived on buses from Kibbutz Nachshon, where they spent the night. They held signs reading, “We’re in danger, not dangerous,” and were received with a round of applause from some 100 additional protestors who arrived to support them. Continue Reading »

Louis Farrakhan defends Kanye West against ADL objection to anti-Semitic generalization

Nation of Islam leader urges rapper Kanye West not to ‘bow to pressure’ by ADL suggestion to recant, says the performer was right and has no reasons to apologize.

 

 

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan defended Kanye West’s remarks on Jewish “connections” in a video released over the weekend and carried by the Hip-Hop DX website.

Louis Farrakhan

Minister Louis Farrakhan displays the book, “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews,” during a speech on March 25, 2011.-  Photo: AP

In the video, Farrakjan urges the rapper not to “bow to pressure” by the Anti-Defamation League, which deemed the comments anti-Semitic and called on West to “take responsibility… and apologize” for his words. Continue Reading »

IDF Military Academy Plans for Mount Scopus Delayed by PM Netanyahu

IDF military academy plans approved in 2012, but Netanyahu delays program – probably due to fears of an unpleasant US reaction.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has delayed plans to move the IDF’s military training academy to Mount Scopus, probably due to international pressures, Maariv reported Tuesday. Sources say the IDF has begun looking for other sites for its military program as a result.

The District Planning and Building Committee of Jerusalem has prevented the program from advancing for over a year, despite its importance. The move is part of a greater initiative to strengthen Jerusalem’s position as the symbolic and practical capital of Israel. Continue Reading »

EU promises ‘unprecedented’ aid to Palestinians & Israel to cement peace deal

28 EU foreign ministers in Brussels offer “package of European economic, political, and security support to both parties in context of a final status agreement”.

 

 

 

The EU’s foreign ministers, who often fill their periodic conclusions on the “Middle East peace process” with vinegar toward Israel, decided this month to add some honey, promising unparalleled support for Israel and the Palestinians if a peace accord is signed.

The European Parliament building in Strasbourg - Photo: REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

The European Parliament building in Strasbourg – Photo: REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

“The EU will provide an unprecedented package of European political, economic and security support to both parties in the context of a final status agreement,” the conclusions read at the end of Monday’s monthly meeting of 28 EU foreign ministers in Brussels. Continue Reading »

Israel extends arm to save American Jewish community

 

 

Representatives of the 2 largest Jewish populations met in Jerusalem last month to discuss how to maintain the American Jewish community despite political & religious disagreements.

Associated Press

 

More than 100 Israeli leaders gathered with Jewish-American counterparts in Jerusalem last month with a daunting mission: to save Jewish life in North America.

Los Angeles Jews celebrate Thanksgivukkah (Photo: AP)

Los Angeles Jews celebrate Thanksgivukkah – Photo: AP

Jewish American leaders have known for years that assimilation and intermarriage were slowly shrinking their communities, but the early November gathering took on an extra sense of urgency. Just weeks earlier, a landmark study had found that young American Jews are growing increasingly estranged from Judaism. Continue Reading »

U.S. academic association endorses academic boycott of Israel


5,000 members strong, the American Studies Association, cites ‘Israel’s violation of int’l law & UN resolutions’ as reasons to boycott Israeli academic institutions.

By and

 

 

The American Studies Association has endorsed a boycott of Israeli academic institutions in a vote that took place over the past few days, the organization said on Monday.

Protester calling for a boycott of Israel - Photo: REUTERS

Protester calling for a boycott of Israel – Photo: REUTERS

Out of the 1,252 members who participated in the vote, 66 percent voted in support of the boycott. The voting was conducted electronically

The decision to boycott Israeli academic institutions was made unanimously by the ASA’s 20-member national council on December 5. Continue Reading »

Failed Coup in South Sudan imperiled Israeli aid group in capital

 

By JTA

 

Intense fighting amid a coup attempt in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, has forced the Israeli aid group IsraAid to suspend its operations in the country and go on lockdown.

James Lago, a street merchant in Juba, South Sudan, with the Israeli flag. -  Photo: Armin Rosen

James Lago, a street merchant in Juba, South Sudan, with the Israeli flag. – Photo: Armin Rosen

The heavy gunfire in Juba began late Sunday night.

Continue Reading »

Professor Alan Dershowitz: Ignore Int’l Law, it’s out of date, unjust

Israel legal advocate urges Israel to act as it sees fit on Iran. Int’l law is ‘a construct in the mind of a bunch of left wing academics.’

 

Video: Professor Alan Dershowitz explains irrelevancy of Int’l Laws

By Gil Ronen

 

 

Esteemed advocate Alan Dershowitz says that Israel should ignore international law when deciding how to deal with Iran.

Professor Alan Dershowitz: Obama is making a mistake with P5+1 agreement – Photo: Dudi Vaaknin

International law is “a construct in the mind of a bunch of left wing academics,” he said, in a lecture at the Institute of National Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv last week “There is no basis for international law in any reality. Continue Reading »

Amazing New & Successful Help for the Infertile

 

The “Embryoscope” being used in Rehovot has increased by an additional & impressive 11%, the success in achieving pregnancy in women with fertility problems.

 
After yearning for a baby for 15 years and numerous attempts at pregnancy, an Israeli couple have had a healthy baby – Shai-Li Vazana – with help from a device called an “embryoscope” at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot. She was the first Israeli to be born thanks to the device, which raises the success rates of in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

SMILING MOTHER Miri holds her newborn son – Photo: Courtesy

Experts said the device has increased by an impressive 11 percent the success in achieving a pregnancy in couples with fertility problems.

Continue Reading »

With school still out in some parts of the country, Israelis flock to ski

 

Jerusalem, Safat & Ariel are among communities canceling classes Monday (List included) as mountainous regions are still under snow or iced-up .

Hundreds flock to Hermon for Israeli ski experience.

Icy conditions continue to close roads near Jerusalem, while 8,000 homes still without electricity.

By Ahiya Raved

 

 

 

Even though it’s stopped snowing, it’s not all business as usual. On Monday, schools in Jerusalem, Safed, the Upper Galilee and the West Bank canceled classes and kept their doors closed for another day.

Israelis flock to Hermon (Photo: Avihu Shapira)

Israelis flock to Hermon – Photo: Avihu Shapira

Meanwhile, hundreds of skiers made their way to the Mount Hermon Monday morning, after the snow site opened to visitors. Continue Reading »

IDF shoots at 2 Lebanese soldiers on border

 

Video: Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon

‘Missing’ Lebanese soldier surfaces after Israeli killed on border.

 

 

The Lebanese soldier who reportedly went missing after opening fire at an Israeli military vehicle Sunday night on the northern border, killing an Israeli soldier, has returned to his base.

Israeli soldiers guard near the border between northern Israel and Lebanon, Monday, Dec. 16, 2013

Israeli soldiers guard near the border between northern Israel and Lebanon, Monday, Dec. 16, 2013. – Photo: AP

The Israeli soldier who was killed, Master Sgt. Sholmi Cohen, 31, was a resident of Afula, according to the Israel Defense Forces. His family has been informed of his death and his funeral will be held in Haifa at 5 P.M. Continue Reading »

Lebanese Soldier Reports for Duty After Killing IDF Soldier

The Lebanese soldier who shot dead IDF Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen spent the entire night ‘hiding in a bush’, before handing himself in this morning.

By Ari Soffer

 

 

The Lebanese soldier who shot dead IDF Master Sergeant Shlomi Cohen in an unprovoked attack Sunday evening has reportedly handed himself in to Lebanese authorities.

IDF Master Sergeant Shlomi Cohen ז”ל – Courtesy of the family

According to Lebanese media, after briefly disappearing in the aftermath of the attack and spending the night “hiding in a bush”, the unnamed soldier reported for duty at the Lebanese General Security post at the Ras al-Naqoura border crossing,  surrendering himself as the site where he committed the shooting just hours earlier. Continue Reading »

Knesset Committee okay bill mandating 2/3 majority for dividing Jerusalem

 

The proposal, by MK Ya’acov Litzman (UTJ), was accepted by the committee after being brought back to a vote because Justice Minister Tzipi Livni appealed its introduction last October.

 

 

A bill requiring a two-thirds majority in the Knesset for negotiations to divide Jerusalem was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation Sunday.

 MK Ya'acov Litzman at the Knesset - Photo: Judy Siegel-Itzkovich

MK Ya’acov Litzman at the Knesset – Photo: Judy Siegel-Itzkovich

The proposal, by MK Ya’acov Litzman (UTJ), was brought back to a vote after Justice Minister Tzipi Livni appealed it in October.

Litzman’s bill mandates that 80 MKs are necessary to authorize any negotiations with the Palestinians on whether to give up any part of Jerusalem. Continue Reading »