The IDF has observed a rise in the number of Christian-Arab Israelis enlisting in the IDF this year.
Elinor Joseph, was born 1991 into a Christian family from the Arab village of Jish, is the first Arab woman ever to serve in a combat role in the I.D.F. – Photo: IDF Spokesperson Unit
Since June, 84 Christians have volunteered the military, representing a spike in the recruitment rate, which has averaged 50 new annual recruits in past years. Continue Reading »
The Media Line, by Diana Atallah
A group of 29 Palestinian journalists in Gaza have united to form “Fish,” an independent coalition seeking to revolutionize their local media. The group took its name, which also means “doesn’t exist” in Arabic, from the most important job for journalists: fishing for news.
Al-Jazeera television network logo – AFP file
Fish’s members say they hope to create a media landscape without boundaries or bias, and to move the traditional news culture away from routine, repetition and staleness. Continue Reading »
By Haaretz
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his holiday blessings to the Christian citizens of Israel on Tuesday, in which he stressed the importance of the community’s contribution to the Israel Defense Forces – accidentally stopping just short of uttering the word “Jewish” state.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu
The video, released on the prime minister’s official channel, was widely distributed to Christian communities around the country. Calling them “loyal citizens”, Netanyahu commended the efforts of those active in recruiting Christians citizens to serve in the army. Continue Reading »
In the latest attack in what MK Yoni Chetboun (Jewish Home) has termed “trickling terror,” two Arab residents of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya ran over a police officer who stopped them following a car chase Tuesday night.
The driver had ignored police orders to stop while driving near Issawiya. In the ensuing car chase a police car managed to stop the car at the southern entrance to the neighborhood. Continue Reading »
By Israel Today Staff
A Christian community leader and researcher from the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Sahour provided journalists with a very candid explanation for the exodus of Christians from the birthplace of Jesus: encroaching Muslim extremism.
Bethlehem Christian Blames Islam, Not Israel, for Dwindling Numbers – Photo source: Israel Today
While most public figures among the Palestinian Arab Christian community will without blinking an eye blame Israel for all their woes, Samir Qumsieh, who operates a small local TV station, says these Christian leaders are “cowards” who are either deceived or compelled into toeing the line of the official Palestinian narrative. Continue Reading »
By JTA
Two more American institutions of higher learning officially withdrew their memberships from the American Studies Association after its membership voted in favor of an academic boycott of Israel.
Kenyon College & Indiana University joined Brandeis University to condemn Boycott – Photo: U.S. News
Kenyon College and Indiana University on Monday joined Brandeis University and Penn State Harrisburg in canceling their memberships in the association. Dozens of other universities also have condemned the ASA boycott, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Cornell, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of Maryland and New York University.
In the frantic “arms race” between bacteria and modern medicine, bacteria have gained an edge. In recent decades, bacterial resistance to antibiotics has developed faster than the production of new antibiotics, making bacterial infections increasingly difficult to treat. Scientists worry that a particularly virulent and deadly “superbug” could one day join the ranks of existing untreatable bacteria, causing a public health catastrophe comparable with the Black Death.
Bacteria spheres 3d illustration – Photo: Bigstock
Now research led by Doctor Udi Qimron of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine has discovered a protein that kills bacteria.
All eyes were on the Palestinian terrorist factions, to see how they would respond on Tuesday evening, after the IDF launched a large-scale retaliation in Gaza, to an unprovoked Palestinian cross-border sniper attack that killed a young Defense Ministry employee.
Israel Air Force F15I. Its Hebrew nickname is ‘Ra’am’ (‘Thunder’). – Photo courtesy: IDF Spokesperson Unit
The attack marked Israel’s first casualty from Gazan terrorism since the end of Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012.
By Maayana Miskin
Deputy Speaker of Knesset Hamad Amar (Likud) has come out with a strong response to an article by MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra’am Ta’al) accusing Israel of racism.
Amar not only defended Israel’s record of providing equal rights to all its citizens, but slammed Tibi and other Israeli Arab politicians, accusing them of hurting, not helping, Israel’s Arab minority.
“Perhaps more than anyone else, Tibi represents all that is wrong with parts of the Israeli Arab leadership,” Amar wrote in a post to Congress Blog. Continue Reading »
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have for the first time worked out how even non-antibiotic resistant bacteria survive antibiotic treatment. The study, which was published this week in the journal Nature Communications, could pave the way for improved therapies for treating bacterial infection.
A petri dish with bacteria culture (illustrative) – Photo: Dreamstime
The problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics has preoccupied many scientists for years. Aside from bacteria that have undergone mutations, making them resistant to antibiotics, another kind of bacterium exists as well, which is inherently unaffected by antibiotic treatment, called “persistent bacteria.” Continue Reading »
And the EU continues transferring money to Abbas’ Palestinian Authority
By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
November 2013
December 2013:
Head of Prisoners’ Club: Government workers and prisoners’ salaries are paid together “What is disbursed to the prisoners is exactly what is disbursed to me and you [a PA civil servant]. Continue Reading »
Academic freedom is the freedom of university faculty responsibly to produce and disseminate knowledge through research, teaching, and service, without undue constraint.
It is a principle that should not be abridged by political considerations. American colleges and universities, as well as like institutions elsewhere, must stand as the first line of defense against attacks on academic freedom.
By JTA
The Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities issued a statement opposing a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The statement dated Dec. 20 came a week after the membership of the American Studies Association in an online vote endorsed its national council’s call for a boycott of Israeli universities.
A civilian employee of the IDF was killed by a Palestinian gun attack on the Gaza – Israel border on Tuesday. He was identified as Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, 22, from Rahat.
IDF medics at the scene of the shooting on the northern Gaza border, December 24, 2013. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The IAF attacked targets in Gaza in response for the shooting, Israel Radio reported. Continue Reading »
By Itamar Eichner
Israel is continuing to improve its relations with Turkey, increasing the quota on the number of Turkish foreign workers in the country.
The social-financial cabinet made a decision recently, which until now has been kept in a low profile, that will raise the number of Turkish foreign workers in the construction industry in Israel to 1,200 from 800.
Turkey also agreed to let Israeli airlines land in Turkey with armed security guards. There has also been progress in settling the policy for compensating victims from the Marmara flotilla. Continue Reading »
The Latin Patriach of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal, is expected to use his Midnight Mass sermon to criticize Israel’s continued construction of settlements in the West bank, Sky News reported on Tuesday.
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal leads a mass as part of the International Day of Faith celebration on Mount Precipice, near the northern Israeli town of Nazareth, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013. – Photo: AP
According to the report, the Holy Land’s top Roman Catholic cleric will likely brand settlements an obstacle to regional stability when he addresses pilgrims at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity on Tuesday night.