February 2014 Archives

Palestinian Water Consumption the Same as Others in Arab World

Israel’s Minister of Int’l Relations says EU Parliament chief made a serious error but goes on to emphasizes that Schulz is still a good friend of Israel.

By Gil Ronen

Yuval Steinitz, who is Minister of Intelligence, International Relations and Strategic Affairs, said Thursday that European Parliament President Martin Schulz made “a serious error” in his address to the Knesset Wednesday.

Schultz quoted Palestinian incitement without even checking its veracity, Steinitz told Voice of Israel public radio.

Regarding the differences in water consumption between Israelis and Palestinian Authority (PA) residents, Steinitz said that the consumption in the PA is similar to the average in the Arab world and should not be compared to the average consumption in Israel, where the standard of living is higher. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: EU, water, Yuval Steinitz

Muslim MK May Face Legal Action After Threatening Christian in Knesset

Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum seeks legal action against MK Hanin Zoabi for threatening its representative during Knesset committee meeting last week.

By Israel Today Staff

A Muslim member of Israel’s Knesset, the outspoken and controversial Hanin Zoabi, is facing possible legal action after she issued a thinly-veiled threat against a Christian representative addressing the Knesset’s Labor, Welfare and Health Committee last week.

Muslim MK Faces Possible Legal Action For Threatening Christian

Muslim member of Israel’s Knesset Hanin Zoabi – Photo source: Israel Today

Shadi Haloul, spokesman for the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum that encourages young local Christians to join the Israeli army and integrate with Jewish society, was invited by the committee to speak on behalf of the growing number of Christians who want to be recognized as a minority separate from the Arabs. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Christians-Muslims, Hanin Zoabi, Israeli Christians, Knesset

MK Ayelet Shaked seeking a reduction in inequality

Knesset Member Ayelet Shaked is focusing her sights on integrating the ultra-Orthodox community into Israel’s workforce.

By Yehuda Shlezinger, Gideon Allon

Habayit Hayehudi MK Ayelet Shaked, the head of the Knesset’s Special Committee for the Equal Sharing of the Burden, responded on Tuesday to criticism committee’s bill.

Habayit Hayehudi MK Ayelet Shaked – Photo: Dudi Vaaknin

Shaked said the bill would not bring about complete equal sharing of the burden. “It is not a law of equality, but it is meant to reduce the inequality,” Shaked told Israel Hayom in an interview.

Shaked said targets for enlisting ultra-Orthodox men into military and civil service — some 5,200 men according to proposals in the new law — are no different than what is actually happening in reality. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Ayelet Shaked, IDF, Knesset

Lebanon Distracted From Local Violence by Topless Photos of Lebanese Olympic Skier

Topless photos and YouTube clip of Lebanese Olympic skier is causing a national scandal back home.

By Aryn Baker/ Beirut

Topless photos and racy video footage of Lebanese Olympic Skier Jackie Chamoun have gone viral in Lebanon, prompting a potential government inquiry just days before the Olympic veteran is due to compete in the women’s giant Slalom in Sochi. But government claims that the revealing footage may have damaged Lebanon’s “reputation” have precipitated an enormous backlash in a country that has suffered far worse than the publication of images that wouldn’t look out of place in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Lebanon, Olympics

US int’l law professor top candidate replacement as new UNHRC special rapporteur

Prof. Christina Cerna is seen as likely replacement for Richard Falk, the UN rapporteur on human rights council for the Palestinian territories.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

The leading candidate to replace UN investigator on human rights in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk, is American international law professor Christina Cerna, the Human Rights Council announced on Wednesday.

OVERVIEW OF the Human Rights Council at the UNHRC – UN Photo/Pierre Albouy

It published a short list of three candidates, which it whittled down first from ten and then from five. The other two candidates on the short list are Christine Mary Chinkin of the United Kingdom and John Cerone also from the US. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: UNHRC

Coca-Cola Israel investigated on anti-trust charges

Coca-Cola charged with cross-promoting their Tara Dairy products by making attractive soft-drink discounts, subject to purchasing Tara products.

By Adi Dovrat-Meseritz

Category: Israel News | Tags: Buisness, Coca-Cola, Israel crime

Israelis stunned to find Nazi paraphernalia sold in Bulgarian tourist shops

An Israeli traveling in a Bulgarian town was shocked to find gift shop mugs with swastikas and Hitler’s picture.

By Michal Margalit

An Israeli traveling in Bulgaria was shocked to find mugs carrying the picture of Adolf Hitler and decorated with swastikas in a souvenir shop in a ski resort. She later realized the shop was not only one carrying the Nazi paraphernalia, and found similar trinkets in other shops on the same street.

Mugs on sale in Bulgarian store – Photo: Janna Kushnir

On the final day of their five-day trip, the mother and son entered a gift shop in the town’s main street and were surprised to find the mugs with swastikas and Hitler’s picture offered for sale, stacked near cosmetic items and various trinkets. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: anti-Semitism, Bulgaria, Nazi

Gaza patients denied entry into Israel over ‘State of Palestine’ letterhead

IDF official says Israel denied entry to 50 Palestinians because unrecognized paperwork were marked ‘State of Palestine’.

Urgent cases were allowed entry into Israel.

By Reuters

Israel has denied entry permits to some 50 Palestinian medical patients from the Gaza Strip because the words “State of Palestine” appears on the letterhead of their application, officials said on Wednesday.

Palestinian patient who was denied access to Israel.

Suhad al-Katib, a Palestinian woman patient who suffers cancer sits inside her house after she was not allowed to enter Israel, in Gaza City February 12, 2014.- Photo: Reuters

Israel does not recognize a Palestinian state, whose creation it says should stem from peace negotiations. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Gaza, hamas, Medical, Palestine, politics

Lebanon Arrests Palestinian Al Qaeda Leader

Terrorist Naim Abbas, the Palestinian leader of am Al Qaeda-linked group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, was arrested by the Lebanese army after setting a car bomb.

By Tova Dvorin

The Lebanese Army arrested a senior Al Qaeda leader Wednesday – Naim Abbas, who is the deputy chief of the Al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

A Lebanese soldier stands at the site of a car bombing in Beirut, Aug. 16 – Photo: Reuters

“After he came out of the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilwen near Sidon in the south, the army intelligence in Beirut made the arrest of Naim Abbas, who is being questioned under the supervision of the judiciary,” the Lebanese army said, in an official statement. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: al-Qaeda, Lebanon, Palestinian Arabs

Israel to build 9-story yeshiva in East Jerusalem

Plans for a 9-story Jewish ultra-Orthodox seminary to be built in Jerusalem’s densely-populated Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, were submitted today.

By i24news – AFP

Jerusalem’s planning committee moved forwards on Wednesday with plans to build a nine-story Jewish seminary in the heart of a densely-populated Palestinian neighborhood near the Old City.

Israel's controversial separation barrier surrounds the Ras Khamis neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, on November 12, 2013 ( Ahmad Gharabli (AFP) )

Plans for the new tower block, to be built in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Arab east Jerusalem, were deposited for consultation, giving the public 60 days to submit any objections, settlement watchdog Peace Now said.

“It’s a plan for a nine-story, ultra-Orthodox yeshiva in Sheikh Jarrah which was deposited today for objections,” spokesperson Lior Amihai told AFP. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Jerusalem, Jewish construction, new construction

Again! Authorities discover more Nazi appropriated art in Gurlitt’s 2nd home

60 additional works of art were found by police in Cornelius Gurlitt’s 2nd home, this one in Austria.

Suspicion: As in first find, most were taken from Jewish families by the Nazis during World War II.

By Eli Leon

After discovering over 1,400 artworks worth $1.35 billion that disappeared during World War II in a Munich apartment — German authorities did not think they would find anymore masterpieces in the possession of Cornelius Gurlitt — the son of an art dealer who worked with the Nazis during the war.

Gurlitt apartment in Salzburg – Photo: GettyImages

But life is full of surprises and it was reported Tuesday that the 81-year-old Gurlitt was holding 60 additional works — including paintings by the acclaimed Picasso, Renoir and Monet — in a second home in Salzburg, Austria. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: Austria, Germany, Holocaust, Jewish World, Nazis

Jordanian MP: Secret ‘Right of Return’ deal excludes Palestinians with dual citizenship

Jordanian lawmaker Mohammad al-Qatatsha says U.S. Secretary of State Kerry’s proposed guidelines include secret terms, not conducive to Palestinian desires.

By Ynetnews

The proposed American framework agreement has secret terms, one of which determines that Palestinians who have foreign nationalities are ineligible for the right of return, a Jordanian lawmaker told Palestinian news agency Ma’an on Wednesday.

King Abdullah II (right) and (left) U.S Secretary of State John Kerry – Photo source: Google

US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Jordanian King Abdullah II on Monday to discuss the peace process and update him on the details of the negotiations. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: Peace Process

Disney Boots Arabic’s Donald Duck over hateful anti-Israel tweet

Egyptian voice-over personality says he’s proud to be fired over his Tweet calling for Israel’s destruction.

By Haaretz

A tweet calling for the destruction of Israel cost an Egyptian voice-over artist his job with Walt Disney, as the voice of the Arabic version of Donald Duck.

Donald Duck. – Photo: Dreamstime

“Disney decided I am no longer the official voice of Donald Duck in its middle-east dubbed cartoons because of an anti-Zionism tweet,” Wael Mansour, a radio personality and a voice artist from Cairo tweeted on February 6, adding that he was “Proud!” of the punishment.

Disney dropped Mansour after he tweeted statements hostile to Israel last August. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: anti-Israel, anti-Israel Propaganda, Walt Disney

MKs Walk Out On EU President’s Anti-Israel Knesset Speech

EU Parliament chief Martin Schulz’s speech caused a walk-out as he repeated PA claims on water discrimination and the Gaza ‘blockade.’

By Maayana Miskin

A speech in Knesset Wednesday given by the head of the European Union Parliament caused outrage, and ultimately sparked a walk-out.

Several MKs expressed upset as EU parliament president Martin Schulz, who spoke in German, repeated as fact Palestinian Authority claims of Israeli discrimination regarding allocation of water in Judea and Samaria, and of a “blockade” on Gaza.

Schulz condemned Israeli “settlements” east of the 1949 armistice line as “an obstacle to peace,” and claimed, “The blockade of Gaza creates despair and extremism.” Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags: Israel EU, Jewish Home Party