February 2014 Archives

UAE Islamic organization issues fatwa against travel to Mars

After hearing of Mars One announcement of future missions to Mars, UAE state-run Muslim authority issues fatwa saying traveling to Mars akin to suicide.

Ynet

A Muslim organization in the United Arab Emirates has issued a fatwa barring followers of Islam from living on Mars, according to a Wednesday report in the British newspaper the Daily Mail.

NASA’s newest Mars rover, Curiosity, before pulling off a flawless landing on the Martian soil. – Image: NASA JPL-Caltech

The fatwa was issued after Mars One, a Netherlands-based non-profit which aims to colonize the red planet, announced that it will build a colony for four people on Earth’s nearest neighbor by 2025. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: Mars, space

After Spanish law for exiled Jewish return, Muslims demand equal status

Spanish Muslims say: New law should include all those expelled, otherwise Spain’s decision is ‘selective, if not racist.’

By JTA

Spanish Muslims are urging their government to grant citizenship to descendants of Muslims who were expelled from Spain, following a bill granting that right to Jews whose ancestors were forced to leave during the Inquisition.

Spanish passport

The demand was made this week in a statement by the Association for Historical Legacy of Al-Andalus, the Spanish news agency EFE reported on February 17.

“The Spanish state should grant the same rights to all those who were expelled, otherwise their decision is selective, if not racist,” Bayi Loubaris, the association’s president, told EFE.

Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: anti-Semitism, Jewish World, Muslims, Sephardic, Spain

Church Leaders Reject BDS Boycott After Tour in Soda Stream Factory

American delegates from the Presbyterian Church, which formally endorsed boycotting Israel, change their minds after viewing up close the West Bank Soda Stream factory.

By Maayana Miskin

A delegation of 14 leaders from the Presbyterian clergy, a church that in the past supported boycotting Israeli products manufactured in Judea and Samaria (Shomron), arrived last week to visit Israel.

Presbyterian delegates – Photo: Courtesy of AIFL

The visit was organized by the America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL); the delegates’ goal was to discover Israel personally and to better understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Representatives from the Presbyterian Church, which has an estimated six million followers, visited the Soda Stream factory which is located in Maaleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: BDS, Israel boycott, Judea and Samaria boycott, Presbyterian Church, SodaStream

Jerusalem strengthening ties with China

Israel’s special delegation headed by NSC chief Yossi Cohen will visit Beijing in the coming weeks, to hold strategic dialogue with Chinese leaders.

Current Israel-China relationship is based predominantly on bilateral trade.

By Shlomo Cesana

A special delegation headed by National Security Council chief Yossi Cohen will leave for China in the coming weeks to hold a strategic dialogue with Chinese officials.

National Security Council chief Yossi Cohen

Political sources said Tuesday that while Israel’s unique relationship with the United States was invaluable, Israel cannot ignore China’s growing standing as a world power and the subsequent need to reinforce Jerusalem’s ties with Beijing.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel China

Anti-Israel NGOs supported by EU funding spark calls for reform by MEPs

Israel based NGO Monitor, presents EU funding bias to Members of the European Parliament.

Sarah Ludford, a British MEP says, “To have EU money supporting the BDS agenda is shooting ourselves in the foot.”

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

The Jerusalem-based organization NGO Monitor delivered a presentation on Tuesday to members of the European Parliament, which outlined irregular funding practices for EU funded NGOs in the Middle East, including organizations that seek to delegitimize Israel.

GERALD STEINBERG – Photo: NGO MONITOR

Speaking from Brussels, Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO monitor, told The Jerusalem Post that a “highly disproportionate number of NGOs are focused on the Israel-Palestinian conflict… more so than any other part of the world.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: European Parliament, NGO, NGO Monitor

U.S. St. Dept.: Saeb Erekat’s threats aimed at Israel are detrimental to negotiations

US State Dept. officials disappointed with chief Palestinian negotiator’s recent comments that the Palestinians will seek global economic boycott of Israel if peace talks should flounder.

By Yitzhak Benhorin

US government officials expressed concern over comments made by Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator, who recently threatened to promote economic boycott on Israel.

Saeb Erekat – Photo: AFP

“We are of course concerned about the recent comments by Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat,” said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

US officials hinted that Kerry is to raise the issue of Erekat’s comments during his meeting in Paris with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Peace Process, peace talks, State Department

Israel signs $500 million natural gas export deal with Jordan

This is the1st export deal from the Tamar field off Israel’s coast, supplying natural gas over 15 years to 2 separate Jordanian companies.

By Eran Azran and Reuters

The partners in the Tamar natural gas field off Israel’s Mediterranean coast signed their first export deal, to sell at least $500 million of gas over 15 years to two Jordanian companies.

The platform at the Tamar offshore gas field. – Photo: Albatross

Under the agreement, Tamar will supply 66 billion cubic feet of gas a year to Arab Potash and its unit, Jordan Bromine – a joint venture with U.S.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel economy, Leviathan gas field, Noble Energy, Tamar Gas Field

Kerry: Jewish Evictions from West Bank May Not be Required

John Kerry suggests that Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, in a future peace agreement, may not be evicted from their homes.

By Elad Benari

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is trying to push Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to sign a peace agreement, is hinting that Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria may not be evicted from their homes when an agreement is signed.

John Kerry – Reuters

In an interview with journalist Ilana Dayan on Channel 2, Kerry was asked what will be the personal price that residents of Judea and Samaria will have to pay for peace. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel settlements, John Kerry, Judea and Samaria, Peace Process

One comment

Sheikh Aladoan of Jordan: ‘Israel Belongs to the Jews!’

Sheikh Ahmed Aladoan teaches that in the Koran, “there is no name ‘Palestine’ for this land, and therefore, the Arabs should not be fighting the Jews over control of this land.”

By Yossi Aloni

Sheikh Ahmed Aladoan of Amman, a member of Jordan’s well-known Adwan tribe, posted to Facebook this week that there is no such place as “Palestine,” and provided references from the Koran to back up his assertion.

Sheikh Ahmed Aladoan of Amman (in middle) – Screenshot Ynet clip

One of the Koranic verses provided states that Allah gave the Holy Land to the sons of Israel until the Day of Judgment (Surah Al-Ma’ida, verse 21), and the other (Surah Al-Shara’a, verse 59) says that the land was bequeathed to the Jews. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: pro-Israel

103 stolen Torah scrolls found in Russia by Hungarian Rabbi

Rabbi Slomo Koves reported that he has uncovered, in a library in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, 103 stolen Torah scrolls from Hungarian Jews during World War II.

Rabbi Koves told a press conference in a Budapest synagogue that he has initiated talks with Russia about the return of the scrolls.

By Reuters & Israel Hayom Staff

A Hungarian rabbi said on Tuesday he had uncovered 103 Torah scrolls stolen from Hungarian Jews during World War II and stashed in a Russian library, adding he planned to restore and return them to the Jewish community.

Rabbi Baruch Oberlander shows media how a Torah is used in a synagogue during a news conference in Budapest on Tuesday – Photo: Reuters

Slomo Koves, chief rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation, said he had found the scrolls while following up a previous recovery of Hungarian war loot in the Lenin Scientific Library in Nizhny Novgorod, 420 kilometers (260 miles) east of Moscow.

Category: Israel News, The Diaspora | Tags: Torah

Breakthrough in Knesset committee makes way for vote on Haredi IDF service

Israel’s TV 2: Shaked committee members strike deal on age of enlistment for ultra-Orthodox and criminal sanctions for draft evaders.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Knesset members in the committee charged with hammering out legislation that would mandate the military enlistment of ultra-Orthodox youngsters reached an agreement late Tuesday night that seemingly paves the way for the legislation to be enacted.

Haredi protest IDF, Jerusalem, February 6, 2014 Photo: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM

According to Channel 2, the Shaked Committee, which was tasked with finding a formula that would ensure mandatory military service for haredim while also taking into account the need to maintain a religious lifestyle that would allow for Torah study, came to an agreement on the two main issues thought to be holding up a deal: criminal sanctions for draft-dodgers, and the age of conscription. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: haredi draft, Israel Politics, Knesset

Gallup Poll: 72% of Americans view Israel favorably

Annual Gallup survey finds Israel the most positively viewed Mideast nation among Americans, up from 66% in 2013.

Iran ranks lowest at 9%.

By Ynetnews

A new poll by Gallup shows that 72 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Israel, up from 66 percent last year.

The annual Gallup World Affairs poll, conducted from February 6-9, also shows a relatively stable perception among Americans of Israel and seven other “important” Middle East countries – Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia and Libya.

The positive view of Egypt and the Palestinian Authority also increased by small margins. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: poll

Presbyterians reject their church’s anti-Zionist study guide

The Church’s guide, ‘Zionism Unsettled,’ proposes that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is fueled by a ‘pathology inherent in Zionism.’

By JTA

Presbyterians who engage in dialogue with Jewish groups are scrambling to undo what they say is the damage caused by a congregational study guide assailing Zionism distributed by a group affiliated with their denomination.

The 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on Thursday, July 5, 2012.

People listen to a session of the 220th General Assembly (2012) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on Thursday, July 5, 2012, in Pittsburgh. Photo: AP

The guide, “Zionism Unsettled,” posits that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is fueled by a “pathology inherent in Zionism” and rejects theologies — Christian and Jewish — that uphold Zionism.

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: Presbyterian Church, Zionism

IDF Radio Report: White House Demands Settlement Freeze

US negotiation team is set to force Israel to stop selling housing to Jews outside the recognized large settlement blocs, according to IDF Radio.

By Gil Ronen

The US team in the negotiations for peace between Israel and the “Palestinians” has demanded that Israel agree to an “informal” freeze of settlement activity outside the large settlement blocs, according to IDF Radio. The freeze will go into effect immediately after the signing of a framework agreement.

Israel will have to commit not to approve plans for housing, or market housing units, outside the large Jewish population concentrations in Judea and Samaria. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: construction freeze, housing, peace talks