Archive for April 13, 2014

Teacher at London School threatened to send Jewish student to ‘gas chambers’

Commenting on the incident at North London Collegiate School, a Community Security Trust official said, “This would be highly offensive in any circumstance, but to be directed at a (Jewish) pupil by a teacher is unheard of and makes it far worse.” 

By JTA

 

The parents of a Jewish student at an exclusive girls’ school in London are angry over an incident in which a teacher told their daughter that she would be sent “to one of your gas chambers.”

Auschwitz death showers – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The incident at North London Collegiate School occurred in January, London’s Daily Mail reported on Sunday.

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Lapid: NIS 1 billion national plan to financially assist Holocaust survivors

 

Israel’s finance minister Yair Lapid says, “The state of Israel has a historical debt to Holocaust survivors & our mission is to ease their burden in the final years of their lives.”

 

 

Finance Minister Yair Lapid announced a NIS one billion ‘National Plan to Assist Holocaust Survivors’ on Sunday.

File:Ebensee concentration camp prisoners 1945.jpg

Starved prisoners, nearly dead from hunger, pose in concentration camp in Ebensee, Austria. Ebensee was a sub-camp of the main camp ‘Mauthausen’ near the town of the same name. The camp was reputedly used for “scientific” experiments. It was liberated by the 80th Division of the U.S.

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Decline in ultra-Orthodox IDF recruitment result of Haredi Draft Law

 

 

An IDF source reports a sharp decline in Haredi enlistment to the Nahal Brigade stemming from the hostile ultra-Orthodox protests to Israel’s new Draft Law.

By Yossi Yehushua

 

Sources in the IDF expressed concern over an apparent loss of motivation for enlistment into the military’s religious brigade, Nahal. The officials noted a sharp decline in the number of haredim recruited in recent draft rounds.

Nachal Haredi  (which is a special unit for Haredis) made up mostly from Haredi yeshiva students from abroad who come to Israel to join the IDF. - Photo courtesy IDF Spokesperson's Unit

‘Nachal Haredi’ (which is a special unit for Haredis) made up mostly from Haredi yeshiva students including those from abroad who come to Israel to join the IDF. – Photo courtesy: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

“If 2013 marked a certain ease regarding the Haredi soldiers, then 2014’s public dispute about the Draft Law took us back by at least a year,” said the Nahal Haredi Organization. Continue Reading »

Award-winning ‘Son of Hamas’ documentary to be adapted to Hollywood film

 

Based on Israeli director Nadav Schirman’s Sundance-winning documentary ‘The Green Prince’, “Son of Hamas” will be made for the Silver Screen

 

 

The true story of the son of a Hamas leader who turned against his family in the service of the Shin Bet will be adapted for the silver screen.

Still from 'The Green Prince'

Still from ‘The Green Prince’. – Photo Sundance Institute

The feature film will be based on the award-winning Israeli documentary “The Green Prince,” which tells the story of Mosab Hassan Yousef – the son of a top Hamas leader who turned into an Israeli agent. Directed by Nadav Schirman, “The Green Price” clinched the Audience Award for at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

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al-Assad Livid at Syrian Rebel’s Desire of Peace with Israel

Dr. Kamal Al-Labwani advocates for Israel,  “This is what Israel wants: to distance itself from Assad, from the pact between Iran and Hezbollah, but also to prevent Al Qaeda from taking control.”

Al-Labwani also sends message to Assad not to preach to him about morality.

By Tova Dvorin

 

The calls of Syrian opposition activist Dr. Kamal Al-Labwani to make peace with Israel have caused a furor in Damascus Sunday, after he provided an interview with Israeli media and expressed support for the Jewish state.

President Bashar al-Assad – AFP photo

“We have the same enemies and similar interests,” Al-Labwani stated Friday evening, in a special interview with Walla! Continue Reading »

Peres Weibo page at ceremony in Beijing gains 50 million surfers in minutes

 

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Denmark & Norway allow male circumcision under gov’t guidelines

By JTA

 

Resisting calls to ban the non-medical circumcision of boys, the governments of Norway and Denmark have taken steps to preserve the practice’s legal status.

Health Minister Bent Høie on the podium at the Parliament in Oslo. - Photo: Thomas Winje Øijord/NTB Scanpix

Health Minister Bent Høie on the podium at the Parliament in Oslo. – Photo: Thomas Winje Øijord/NTB Scanpix

Norway’s health ministry has submitted a bill that proposes placing some limitations and fees on ritual circumcision but not banning it outright, while Denmark’s health board issued guidelines stating that the practice is legal.

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EU diplomats seek compensation for Jerusalem’s demolition of illegal E-1 structures

Belgian news service EurActiv reports that the 3 buildings that were destroyed by Israel were “partially funded” by the EU.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

European Union officials alleged on Friday that Israel demolished EU-funded housing shelters outside of Ma’aleh Adumim earlier in the week, AFP reported.

E-1 area, officially called Mevaseret Adumim, located in the Judean Desert – Screenshot

Eighteen tin huts built to house Palestinians during the unusually severe winter weather this year were “partially funded by EU member states,” according to the report.

EU officials demanded financial compensation from Israel to Brussels in response to the demolition of three of the structures, Belgian news service EurActiv reported. Continue Reading »

Low in ammo, Hamas introduces laser training

 

Developed with homegrown technology, Hamas’ quiet indoor electronic shooting-range is less likely to attract Israel Air Force’s targeting.

By Associated Press

 

GAZA CITY — In a long hallway that looks more like a videogame arcade than a military base, Hamas security forces are holding target practice using assault rifles fitted with lasers — all without firing a bullet.

(Photo: Reuters)

Palestinian laser training – Photo: Reuters

For the cash-strapped Hamas government, the system is a much-needed money saver that eliminates the need to train with live ammunition, which is in short supply in Gaza. Hamas also says the quiet, indoor facility is less likely to attract the attention of the IDF than the open-air firing ranges that are frequently targeted in airstrikes. Continue Reading »

So, What’s the latest Palestinian joke?…Check it out!

Jewish & Palestinian humor are similar according to a psychology professor, because both cultures are defined by hardship & struggle, and they turn to humor as a psychological salve.

 

Two Americans, a journalist and a psychology professor, set out in search of humor in the West Bank – and they found it, according to the Washington Post.

Adi Khalefa

Comedian Adi Khalefa. – Photo: Screenshot

“Everyone thought we were crazy when we said we were going to the Palestinian territories in search of comedy,” wrote Joel Warner and Peter McGraw. “You mean the war-torn region that’s been under Israeli occupation for decades? Continue Reading »

Jewish American Jailed in Cuba Ends 8-Day Hunger Strike

Alan Gross, a U.S. contractor convicted and imprisoned in Cuba, ends his hunger strike on the 8th day after a phone conversation with his mother.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

U.S. contractor Alan Gross ended an eight-day hunger strike Friday to press for his release from prison in Cuba, AFP reported.

U.S. aid contractor Alan Gross and his wife Judy – Reuters

Gross moved to end his protest after a telephone conversation with his mother, who will turn 92 years old on Tuesday, according to defense attorney Scott Gilbert.

“My protest fast is suspended as of today,” Gross said in a statement dictated from his Havana prison to Gilbert, according to AFP. Continue Reading »

Bayit Yehudi head Bennett promises to quit coalition if Israeli-Arab terrorists freed

 

Bayit Yehudi holds faction meeting & confirms party’s commitment to send Israel to elections should gov’t authorize release of convicted Israeli-Arab terrorists as part of US demand to just continue talks with Palestinians.

By Moran Azulay & Attila Somfalvi

 

Bayit Yehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett reiterated Friday that his party would send Israel to elections if the government decided to free Palestinian prisoners, namely a group of Israeli-Arab terrorists, as part of attempts to salvage peace talks, after the party held a faction meeting.

Bayit Yehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett

Bayit Yehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett – CNN YouTube screenshot

Meanwhile, political sources within the Likud hinted some of the more rightist members in the party would also quit should such a deal pass. Continue Reading »

Switzerland registers ‘State of Palestine’ as Signatory of Geneva Conventions

In Abbas’ latest move to gain legitimacy, Switzerland agreed to sign ‘Palestine’s’ request on to the Geneva Conventions.

By AFP and Arutz Sheva Staff

 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has signed up formally to the Geneva Conventions, which set down the rules of warfare and humanitarian operations in conflict zones, the treaties’ guardian Switzerland confirmed Friday.

Mahmoud Abbas – Reuters

Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger told AFP that the PA had declared itself party to the conventions on April 2. The PA was registered formally by Switzerland on Thursday, he added.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas unilaterally applied to join 15 international conventions and treaties late last week. Continue Reading »

Anti-Semitic Libels Promoted in New UN Report by Under-Secretary-General

 

Newly appointed UN shamelessly promotes the most vile anti-Semitic blood libels about Israel.

By David Lazarus

 

The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), which was established to aid development in the Arab world, has published a new report targeting a nation that does not fall under its jurisdiction – Israel. Nevertheless, this official UN agency, which received over 88 million dollars in allocations last year, has a lot to say about the Jewish state.

New UN Report Promotes Anti-Semitic Libels

Rima Khalaf, a national of Jordan, was appointed as Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia ESCWA by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

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Britain’s Labor leader Miliband shows support for ‘the homeland of the Jewish people’

 

Grandson of Holocaust survivor who fled to Israel, visiting UK Labor leader Miliband says Jewish state is “a huge, huge success story.”

By NAAMA BARAK

 

 

UK Labor leader Ed Miliband arrived in Israel early Thursday for a three-day tour. On the same day he devoted an hour to answering wide-ranging questions from students and guests at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Britain's leader of the opposition Labour party Ed Miliband - Photo: REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Britain’s leader of the opposition Labour party Ed Miliband – Photo: REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

The session was friendly and informal, with the British opposition leader answering questions about his football preferences – a “long-suffering Leeds United fan” – and asking for details about felafel joints in London.

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