Archive for May 29, 2014

US Security Firm: Iranian Hackers Infect Israel Supporters from Twitter & Facebook

An American internet security firm reported Iranian hackers were actively using social media networks like Facebook & Twitter to spy on Israelis, by pretending to be their online ‘friends’.

By Yaakov Levi

 

Iranian hackers used social media networks to spy on Israelis, and supporters of Israel in the US and Britain, a report by an American security firm said Thursday. The report, by the iSight security group, said that Iranian hackers used profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media vehicles to trick Israelis and supporters of Israel to connect to unsafe links on a phony news web site, where they would be sent a virus that could sweep their computers and gather information about logins and passwords for e-mail accounts and sensitive web sites. Continue Reading »

SEEKING: Ride to the Moon for One Torah

 

The Israel based ‘Torah on the Moon’ project has commissioned the European Space Agency to carry a special capsule designed to protect the Torah for at least 10,000 years.

 

 

The European Space Agency has been commissioned to participate in a project to carry a Torah scroll to the moon, according to New Scientist magazine.

Scribe completes Torah scroll

An ultra-Orthodox scribe completing a Torah scroll. Combining all five books together revolutionized Hebrew printing. – Photo: AP

The commission, which was confirmed by the agency’s engineering arm in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, came from a Tel Aviv-based group called, appropriately, the Torah on the Moon project.

Continue Reading »

Mordechai Kedar: Israel Stands Up to Turkey – Like a Wimp

Op-Ed: Jerusalem must change its tactics vis a vis Turkey. Erdoğan is not Israel’s friend.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar

 

From the first day on which the Islamic Party gained control of the government of Turkey, Israel has attempted to pacify and reassure Erdogan,  despite that leader’s proven antagonism to Jews – in line with his extreme Islamic approach –  that was all too evident by the 1980’s. During that period, he wrote a play called “Mas-kum-ya”, an abbreviation of “The Free builders, Communists and Jews” and recently called an anti-Erdogan demonstrator “Jewish seed”, considered a most denigrating and humiliating insult in Turkey. Continue Reading »

Abbas: I expect Israel to accept upcoming Palestinian election results

 

Abbas’ comment comes as IDF soldiers order Palestinian newspaper to stop printing material by outlawed terrorist organization Hamas.

By Ben Stansall (AFP)

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that peace talks are the only way forward and that he “expects Israelis to respect the decision of Palestinians in the upcoming elections,” Israel’s Channel 2 reported Wednesday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) welcomes Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in London on May 14, 2014 – Photo: Ben Stansall / AFP

In a meeting with representatives of Israeli peace NGOs in the West Bank City of Ramallah, Abbas discussed the coming elections and how the transfer of power would be carried out. Continue Reading »

Former South African President: ‘Israel Not an Apartheid State’

 

The man who would know, former South African President de Klerk says it’s nonsensical to refer to Israel as an apartheid state.

By Israel Today Staff

 

It is wrong for anyone to refer to Israel as an apartheid state, the man who brought an end to South Africa’s apartheid regime said to Israeli media on Tuesday.

Israel Not an Apartheid State, Says the Man Who Would Know

Former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk says, “Everyone has closed boarders, also the United States has closed boarders.” – Channel 2 News screenshot.

In an interview with Channel 2 News, former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk suggested that it is nonsensical to label Israel an apartheid state simply because it has closed off the border that the world insists exists between Israel-proper and the “West Bank.” Continue Reading »

Assassination Plot Revealed After Lebanese Church Patriarch visits Israel

Lebanese daily report security forces arrested a suspect in plot to assassinate Maronite Church Patriarch Beshara Rai, who defied warnings from Hezbollah by accompanying Pope Francis on his visit to Israel.

 

The head of Lebanon’s Maronite Church, Patriarch Beshara Rai, continued his visit in Israel and toured ruins of a Maronite village near the Lebanese border on Wednesday as an assassination plot against him was reported.

Lebanese Maronite Church Patriarch Beshara Rai

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai (C) holds a cross during his visit to Birim, a northern Israeli village, May 28, 2013 – Photo: REUTERS

Lebanon’s security forces arrested a suspect who confessed to working with regional intelligence agencies in a plot to assassinate Rai, security sources told The Daily Star on Wednesday. Continue Reading »

Israeli Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Annex ‘Area C’

 

Legislation set to apply Israeli law to some 90 enclaves, but Netanyahu’s gov’t does not support measure.

Right-wing lobby says step needed after peace-talks collapsed.

By Ynet Staff

 

Right-wing MKs called on the government Wednesday to annex about 90 Jewish settlements built on West Bank land, with one of them saying it was retaliation for the collapse of peace talks with the Palestinians a month ago.

While Israel has built dozens of enclaves since capturing the land in the 1967 Six Days, it has not applied its law to the territory other than near East Jerusalem, which it annexed as part of its capital in a move never recognized internationally. Continue Reading »

Assad forces destroy Syria’s oldest Synagogue

The more than 400 yr-old Eliyahu Hanabi Synagogue was hit by a mortar shell in 2013. After Israel was established, the building was used as a school for Palestinian refugees.

By

 

A historic synagogue on the outskirts of Damascus was destroyed amid fighting in Syria’s civil war over the weekend.

Damascus synagogue destroyed

A sign at the entrance of the Damascus synagogue, taken from a Youtube video.

Opposition leaders said Syrian army forces flattened the more than 400-year-old Eliyahu Hanabi Synagogue in an attack — part of a months-long bombardment of the suburb of Jobar — and also may have destroyed thousands of Jewish artifacts, The Daily Beast reported. Continue Reading »

U.S. Seminary Girl Hit in Face by Arab Stone-Throwers in Jerusalem

In yet another Jerusalem Day Arab attack, residents in Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter reportedly throw rocks at Jewish youths, hitting a girl in the face.

By Ari Yashar

 

Arutz Sheva has received exclusive reportage on yet another violent Arab attack Tuesday on Jewish youth in the Old City of Jerusalem. Again, Jews celebrating the 47th year since the unification of the 3,000-year-old Jewish capital were targeted.

Ahuva Schwartz, a resident of Jerusalem, reports that a group of 60 Jews, mostly Israeli high school boys along with some families and American seminary student girls, met at the Kotel (Western Wall) on Tuesday night. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu: Jerusalem is Our Heart – We’ll Never Divide Our Heart

At the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Jerusalem Day celebrations said Jerusalem is Israel’s eternity.

By Elad Benari

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday night that Jerusalem is the heart of Israel and, as such, will never be divided again.

Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva

Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva – Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO

Netanyahu made the comments in a speech he gave at the annual Jerusalem Day celebrations at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva.

The celebration at Merkaz Harav is traditionally attended by the important figures of Religious Zionist rabbinic and political leadership. This year the dais included, among others, Economy Minister and Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett, Housing Minister Uri Ariel, Chief Rabbis David Lau and Yitzchak Yosef, Former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Dep. Continue Reading »

Israel flies in to rescue Ukrainian Jews stranded during fighting

 

Jewish Agency helps 2 families arrive safely in Israel who were stranded at embattled Donetsk airport in the Ukraine.

By Reuters

 

Israel’s Jewish Agency came to the rescue of two Jewish Ukranian families after rebels seized control of Donetsk airport as they were waiting to emigrate to Israel, an agency spokesman said on Tuesday.

File:El Al Boeing 737-8HX.jpg

El Al 737 – Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.

The two families, numbering six people, were stranded at the airport when it was shut down on Monday. The agency then launched a “fast-paced operation,” spokesman Avi Mayer said.

The families were driven to the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk then flown to Kiev where they boarded a plane for Tel Aviv, Mayer said. Continue Reading »

Israeli Christians Ask Israel to Rebuild its 1948 Village

 

Israel’s Maronite Christians hope to exploit the Pope’s visit to spark revival of their ancient Galilee village.

By Ryan Jones

 

Another interesting aspect of Pope Francis’ visit to the region this week involved the Maronite Church, whose Lebanon-based patriarch defied hostile Arab voices and joined the pontiff in Israel.

Israeli Christians Urge Israel to Rebuild Their Village

Ruins of the ancient synagogue at Kfar Baram – Photo source: Israel Today

The Maronite Church is part of the broader Catholic Church. It has traditionally been far less hostile toward Israel than other churches in the Middle East. That is especially true of the Maronites living in Israel, a great many of whom volunteer to serve in the IDF. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem Christian site torched mere hours after Pope’s visit

 

Arson’s fire was set at Dormition Abbey, the location of Jesus’ Last Supper & the last stop of Pope Francis’ 2-day visit to Israel.

By Reuters & Israel Hayom Staff

 

Continue Reading »

Iranian judge demands ‘Zionist CEO’ Zuckerberg’s appearance for breach of privacy

 

Iranian court opens case against Instagram & instant messaging services WhatsApp following the gov’t blocking of Twitter & YouTube.

By REUTER

 

DUBAI  – A conservative Iranian court opened a case against instant messaging services WhatsApp and Instagram while also summoning Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over complaints of privacy violation, state news agency ISNA reported on Tuesday.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg – Photo: REUTERS/Sebastien Nogier

The case underscores the growing struggle between moderate Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s drive to increase Internet freedoms and demands by the conservative judiciary for tighter controls.

The Iranian court in the southern province of Fars opened the cases against the social networks after citizens complained of breaches of privacy.

Continue Reading »

Saudi Publishing House Condemned for Translating Israeli Book

 

Saudi Arabian press house sparks storm of protest after publishing translated into Arabic book by an Israeli researcher, with critics condemning action as ‘a form of cultural normalization with the Zionist enemy.’

By Roi Kais

 

A Saudi-owned publishing house called “Madarak”, based in Dubai, sparked a torrent of outrage in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, after publishing an Arabic translation of an Israeli researcher’s book.

Cover of Professor Joshua Teitelbaum's book

Cover of Professor Joshua Teitelbaum’s book

The book, titled “Saudi Arabia and the New Strategic Landscape” was written by Prof. Joshua Teitelbaum and published in English in 2010. It deals with relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, focusing on issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Continue Reading »