Archive for December 16, 2014
Palestinian killed after throwing IED at IDF soldiers in Qalandiya
IDF forces responded by return-fire after encountering scores of Palestinians shooting & throwing improvised explosive devices at them when unit entered refugee camp to arrest wanted suspect.
By Yoav Zitun
IDF forces killed a Palestinian Tuesday morning and lightly wounded another during a violent confrontation in the Qalandiya refugee camp north of Jerusalem.

Rioting Palestinians [file] – Photo: AP
According to the IDF, the soldiers returned fire, killing one of the Palestinians who had thrown the devices and wounding another. Continue Reading »
Palestinian Ambassador to UN: We’ll Join ICC to Prosecute Israel
The Palestinian’s UN envoy addressed the member-states declaring that PA leadership plans on joining the ICC “at an appropriate time.”
The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) UN envoy, Riyad Mansour, told member-states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a first address on Monday that the Palestinians plan to join the ICC “at an appropriate time.”

Riyad Mansour – Reuters
Mansour made the address after the PA was given the status of observer state to the assembly of states parties to the ICC. The PA has yet to formally apply to join the 122-member court.
“The time to join will be decided by our leadership at an appropriate time,” Mansour said, according to the AFP news agency.
Analysis: After 4 full years of ‘Arab Spring’, nothing is blooming
This current phase in Mid-East history is dark, with so much suffering, blood & pain, having many saying the results of the Arab Spring have only been devastating & negative.
By Ksenia Svetlova
Al-Qaida on the Israeli-Syrian border, the fanatics of the Islamic state running their own mini-Caliphate in Syria and Iraq, Libyan weapons streaming into Africa and Middle East, beheadings from Raqqa to Sinai and many, many shattered dreams of a better future – this is the picture of the Middle East four years since the start of the phenomenon known as the Arab Spring.

Tahrir Square demonstration in Cairo, August 2011- Photo: AFP
The wave of Arab revolutions began in flames with Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi burning himself to death (on December 17, 2010), and as time goes by the flames rise higher. Continue Reading »
Israel’s PM Salutes Christian IDF Soldiers, Proclaiming ‘We Are Brothers!’
Netanyahu attends pre-Christmas gathering in Nazareth, thanking the local Christians for seeking to bind their future to that of Israel’s.
By Ryan Jones
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday told a pre-Christmas gathering of Christians in Nazareth that they and the Jews are brothers, and that Israel will never cease to defend Christians against the forces that seek to harm and destroy them.

PM Netanyahu meets Gabriel Nadaf, Aug. 2013 – Reuters
The gathering was organized by the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum, whose spiritual leader, Father Gabriel Naddaf, was singled out repeatedly by Netanyahu for his untiring efforts to encourage young Christians to join the Israeli army and fully integrate with Israeli society.
Israel’s Security Services thwart Tel Aviv suicide bombing attack – 5 Arabs Arrested
Shin Bet reports plot how highly motivated Palestinian woman from Jenin, assisted by 4 men from Tulkarm, plotted to dress up as pregnant Jewish woman to carry out suicide attack in Tel Aviv.
By Lilach Shoval & Israel Hayom Staff
The suspects include Jenin resident Yasmin Sha’aban, who was the designated suicide bomber. She planned to wear an explosive belt hidden under her clothes while disguised as a pregnant Jewish woman. Sha’aban intended to obtain an entry permit into Israel for medical reasons and use it to carry out a suicide attack in the Tel Aviv area.

A security checkpoint Sign says: “Stop, For Security Check” [Illustrative] – Photo: Michel Dot Com
The other four suspects are all men who reside in the Tulkarm area. Continue Reading »
US Affiliate of Israeli Solar Company to Build Solar Field In America’s South
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, “This is the 20th year that Georgia has had a trade relationship with Israel, which has been proven to be successful for both sides.”
The US affiliate of Israeli solar company Energiya won a $30 million contract to build a 17.68 megawatt solar field in southeast Georgia. It will be the first utility level solar field in that part of the state.
The 79-acre field will be constructed in Glynn County, Georgia and is expected to be interconnected by the last day of 2015. The power purchase agreement with the Georgia Power company promised 20 years of power.
German Media Reports Warships Being Built For Israel
German newspaper reports Merkel gov’t helping to finance 4 new warships for Israeli navy in €1 billion deal, as defense cooperation between Germany & Israel strengthening.
By Eldad Beck, Berlin
Israel is buying four ships from Germany with a total value of one billion euros, German newspaper Bild am Sontag reported Sunday, claiming possession of a leaked official memo, and Berlin will contribute a significant amount of funding. The project will be funded largely by Israel, but the German government plans to invest 115 million euros in the construction project.

President Rivlin onboard the Tanin, a German-made sub sold to Israel.
Israel Police Arrest 8 Arabs in Jerusalem Behind Online Incitement Campaign
8 Arab extremists arrested in Jerusalem in Israel Police’s largest operation of its kind against online incitement of racial hatred & violence.
By Arutz Sheva Staff
Israeli police said Monday that eight Arab residents of Jerusalem have been arrested for inciting anti-Jewish violence in postings on the Internet.
The spokesman said one of the suspects had posted a picture of himself with an M16 assault rifle. Such postings had resulted in “many messages of support on Facebook,” he said.
Israeli high-tech maybe exiting itself to death for quick profits
An Israeli expert on technology transfer to foreigners warns of long term harm by Israeli startups that sells new technologies for a quick buck.
By Monika Rozalska
There are more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups in Israel, making it the largest startup hub in the world in proportion to its population. Israel also has the highest venture dollar/GDP ratio in the world, seven times higher than in the US.
David Artzi, former head of Israel Aerospace Industries – Photo: i24news
Counter-Suicide-Terrorism Survey Supports Israeli House Demolitions Deters Terrorists
Study performed by prestigious int’l political journal finds that contrary to the popular condemnations, Israel’s controversial security measure did save lives.
By Israel Today Staff
Israel takes a lot of flak for demolition the houses of Palestinian terrorists who carried out successful attacks against Israelis. But a new survey by a respected international journal found that the policy had been successful, and, therefore, had saved many lives.

Israel Police stand by building demolition – Image source: Israel Today
Appearing in the latest issue of the Journal of Politics, the study titled “Counter-Suicide-Terrorism: Evidence from House Demolitions” was jointly prepared by researchers at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Northwestern University in Chicago. Continue Reading »
Senate allocates $350 million for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense
VP Joe Biden said that since Obama became president, the U.S. has transferred Israel $17 billion in military defense aid. The U.S. allocates $3 billion in aid annually.
By Yoni Hirsch
The U.S. Senate approved the 2015 defense budget on Friday, which includes $350 million in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket system.

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket system will receive $350 million in aid from the U.S. in 2015 [Archive] – Photo: AP
The budget was passed with 89 votes in favor and only 11 opposed. Beyond the financing for Iron Dome, the new defense budget includes $64 billion in funding for military operations outside of the U.S., Continue Reading »
Israel Air Force Monitors Hamas UAV Over Gaza’s Sky
According to an Israeli source, Israel’s Air Force was prepared to deal with any threat, but their jets returned to base after command realized there was no threat to Israeli territory.
By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS
The IDF scrambled jets to the Gaza border on Sunday after Hamas flew a drone into the air during a military rally to mark 27 years since the founding of the Islamist organization.
Hamas drone at a military rally in Gaza – Photo: al-Qassam Brigades Arabic website
The drone, which Hamas claims was built in Gaza, and upon which was written “Kassam Brigades,” the name of the group’s military wing, did not cross the border into Israel. Continue Reading »
Israel Embassy initiative in Senegal fights against poverty in Africa
An Israeli innovation installed on the farm, a low-pressure drip-irrigation system, using much less water & producing improved quality of fruits & vegetables has been inaugurated in one of Africa’s drought-prone regions.
By Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency
An initiative of the Israeli Embassy in Senegal recently led to the inauguration of a drip-irrigated vegetable farm in the city of Fatick earlier this month.

Growing lettuce in Senegal using drip-irrigation – Photo: MASHAV
Managed by a group of Senegalese women, the farm plot was established following a request made by the First Lady of Senegal, Marième Faye Sall, to the Israeli Embassy, as part of the TIPA program, which began in 2006 as an initiative of the Embassy of Israel in Dakar and MASHAV (Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation) to alleviate poverty through agricultural innovation. Continue Reading »
Australia judge sentences anti-Semitic youth to visit Holocaust Museum & a Shabbat dinner
A youth who terrorized a school bus full of young Jewish children in Sydney was ordered by a New South Wales Judge to learn about Judaism and the Holocaust.
One of the five youths arrested for terrorizing Jewish children on a school bus in Australia earlier this year consented to visit the Sydney Jewish Museum as well as attend a tolerance program as part of his agreed punishment.

Holocaust museum (illustrative) – Reuters
The offender was with a gang of eight drunken youths when they boarded a bus in Sydney carrying Jewish students from Moriah College, Mount Sinai College, and Emanual School on August 6.

