April 2015 Archives

Copenhagen’s bus agency removes anti-Israel settlements ad

Danish propaganda campaign scrubbed for being ‘unnecessarily offensive’ by local authorities after public transport agency flooded with complaints from residents.

By The Associated Press

Copenhagen’s public transport agency on Thursday ordered the immediate removal of posters opposing Israeli settlements on the capital’s city buses after getting “a considerable amount of complaints.”

“Our conscience is clear! We do not buy products from Israeli settlements or invest in settlement industry.” – Facebook

Movia, owned by eastern Denmark local authorities, said the campaign by the Danish Palestinian Friendship Association was “unnecessarily offensive.”

The campaign that started Monday was calling for labels on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: anti-Israel Propaganda, BDS, boycott, Copenhagen, Israel boycott, UNICEF

#BDSfail: Robbie Williams arrives in Israel for concert ignoring efforts by Waters to boycott

Williams, one of the top selling artists of all time, lands with family & dog ahead of his Saturday night concert in Tel Aviv to tour Israel, visit Jerusalem.

By Ari Yashar

In yet another failure of the BDS movement calling to boycott Israel, the international pop superstar Robbie Williams landed in Israel on Thursday at 6 p.m. ahead of a concert in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.

Robbie Williams – Thinkstock

The 41-year-old British musician, who is one of the best selling artists of all time, touched down at Ben-Gurion International Airport in his private Boeing jet, according to Yedioth Aharonoth.

Category: Israel News | Tags: anti-Israel Propaganda, BDS, boycott, Israel boycott, UNICEF

REPORT: Nepal’s quake hits 5,844 dead – First child born in IDF field Hospital

Watch: IDF Field Hospital assembled
• Climbing treks to resume on Mount Everest by next week
• UN launches $415 million appeal for emergency aid

By i24news

The death toll from a devastating earthquake in Nepal has risen to 5,844, the government said Thursday.

Another 11,175 people have been injured in the 7.8-magnitude quake that hit on Saturday, the home ministry said in a series of tweets.

Climbing will resume on Mount Everest by next week after an earthquake-triggered avalanche that left 18 people dead on the world’s highest peak, a Nepalese government official said Thursday.

Saturday’s avalanche that ripped through base camp also destroyed ladders through the treacherous Khumbu icefall higher up the mountain, raising doubts about the future of this year’s climbing season. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: IDF Emergency Medical, Nepal, Nepal earthquake

Report: Iran flexing its regional muscles having Hezbollah & Syria attack Israel

Israel TV10 reports Iran as having instructed the Hezbollah & Syria to provoke conflict on northern border, as a ploy to increase Iran’s regional influence.

By Israel Hayom Staff & Reuters

Iran has recently increased its pressure on Hezbollah and Syria to carry out attacks on the Israel-Syria and Israel-Lebanon borders, Channel 10 News reported Tuesday.

Israeli military forces move along the Syrian border [Archive] – Photo: Reuters

Syrian Defense Minister Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij, who is also deputy commander of the Syrian armed forces, met his Iranian counterpart Hossein Dehghan on Tuesday, in Tehran.

The rare visit was aimed at “strengthening coordination and cooperation between the two armies … especially in the face of terrorism and common challenges in the region,” the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Hezbollah - Iran, Iran Syria, Ron Prosor, UNSC

No Hugging Hamas on Thursday As Jimmy Carter Cancels Gaza Trip

With no official reason given, Carter cancels trip to Gaza after both Israel’s President Rivlin and PM Netanyahu refused to meet him.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Former US president Jimmy Carter called off his visit to the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources on Wednesday. No reason for the cancellation was given.

Former US President Carter met Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza in 2009

Carter was scheduled to arrive on April 30 in Gaza to meet with Hamas leaders, and then with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to help mediate between the two factions’ stalled national reconciliation. The status of Carter’s visit to the West Bank is still unknown and so far has not been cancelled. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Gaza, hamas, Jimmy Carter

Church’s past restraint was dē factō authorization of ongoing Islamic killings of Christian

In new era where Christians & Jews have a common enemy in the actions of radical Islam, Israel’s leaders should see the potential of an alliance with the new direction taken by the Catholic Church.

By Yossi Shain

Across the Middle East, in Africa and Asia, Christians are exposed to violence and terror by radical Islamic groups. The mass murder of Christians and the abduction of Christian girls by Boko Haram in Nigeria, the massacre of Christians and the enslavement of the daughters in Syria and Iraq, as well as the shocking murder of Christian students on a campus in eastern Kenya – following a brutal selection between them and those identified as Muslims – are only part of the Christian minorities’ hardships in the world. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: Christians and Jews, Vatican

Apple to expand even further in Israel

Apple’s Israeli research center already 2nd largest outside of its California campus, but newly added expansion into planned development center sees Apple adding 100s of additional Israeli workers.

By Ari Yashar

Apple, the iconic global technology giant, is further building its presence in Israel by expanding the size of the offices in its new Herzliya headquarters.

Apple (file) – Reuters

According to a report in the Hebrew language The Marker on Wednesday, Apple has decided to increase the size of its second Herzliya research building to be built later this year by no less than 4,000 meters.

The extra office space is estimated to allow for the employment of 150 to 250 new Israeli employees.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Apple, Israel high-tech

Turkey & Qatar reportedly broker new truce deal between Israel & Hamas

According to the Israeli report, Turkey has delivered to Israel a proposal for a 5-yr ceasefire.

By i24news

Qatar and Turkey have drafted a new proposal for a long term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Israeli news site Walla! News reported on Tuesday.

Palestinian Baha Obeid (L) and his cousin Mohamed Obeid paddle on their makeshift boat made of plastic bottles on April 18, 2015 at the port of Gaza City – Photo: Mohammed Abed/AFP

According to Palestinian sources quoted by Walla! Turkey has passed on to Israel a proposal for a five-year ceasefire, during which a floating port would be built across from the Gaza Strip’s sea shore, where cargo ships would dock.

Category: Israel News | Tags: ceasefire, Israel Hamas

Israel’s Jewish Youths to Promote More Arabic in Jerusalem

In effort to counter recent spat of hate crimes, 150 Jewish high school students in Jerusalem will be riding the Light Rail while speaking only in Arabic.

By Ryan Jones

Next week a group of 150 Jewish high school students will ride Jerusalem’s light rail while conversing only in Arabic. It is a noble initiative that has been poorly presented by some organizers and journalists giving the impression of overbearing racism in the Jewish state.

Jews and Arabs ride Jerusalem’s light rail together. – PHOTO Source: Israel Today

The event has been organized by the movement known as Tag Meir, established to combat those hate crimes perpetrated by Jews, primarily against Arabs. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: co-existance, Jerusalem, Jerusalem light rail, Jews and Arabs

Roger Waters presses Robbie Williams to cancel his Israel concert

Pink Floyd front-man and BDS advocate Roger Waters, urges fellow British rocker to nix his scheduled appearance in Tel Aviv in support of ‘Palestinian children’s rights’.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Outspoken Israel critic Roger Waters has called on fellow English entertainer Robbie Williams to nix his upcoming Tel Aviv performance in line with the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

British rock star Roger Waters of Pink Floyd walks along the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank city of Bethlehem June 21, 2006. – Photo: REUTERS

Williams, who rose to fame in the 1990s as an international pop sensation, is scheduled to hold his first concert in Israel at Tel Aviv’s Park Hayarkon as part of his “Let Me Entertain You” world tour. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: anti-Israel Propaganda, BDS, boycott, Israel boycott, UNICEF

US State Department Blacklist Hezbollah Terrorists For Burgas Bombing

Two of the Hezbollah suspects were placed on the special US terror list and are accused of the deadly 2012 terrorist bombing, targeting Israeli tourists in Bulgaria.

By i24news

Three Hezbollah suspects — two of whom are accused in a deadly 2012 bombing targeting Israeli tourists in Bulgaria — have been placed on a special US terror watch list, Washington announced on Tuesday.

Burgas, Bulgaria at time of explosion

The State Department named Meliad Farah, Hassan el-Hajj Hassan and Hussein Atris as “specially designated global terrorists.”

The terror designation makes it illegal for US citizens to engage in any transactions with the three men, and freezes any property they might possess within the United States.

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: blacklist, Burgas Bulgaria, Hezbollah, Hezbollah terrorism

Law Experts on Armed Conflict: IDF Doesn’t Commit War Crimes

US Naval War College military experts on the law of armed conflict conclude: “We found that their [Israel’s] approach to targeting is consistent with the law and, in many cases, worthy of emulation.”

By Israel Today Staff

Two of the world’s leading experts on the laws of armed conflict have, in the wake of last year’s Gaza war, conducted a thorough survey of the Israel Defense Force’s targeting policies and concluded that the Israeli army does not as a matter of policy commit war crimes.

IDF Merkava tank unit – file photo

Traditionally, the IDF has been closed regarding its operational procedures for fear that Israel’s antagonists could exploit that information in their ongoing quest to smear the Jewish state. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: IDF, war crimes

Palestinian Saboteur Shot On Security Fence by IDF Dies of Wound

Refusing to heed IDF warnings to step away from border security fence, soldiers opened fire, hitting leg of 18 yr-old Palestinian, who reportedly died after IDF medics released him to the Red Crescent.

By REUTERS, YAAKOV LAPPIN

A Palestinian shot on Monday evening while sabotaging the West Bank security fence has died of his injuries, Palestinian medical sources said.

A protester places a Palestinian flag at the Israeli barrier fence in the West Bank village of Rafat near Ramallah – Photo: REUTERS

On Monday, according to an army spokeswoman, a group of Palestinians arrived at the security fence near the Palestinian village of Araka, west of Jenin, and began attacking the security barrier. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: IDF response, Palestinian insitement

Sirens Automatically Activated When Syria Fired 2 Mortars Into Northern Israel

IDF officials confirm mortars were probably ‘spillover’ from fighting in Syrian Golan, where heavy battles have been ongoing in recent hours.
• No injuries reported.

By Ron Ben-Yishai & Ahiya Raved

Two mortars fell in northern Israel early Tuesday afternoon, shortly after air raid sirens blared throughout the area of Kibbutz Ein Zivan in the northern Golan Heights, warning of fire from Syria. Local residents reported hearing blasts in the area shortly after.

The mortars landed in an open area near orchards and a UN base. The IDF has confirmed that the two mortars were errant fire from battles raging in Syria, near the border with Israel, and not an intentional attack.

Category: Israel News | Tags: conflict, Golan Heights, IDF, mortar attacks, Syrian unrest