Archive for January 7, 2016

Masked assailants fire on Israeli tour bus near Cairo, – No injuries

 

Manhunt underway after masked individuals shot at a tourist bus outside a Cairo hotel that carried Israeli Arabs, according to Egyptian security forces.

By Roi Kais, Itamar Eichner & Reuters

 

Masked militants fired at a group of dozens of Israeli tourists at the Barceló Three Pyramids hotel next to Cairo on Thursday, causing damage but no injuries. One gunmen was arrested at the scene and security forces are searching for the other individuals involved in the attack, who numbered about 20 according to the Egyptian Interior Ministry.

Gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on a tourist bus outside the 4-star Barcelo Cairo Pyramids hotel in the Egyptian capital.

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US State Dept. rejects Israel’s comparison of its ‘foreign-funding’ law to United States’ lobbying registry

 

The US State Dept. spokesman John Kirby, says Israeli Transparency Law requiring NGO’s to report its foreign funding, and the US Foreign Agents Registration Act are ‘two different things’ – but can’t explain how.

By Cynthia Blank

 

US State Department spokesman John Kirby rejected out of hand Wednesday a comparison between an Israeli bill requiring foreign-funded NGOs to declare their sources and US laws mandating the registration of foreign interest lobbyists.

John Kerry, John Kirby – Reuters

In an op-ed published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked drew parallels between her Government Transparency Law and the US Foreign Agents Registration Act dating back to 1938.
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Palestinian knife attacks prompt IDF to supply soldiers protective neck gear

 

IDF’s new neck protector against knife attacks, which needed to be comfortable & flexible, was developed within 2 weeks, and now 850,000 will be manufactured & distributed to the soldiers.

By Lilach Shoval

 

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Palestinian relatives demand Israel return terrorists’ bodies

 

Citing security concerns, Israel is still holding onto about a dozen Palestinian terrorist bodies, whereas their families claim this measure provokes anger & inflames the atmosphere even more.

By The Associated Press

 

Palestinian families are pressing Israel to return about a dozen terrorist bodies that Israel continues to hold since a wave of terror began about four months ago.

Palestinian funeral near Hebron – Photo: Reuters

Palestinian accountant Ahmed Oweisat last saw his son Moataz in October – hours before the 16-year-old boy tried to stab an officer and was fatally shot in Jerusalem.

The son still has not been buried – one of about a dozen bodies of Palestinian terrorists that Israel continues to hold nearly four months after a wave of violence erupted in Jerusalem and spread across Israel and the West Bank. Continue Reading »

Abbas: PLO to decide on severing cooperation with Israel next week

 

PLO to officially decide regarding continuing security coordination as Abbas calls for the removal of all Jewish communities in Judea & Samaria.

By Gil Ronen

 

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced Wednesday that the PLO would officially make a decision next week regarding the upholding of contractual relations with Israel, reported the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency.

Abbas made the announcement during a speech delivered in Bethlehem during Orthodox Christmas celebrations.

He reiterated past statements made by PA bodies supporting putting an end to agreements signed with Israel, notably the security coordination with Israel that was established through the Oslo Accords.

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#BDSfail: Spanish government pays West Bank university $100,000

 

Ariel University receives over $100,000 compensation from Spanish gov’t for capitulating to BDS pressure in 2009 by excluding the West Bank university from a ‘green-housing’ competition.

By i24news

 

The Spanish government recently paid 430,000 shekels (100,000 dollars) in compensation to an Israeli university in the West Bank for an incident in which 15 architecture students were barred from an international competition sponsored by the Spanish Housing Ministry because they came “from the occupied territories”.

Ariel University had been involved in a complicated legal struggle after a team it sent to Spain in 2009 advanced to become one of 21 finalists in a competition for designing an environmentally-friendly home, Israeli news website Ynet reported. Continue Reading »

Dr. Sheikh Omer Salem’s Curious Voice for Peaceful Coexistence

 

Yale University lecturer with Phd from Al Azhar University in Cairo, Sheikh Omer Salem, says Muslims are the Jews’ protectors, and vows the Temple Mount will return to Jewish hands.

By Tsvi Sadan

 

Olam Katan (Small World) is one of many religious newsletters distributed in synagogues throughout Israel each Friday. It is the last place one would expect to find an interview with Yale University alumnus Sheikh Omer Salem who visited Israel last week. Salem’s December 26 lecture in Haifa University was heckled by an Israeli Arab student who just couldn’t stand a sheikh speaking on behalf of Israel. Continue Reading »

Grandparents’ stories of Israel inspired Japanese man to join IDF

 

Now serving in the Nahal Brigade, Daniel Tomohiro speaks of growing up in Japan, being inspired by his grandfather’s stories of making aliyah and fighting in Israel’s War of Independence.
• “My grandmother was in Auschwitz and was saved only because a German nurse covered her with a blanket,” he says.

By Danny Brenner

 

Daniel Tomohiro is not the typical Israeli soldier. His Hungarian grandparents survived the Holocaust, made aliyah, and fought in the War of Independence, but they then moved to Australia, where his mother met and married a Japanese man and moved to Iwata, Japan.

Now Tomohiro has come full circle and is serving in the Israel Defense Forces, undergoing basic training with the Nahal Brigade’s 50th Battalion. Continue Reading »

WATCH: Israeli engineers team with zoologists to design locust-inspired robot

 

view videoWith it’s cheap parts, the tiny one ounce lithium battery powered jumping robot can be used for anything from rescue & surveillance operations to dealing with oil spills.

By Reuters

 

Inspired by the locust’s jumping mechanism and elastic energy storage, Tel Aviv University researchers designed a tiny robot which could prove to be an inspired leap into the future of autonomous surveillance and emergency response systems.

Prof. Professor Amir Ayali – Photo: Yehonatan Bloom

Made from carbon rods, steel springs and 3D printed plastic pieces, it weighs less than one ounce (23 grams) and is approximately four inches (10 centimeters) long. Continue Reading »

#BDSfail: California legislator calls to divest from companies that boycott Israel

 

The proposed bill would prohibit California state gov’t from contracting with companies who are “engaging in actions that are politically motivated and are intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or otherwise limit commercial relations with the State of Israel.”

By Cynthia Blank

 

A bill taking aim at the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement was introduced in the California state legislature Monday.

BDS (illustration)

BDS (illustration) – Reuters

If passed, the bill would prohibit California’s government from giving contracts to companies “engaging in actions that are politically motivated and are intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or otherwise limit commercial relations with the State of Israel.”
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WATCH: Israeli NGO proves: Facebook discriminates against Jews & Israelis

 

view videoShurat Hadin opens two Facebook pages, both equally inciteful, but Facebook removes only the page that incites against Palestinians, the other “did not violate the social network’s terms of service” when reported for inciting against Jews.

By Ido Ben Porat

 

The non-profit Shurat Hadin-The Israel Law Center organization has conducted an investigation which proves unequivocally that Facebook discriminates against Israelis.

Anti-Semitism and Incitement to violence flourishes on Facebook - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Anti-Semitism and Incitement to violence against Israel and Jews flourishes on Facebook – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The investigation included an experiment in which two fictitious Facebook pages were set up, with one inciting against the Palestinians and the other inciting against Jews and Israelis. Continue Reading »

Commotion of Israelis on board airliner force two Arab-Israeli passengers to deplane

 

By MAARIV ONLINE

 

A number of Israelis returning from a vacation in Greece with Aegean Airlines on Monday caused a scene when two Arab-Israeli men boarded the same aircraft and drew their attention.

Aegan Airlines – Photo: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/JETPIX

This did not fare well with the Israelis on board who turned to the flight attendants and said they would not allow the plane to embark with the two men on board. Despite the scene caused by the Israelis, the flight attendants went about their cabin-preparations as usual, and the captain prepared for take-off. Continue Reading »

Israeli protest has painting of Fatah leader removed from Paris exhibit

 

The painter compared convicted murderer, Barghouti, to Nelson Mandela in an inscription that said, ‘Mandela was also called a terrorist.’

By i24news

 

The Israeli Embassy in France has been successful in petitioning the removal of a painting of Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti from a Paris auction house, the Israeli news site Ynet News reported Monday.

Marwan Barghouti was tried & convicted on charges of murder, and sentenced to 5 life sentences.

The controversial painting depicted jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti as the Palestinian version of Nelson Mandela, and was due to be auctioned with funds raised going to support the Reporters Without Borders organization

The painter of the piece further compared Barghouti to Mandela in an inscription that reads “Nelson Mandela was also called a terrorist in the 1950s.” Continue Reading »

UN’s ‘anti-Israel’ envoy resigns, accusing Jerusalem of denying him access

 

Makarim Wibisono says multiple requests to enter the West Bank & the Gaza Strip have gone unanswered for over a year.
– Jerusalem says government’s decision to prevent access came because of the UN’s ‘distorted & biased mandate given to the rapporteur.’

By Reuters

 

GENEVA – The UN investigator for human rights violations in the Palestinian territories resigned on Monday, saying that Israel had reneged on its pledge to grant him access to the West Bank and Gaza.

Makarim Wibisono – Photo: Reuters

Makarim Wibisono, United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, said that his repeated oral and written requests for access had gone unanswered over 18 months.

Continue Reading »

Obama still spying on Netanyahu

 

After the recent report in the Wall street Journal on the White House ordering the NSA to spy on the Israel Prime Minister, a top U.S. intelligence officer reveled to Israeli reporters how much, and how the White House is spying on Netanyahu and those in contact with him.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Following a string of embarrassing revelations of the US spying in friendly heads of state, President Barack Obama ordered intelligence agencies to end the practice – except for when it came to Israel.

A former high-level US intelligence officer – who was codenamed ‘Robert’ and was privy to most of the United States’ intelligence information on Israel over the past three decades – made the revelation in an interview with Yediot Aharonot. Continue Reading »