Archive for April 3, 2016

#BDSfail: Paris hosts exhibit titled ‘Open a Door to Israel’

 

Paris’ Israeli Innovation Day exhibit, opens on April 6, and will be composed of 9 doors, each in a different color & design, all opening into huge interactive screens, featuring the best of Israeli hi-tech.

By RINA BASSIST

 

PARIS – Diplomats, French officials, actors, artists and leaders of the Jewish community gathered at the Carousel du Louvre for the launching of an unusual exhibit, titled “Open a Door to Israel.”

The Eiffel Tower is seen at sunset in Paris. – Photo: REUTERS

The exhibit is composed of nine doors, each in a different color and design, all opening into huge interactive screens. Continue Reading »

102 Gazans unable to enter Bethlehem for Palestine Marathon

 

Israeli authorities say ‘Palestinian officials are being provocative’ since the Palestinian Olympic Committee submitted the Gaza runners’ names late, leaving insufficient time for COGAT to prepare permits, then exploiting the sport for political gain by blaming Israel.

By Elior Levy

 

4,300 runners competed in the fourth annual Palestine Marathon on Friday in Bethlehem.

Despite the festive atmosphere, the event was not free of political tensions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. 102 Gazans requested permission to participate in the race including Nader Al-Masri, who represented the Palestinians at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and won the Palestine Marathon last year. Continue Reading »

Israeli Navy sinks smuggling vessel off of Gaza’s coast

 

Before Israel’s Navy destroyed the suspicious smuggling vessel, the crew threw the contents of the boat overboard, then jumped into the sea.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Israel’s Navy sunk a suspected smuggling boat that was approaching the coast of the Gaza Strip overnight on Saturday, an army spokesperson said.

Archive photos of Navy Squadron 916 – Photo By: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT

The IDF spotted a suspicious fishing boat loaded with sacs approaching Gaza from the direction of Egypt and called for the vessel to stop. The IDF fired warning shots in the air and in the water but the boat continued on its course. Continue Reading »

US voices opposition to Israel destroying illegal EU construction of Palestinian homes

 

view videoCompletely ignoring said structures were illegally constructed, without proper license and placed on state or public land, a U.S. State Department spokesperson voiced concern the demolitions of EU constructed Palestinian homes in the West Bank by Israeli authorities ‘undermine the possibility of a 2-state solution.’

By Reuters

 

The United States is “concerned” about Israel’s demolition of Arab buildings in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, a State Department spokeswoman said on Friday, adding that it raised questions about Israel’s commitment to a two-state political solution to the Palestinian conflict.

Israeli forces bulldozed a school in the Bedouin village of Khirbet Tana in the West Bank early in March, leaving 23 children with nowhere to study in the community overlooking the Jordan valley. Continue Reading »

Israel’s PM Netanyahu Hosts Journalists From Largest Muslim Nation

 

Calling for official diplomatic relations between the Jewish State & the largest Muslim country, Israel’s Prime Minister personally hosts delegation of Indonesian journalists.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week personally hosted a delegation of senior journalists from Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu with visiting delegation of Indonesian journalists in Jerusalem at the Prime Minister's Office on 28 March 2016. - Photo: Haim Tzach:GPO.png

PM Benjamin Netanyahu with visiting delegation of Indonesian journalists in Jerusalem at the Prime Minister’s Office on 28 March 2016. – Photo: Haim Tzach:GPO.png

Official relations between Israel and Indonesia are cold, at best, though the two nations have long maintained quiet trade, tourism and security contacts.

Netanyahu hopes this visit will encourage warmer, more open relations. Continue Reading »

Palestinian teacher with ‘No To Violence’ curriculum wins $1mn prize

 

The Global Teaching Prize winner developed her philosophy on non-violence education after her children witnessed their father shot by the IDF and subsequently jailed for providing bomb-making materials for attack that killed Israelis.

 

Hanna al-Hroub attends a public reception upon her arrival in the West Bank city of Jericho from Jordan on March 16, 2016 – Photo: ABBAS MOMANI/AFP

A Palestinian teacher who won a $1 million global teaching prize for her nonviolence pedagogy will keep her prize, despite the fact that her husband was convicted as an accomplice in a terror attack that killed six Israelis.
Continue Reading »

Israel delighted as tourism from China & India continue to grow

 

Tourism from China grows 43% to some 50,000, from India up 13% to nearly 40,000 visitors in 2015, and with Chinese carrier to launch nonstop flights next month from Beijing to Tel Aviv, the Tourism Ministry sees visitors doubling by 2018.

By Reuters & Israel Hayom Staff

 

Israel is looking east to China and India to help drive tourism, as visits to the country have yet to fully recover from the 2014 Gaza war, Tourism Ministry Director General Amir Halevi said.

Travelers at Ben-Gurion International Airport [Illustrative] – Photo: Yehoshua Yosef

In 2015, tourism grew 43% from China to some 50,000 visitors and the ministry sees that doubling by 2018. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem conference exposes BDS propaganda shortfalls

 

Mid-East expert explains to young Jewish leaders fighting an intellectual war against BDS that, “you have to reclaim the narrative of liberalism… that if you are a liberal, you have to be against BDS, because BDS is against co-existence and negotiations.”

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD

 

As the BDS movement and other anti-Israel propaganda continue to gain traction on college campuses around the world, young Jewish leaders are increasingly becoming the most important first line of defense in an intellectual war defined by dueling narratives.

Neil Lazarus teaches students from the Masa-GLI Leadership Development Initiative in Jerusalem how to effectively counter BDS proponents.

Continue Reading »

US to disregard UNHRC resolution to blacklist companies working with settlements

 

US State Department spokesman John Kirby said the US is opposed to the resolution on West Bank settlements the UNHRC approved last week in Geneva under the highly anti-Israel Agenda Item 7.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

 

The United States does not intend to provide the United Nations Human Rights Council with information for its new blacklist of companies doing business with West Bank settlements, US State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

The United Nations headquarters. – Photo: REUTERS

The Obama administration, he said, is opposed to the resolution on West Bank settlements the UNHRC approved last week in Geneva, as it wrapped up its 31st session. Continue Reading »