Archive for Israel News

4.3 Level Earthquake Shakes Israel With No Injuries or Damage Reported

The 4.3-magnitude earthquake centered near the Dead Sea early Thursday  morning in Israel with tremors felt in northern Israel as well.

By Moshe Cohen

 

A 4.3-magnitude earthquake occurred early Thursday in Israel. The quake was centered on an area near the Dead Sea, and several people reported feeling its effects in southern Israel. Residents of the north also said they felt vibrations, and investigators are checking whether there were indeed two quakes around the same time.

Northern Dead Sea – Photo: Hana Levi Julian

No injuries or damage were reported from Thursday’s quake.

The last earthquake in Israel took place on June 27, when a 5.2 magnitude quake was felt throughout the country. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu Allows Construction of 300 New Homes in Beit El

Quid pro quo: PM Netanyahu okays building of new family homes mere hours after the destruction began on the 2 Draynoff buildings, ordered demolished by the High Court of Justice.

By Itamar Eichner, Itay Blumenthal

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu green lighted on Wednesday the construction of 300 housing units in Beit El, mere hours after destruction began of the Draynoff buildings that have been at the center of a dispute between settlers and the Israeli government and High Court of Justice.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – Photo: Reuters

Hundreds of settlers gathered on Monday night outside the two buildings, which the High Court of Justice ruled were illegally built on private Palestinian land, and remained there throughout Tuesday and into Wednesday morning. Continue Reading »

Foreign media reports Israeli jets strike car in Golan Heights, killing three

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Arab media reported on Wednesday that Israeli warplanes struck a target in Syria, killing three people.

An IAF F-15I fighter-jet – Photo: REUTERS

According to a report on the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen news portal, the Israeli air force jets struck a car in the countryside of Quneitra in the Syrian Golan Heights, killing three people.

Al-Manar, another Hezbollah-linked news portal, reported that it was an Israeli drone that had struck the vehicle, killing two members of a pro-Assad militia.

The IDF neither confirmed nor denied that it carried out the strike, stating that it does not respond to foreign reports. Continue Reading »

ICC prosecutor dismisses court ruling to reopen 2010 Mavi Marmara case

Despite the order earlier this month by the International Criminal Court to reopen its case against Israel, prosecutor Fatou Bensouda rejected the call for a probe, noting the blockade was deemed legal by the UN, and the level of violence used against the Israelis.

By Eli Leon & News Agencies

 

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has appealed an order to reconsider her decision not to investigate the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla incident.

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda – Photo: AP

Continue Reading »

Israel and Cyprus Consider Linking Natural Gas & Electricity to European Markets

Cyprus to expand cooperation in energy issues and security with Jerusalem after uncovering  covert Iranian terror plot across Europe from arrested Hezbollah agent in Larnaca.

By REUTERS

 

NICOSIA – Israel and Cyprus agreed on Tuesday to expand their cooperation on energy issues, including the use of pipelines and electricity grids to link to European markets, as both countries develop natural gas fields off their coasts.

Continue Reading »

68 Israel Border Policemen shed 565 kilograms in ‘healthy lifestyle’ boot camp for overweight cops

68 overweight Border Police trainees underwent a ‘healthy lifestyle’ physical education course with each participant assigned a personal trainer & dietician to ensure they completed boot camp as proper warriors.

By Omri Efraim

 

Sixty-eight overweight Border Police soldiers who recently joined the IDF lost a total 565 kilograms as a result of a highly successful special diet program adapted to each individual soldier.

Border police trainees in weight loss programBorder police trainees in weight loss program

Hundreds of Border Police soldiers from the March 15 recruitment cycle stood excitedly on the roll call ground of the force’s training base, waiting to receive their warrior pins at the end of their grueling training. Continue Reading »

French Immigration Skyrockets as 200 More French Jews Arrive in Israel

French Aliyah (immigration) is up 11% since last year, as Israel is expecting between 30,000 – 35,000 new immigrants in 2015, the most since 2005.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

More than 200 French Jews, half of whom are children, arrived in Israel Tuesday aboard a special Aliyah flight organized by The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption.

French family makes Aliyah – Jeremy Fournée for The Jewish Agency for Israel

Although the plane arrived in the wee hours of the morning, the immigrants were warmly received at a festive welcome event at Ben-Gurion International Airport.The
Continue Reading »

Historic Decision: Israel to Dispense Medical Marijuana At Pharmacies

Admitting to have never seen marijuana until last week, Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, has decided that local pharmacies will be allowed to dispense prescription pot, under supervision, instead of the current inconvenience of only 2 locations in Israel.

By Yehuda Shlezinger & Israel Hayom Staff

 

Medical marijuana will soon be sold in pharmacies across Israel, Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, who functions as the de facto health minister, announced on Monday during a Knesset committee meeting.

A licensed grower inspects medical marijuana plants in one of the greenhouses used to grow the drug in Israel

Marijuana will be sold to patients with prescriptions, and will be controlled like any other prescription medication. Continue Reading »

Israeli Gamma Ray Protective Vest to Serve U.S. Astronauts

Israeli company teams up with Lockheed Martin to begin joint R&D to evaluate the viability of its gamma radiation defense shields for deep-space exploration.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

An Israeli company is partnering with Lockheed Martin for joint research and development (R&D) to see if its radiation shielding technology – initially designed to protect nuclear first responders from gamma radiation – can be used to defend astronauts exploring deep space.

 

StemRad, based in Tel Aviv with a branch in Palo Alto, California, works with militaries, nuclear energy sources and governmental agencies to create protection equipment for first responders to radiological events and disasters.
Continue Reading »

Natural gas lines expedited to four Haifa factories

The expedited construction of gas distribution lines comes as part of a plan by Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry to reduce air pollution in the Haifa Bay area.

 

Following pressure from the Environmental Protection Ministry, four factories in the Haifa Bay region will soon be connected to natural gas for the first time, the ministry announced on Sunday.

Haifa bay – Photo: URIA ASHKENAZY/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The Haifa District Committee for Planning and Building recently approved the connection, after Environmental Protection Minister Avi Gabai met with a number of officials in the bay region to demand the expedited construction of two low-pressure gas distribution lines, the ministry said. Continue Reading »

Young Woman Becomes IDF Combat Soldier In Unit That Saved Her Grandmother

Full circle: 2 years after her grandmother was rescued by an IDF Search & Rescue team sent to the devastation in the Philippines, Israeli-born Joanna Chris Afron trains to save lives by becoming a combat soldier in the same IDF unit that saved her grandmother.

By Adva Cohen

 

Joanna Chris Arfon, 19, understands the importance of the unit in which she serves more than anyone else. When she enlisted in the IDF, Arfon, an Israeli of Filipino descent, asked to join the search and rescue unit of the Home Front Command, after soldiers from the unit saved her grandmother from a vicious typhoon that hit the Philippines.  Continue Reading »

Guinness Book of Records Officials Boycott Israel Using Bogus Excuse

In the ongoing Hummus saga between Israel & Lebanon, an Israeli filmmaker who planned to prepare the world’s biggest bowl of hummus received a letter from UK Guinness saying it would be ‘too dangerous’ to send over a representative. 

By Israel News

 

“It was the last thing I expected,” Israeli filmmaker Oren Rosenfeld said Sunday in response to the Guinness World Records’ decision not to send a judge to Israel to examine a record he wanted to break. 

Screen Shot 2015-07-26 at 17.27.00

Lebanese chefs celebrate around the Largest hummus plate – Photo: AFP

Rosenfeld, who is in the final stages of editing his film “Hummus,” had planned to prepare the biggest bowl of hummus in history.  Continue Reading »

Jewish Woman Arrested in Jerusalem for Responding: ‘Mohammed is a Pig’

view videoArrested Jewish woman was eventually vindicated by presiding judge after a video showed (paid) gang of Muslim women following Jewish group & shouting: ‘Itbach al-Yahud’ (trans: ‘slaughter the Jews’).

By Tova Dvorin

 

A young Jewish woman was arrested Friday night, after she was recorded stating insults about the Muslim prophet Mohammed during a clash with Arab women on the Temple Mount.

Female Islamist activists on Temple Mount

Female Islamist activists on Temple Mount – Reuters

The Arab women, apparently part of the “Morabiton,” a gang of Muslim women who get paid by Islamist groups to disturb and harass Jews that visit the site, were shouting “Allahu Akhbar” repeatedly at the group of Jews making their way to the Mount, and could be seen actively trying to get physically close to the group. Continue Reading »

Israel Hosts California Officials At Jerusalem Conference On Water Solutions

Having successfully dealt with its own water crisis, Israel is sharing its newly acquired water technologies with senior American officials that arrived in Jerusalem to learn from teams of local experts how to conserve, reuse and desalinate water. 

By Ilana Curiel

 

What technology has the potential of generating Israel NIS 6 billion (about $1.5 billion) from exports? After struggling with a water shortage for years, Israel is now considered a water superpower – mostly thanks to its Water Authority – and representatives of many states and governments around the world have been arriving to learn from the desert country which succeeded in overcoming its dry starting point.  Continue Reading »

#BDSfail: Christian group in Israel confronts BDS with pragmatic guide

The Christian Empowerment Council’s new guide, written by Father Gabriel Naddaf, seeks to assist Christians the world over better understand the significance of anti-Zionism.

By JNS.ORG

 

The Christian Empowerment Council, an Israeli Christian group headed by Father Gabriel Naddaf, has released a new guide to help Christians better understand the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Father Gabriel Naddaf. – Photo: FACEBOOK

Continue Reading »