Archive for Israel News

From the IDF to the Kurdish YPG, Canadian-Israeli woman returns to Israel

view videoAfter fighting jihadist group in  Syria & Iraq, Canadian-Israeli woman says, ‘I trained with the IDF & the Kurds taught me how to fight ISIS’.

By i24news

 

After nearly a year of fighting against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, a Canadian-Israeli woman is back in Israel.

Gill Rosenberg with Kurdish fighters in Syria – Facebook

In an exclusive interview with i24news aired on Sunday, Gill Rosenberg, 31, said that she joined the Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Units in Syrian Kurdistan) to help them fight the radical Islamist group that has claimed swathes of territory in region.

“It feels very surreal, but I’m glad to be home,” Rosenberg said.

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#BDSfail: Mayim Bialik, ‘Coming to Israel was not a political act’

In Interview: After her recent trip to Israel, TV’s ‘Big Bang Theory’ star tells how she dealt with the social media backlash of her trip to the Jewish State.

Actress Mayim Bialik is known for many things, among them old and current TV shows Blossom and The Big Bang Theory, her PHD in neuroscience, and her love for Israel. Last week she combined her passion for the holy land and her successful acting gig as the Big Bang Theory’s Amy Farrah Fowler, drawing an international CBS team to Israel for a photo shoot.

Mayim Bialik

Selfie outside house of relative and poet Hayim Bialik – Photo: MAYIM BIALIK

“I went with them to Paris two years ago and when they asked me where I wanted to do it this time, I said Israel.” Continue Reading »

Death Penalty Advocate says ‘Israel Needs to Change the Rules of the Game’

view videoVictims rights advocate says Israel needs to break the vicious cycle of being forced to release convicted terrorists as ransom, that just kill again – by legislating the death penalty.

By Eliran Baruch

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has blocked, at least temporarily, a bill which would require judges to impose the death penalty on convicted terrorist murderers.

That move provoked anger from the bill’s sponsor, Yisrael Beytenu MK Sharon Gal, who accused the prime minister of not being serious about fighting terrorism.

The proposed law is fiercely opposed by some MKs – primarily, though not exclusively from the Left – who oppose the death penalty in principle and have argued that it would simply turn terrorists killers into “martyrs.”

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Israeli caricaturists unite on Facebook to fight the BDS hypocrisy

A group of Israeli cartoonists frustrated with Israel’s ineffectiveness at combatting the hate campaign, gathered on Facebook to post sarcastic caricatures exposing the hypocrisy of BDS supporters.

By Adva Cohen

 

Israeli diplomacy has been diligently working in recent months to thwart the efforts of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS), and now the country is receiving assistance from an unlikely group: Illustrators.

Caricature by Guy Morad
Caricature by Guy Morad

A new Facebook page recently created by Israeli illustrators seeks to fight the boycott efforts via sarcastic cartoons that paint Israel in a positive light, and unmask its hypocritical detractors. 

After Britain’s National Union of Students decided last month to join the BDS movement calling for a boycott of Israel, Asaf Finkelstein, a public relations person specializing in branding, decided that he could no longer bury his head in the sand. Continue Reading »

India Balks at Palestinian Threats When Not Following Blindly Against Israel

After New Delhi abstained twice over the last few weeks at the UN, the Palestinians are angry they can no longer count on India for every biased & cynical UN resolution they want passed against the Jewish State.

By HERB KEINON

 

India’s left-wing, influential Hindu newspaper ran a story in December under the headline “India may end support to Palestine at UN.” The over-line to the headline read: “Major shift in foreign policy.”

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Hamas’ Business in Ransoming Kidnapped Israelis Escalates With More Demands

Senior Hamas henchman Mahmoud al-Zahar reiterates his demands saying the negotiations are ‘closed’ until Israeli releases dozens of imprisoned terrorists.

By Dalit Halevi

 

Hamas is continuing to demand massive concessions from Israel as a precondition for even starting talks over two Israeli citizens held captive in Gaza.

In an interview Thursday with Turkish media, senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar reiterated conditions set by the terrorist groupThursday for opening talks over 26-year-old Avraham Mengistu and another as-yet unnamed Israeli civilian it is holding hostage, as well as the remains of two soldiers still held by Hamas since last year’s Operation Protective Edge.
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Lebanese newspaper: Syrian rebels armed by Israel

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON

 

A top Syria expert told The Jerusalem Post that a report published on Thursday in a Lebanese newspaper close to Hezbollah claiming that Israel arms Syrian rebels was “really not serious.”

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WATCH: Christian Zionist Explains Success In #BDSfail From State to State

view videoPJTN president Laurie Cardoza-Moore has successfully pioneered anti-BDS legislature in 4 U.S. states, with an amazing 35 states & 6 foreign countries queuing to do the same.

By Yoni Kempinski

 

Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of the Christian Zionist NPO Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), has been a leading force campaigning to defend the Jewish state from the scourge of BDS that pushes to boycott and economically attack Israel.

 

Cardoza-Moore sat down with Arutz Sheva to discuss her important activities in confronting BDS throughout the US and abroad.

Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of the Christian Zionist NPO Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN) – Facebook Photo

PJTN launched its anti-BDS campaign in Tennessee with a resolution against investing in companies taking part in the boycott movement, seeking to fight the phenomenon and educate about the nationwide “anti-Semitic movement.” Continue Reading »

Israel Sends Delegate to Clarify Why Jerusalem Rejects ICC Authority To Investigate

Jerusalem explains its position how ICC does not hold jurisdiction to hear ‘non-state’ Palestine’s alleged war-crimes charges against Israel.

By i24news

 

Israel has decided to change its policy and begin talks with the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague regarding a preliminary investigation the ICC is conducting into last summer’s Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli official told the Israeli Haaretz paper.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda – Photo: Peter Dejong (POOL/AFP)

The Israeli decision to be in contact with Gambian-born Fatou Bensouda is reportedly only to clarify its position that the ICC does not hold any authority to hear Palestinian complaints on the matter, the official said. Continue Reading »

Allowed for publication: 2 Israelis held hostage in Gaza by Hamas

An Israeli Bedouin, and earlier, a 29 yr-old mentally ill Israeli apparently crossed the Israel-Gaza border fence on their own volition and were subsequently captured by Hamas.

By Yoav Zitun, Matan Tzuri & Elior Levy

 

Two Israelis are believed to be held captive in the Gaza Strip, one of them missing for ten months, it was revealed on Thursday morning following the lifting of a gag order.

Avraham Mangisto

Avraham Mangisto. – Family Photo

One of them, Avraham Mangisto, 29 from Ashkelon, has hone missing in the early hours of September 8, 2014, and was seen crossing the border into Gaza out of his own volition. Continue Reading »

Business: Israeli life science firms trying hard to become another Teva

Many Israeli concerns have been unsuccessful achieving the success that Teva has accomplished, because of the challenge in breaking into the innovation sector, the inability to raise proper funding for expansion, and the lack of experience in taking drugs through the regulatory process & to market.

By Reuters

 

As Israel’s biggest company Teva strives to get even bigger by swallowing up rival Mylan for more than $40 billion, further down the food chain a raft of upstart life science firms are struggling to climb onto the global ladder.

Photo: EPA

Now the government is starting to take notice, urged on by influential advocates, including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ own boss, who says the country’s economic future depends on replicating his company’s success. Continue Reading »

Bono Praises Israel’s Former President Peres at U2 Toronto Concert 

U2 lead singer Bono, praised Israel’s former President on stage at their Toronto show for his longtime efforts in trying to bring peace between Israel and the Arabs.

By DAVID BRINN

 

U2’s Bono hailed Shimon Peres at a U2 show in Toronto on Tuesday night attended by the former Israeli president and prime minister.

Former President Shimon Peres meets Bono. – Photo: SHIMON PERES SPOKESMAN

On the anniversary of Operation Protective Edge, the lead singer for the Irish superstars praised Peres for his longtime efforts in trying to bring peace to the region.

“We understand President Peres, that you have tried to be the voice of reason. Continue Reading »

German prosecutors seek 3.5 years’ jail for 94 yr-old ‘Bookkeeper of Auschwitz’

In probably the last trial of its kind, Oskar Groening, 94, is charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder.

By i24news

 

German prosecutors on Tuesday said they were seeking three and a half years’ jail for a former SS officer known as the “Bookkeeper of Auschwitz.”

Former SS officer Oskar Groening acknowledges “moral guilt” for his role as the bookkeeper at the Auschwitz concentration camp – Photo: DPA/AFP/File

Oskar Groening, 94, stands accused before a court in the northern city of Lueneburg of 300,000 counts of accessory to murder in the cases of deported Hungarian Jews sent to the gas chambers between May and July 1944. Continue Reading »

MIT Review puts Israeli desalination firm on ‘World’s Smartest Companies’ list

IDE Technologies ranks annual MIT Technology Review list of world’s smartest companies, “offering more affordable water desalination at a scale never before achieved.”

By Barney Breen-Portnoy

 

IDE Technologies, an Israeli water desalination company, has been named by the MIT Technology Review as one of the world’s 50 smartest companies for 2015.

The Sorek desalination plant in Rishon Lezion – Photo: AP

IDE was ranked 18th on the annual MIT Technology Review list. Topping the list was Tesla Motors. Rounding out the top five were Xiaomi, Illumina, Alibaba and Counsyl.

“To make the list, a company must have truly innovative technology and a business model that is both practical and ambitious, with the result that it has set the agenda in its field over the past 12 months,” the MIT Technology Review said. Continue Reading »

Israel outs UNESCO for ignoring Jewish & Christian historical bond to Jerusalem

Israel’s Foreign Ministry director denounces UN body saying, typically, “The resolution is full of distortions & is totally disconnected from reality on the ground.”

By HERB KEINON

 

Israel slammed the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Tuesday for adopting a “completely one sided resolution” on the Old City of Jerusalem that “deliberately ignores the historical connection between the Jewish people and their ancient capital.”

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