Israel News

PayPal acquires Israeli cybersecurity firm, creating local hub in Jewish state

Details of the acquisition were not publicized, but some reports this week said PayPal, which is being spun off by online giant eBay, was paying $60 million for the Israeli CyActive.

By i24news

Online payments group PayPal announced Tuesday it was acquiring Israeli cybersecurity firm CyActive and establishing a new security hub in Israel.

PayPal [illustration] – Photo: Eric Piermont /AFP/Archives

The terms of the deal were not announced, but some reports this week said PayPal, which is being spun off by online giant eBay, was paying $60 million for CyActive.

“Our goal is to extend our global security leadership, and bolster our efforts in predictive threat detection and prevention,” said PayPal chief technology officer James Barrese in a blog post.

Category: Israel News | Tags: cyber technology, Israel technology, PayPal

IDF ready for multi-pronged terror attack on Eilat from Sinai Islamists

IDF official says, “On the one hand you have here a peaceful border, and on the other hand you have a frontier area in Sinai that has developed into a hotbed of terror activity.”

By NOAM AMIR/MAARIV HASHAVUA, YOSSI MELMAN

“The scenario that we are preparing for is a multi-pronged terror threat directed against our forces and civilians in the Eilat area,” Col. Arik Chen, deputy commander of Division 80 (the Red Division) said Thursday. Division 80 controls Israel’s longest expanse of border, across from both Egypt and Jordan. His comments take on added relevance amid the preparations for the Passover holiday, when tens of thousands of visitors and tourists are expected to hit the beaches of Eilat and the Dead Sea area. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Egypt-Israel, IDF, Israel Sinai, Sinai Terrorism

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Behind India’s Admiration for Israel is Strength, Determination, & Pride

Arjun Ramesh Hardas, the Indian liaison with US Jewry says Indians see Israel as ‘the little national that could’, saying, “Israel built a standard of living through hard work. Indians look at that and say, ‘Why can’t we do that?!'”

By Gedalyah Reback

Many Israelis, particularly Israeli Jews, see India as a natural ally. Both countries face radical Muslim enemies, fighting for their continued independence as the only state for their respective Jewish and Hindu peoples. But that is not how Indians view it, and it might be critical for Israelis to understand that as Jerusalem looks to deepen its relationship with New Delhi.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel India

IDF to vacate huge military bases in central Israel

Government to fund IDF relocation from current bases in central Israel to build 60,000 new homes.

By Avital Lahav

An agreement to vacate IDF bases in central Israel and replace them with housing was finalized on Wednesday.

Tzriffin military structures to be cleared in stages. – Photo: Israel’s Ministry of Defense

Director General of the PMO Harel Locker, budget division director Amir Levy, and Director General of the Ministry of Defense Dan Harel conducted the deal arranging the timetable and funding for the plan with representatives of the Israel Land Authority. The program intends to build 60,000 new homes.

The arrangement involves vacating the bases in Tel Hashomer, Tzrifin, and Sirkin, as well as a partially vacated base in Ramat Gan. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: building, IDF, Israel Land Authority, Ministry of Defense, new construction

Assessment: Why the Arab World Seeks a Herzog-Livni Win

The Arab world has been dreaming of the day when a Herzog-Livni type alliance would stand at the helm of the Jewish state.

By Dr. Mordechai Kedar

Honest disclosure I: I have been acquainted with the Herzog family for decades, ever since I was a child, and at various points in my life I crossed paths with all three Herzog brothers, Joel, Brigadier General (Res.) Michael and MK Yitzchak.

Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni in spoof ad, whining over who’s turn it is to answer Obama’s call. – screenshot

I have always held this aristocratic family in great esteem for their generosity, deportment, intelligence and erudition, as sons of Israel’s late sixth president Chaim Herzog and grandchildren of the late Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Halevi Herzog.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel Politics

Muslim father of killed son: I will “go to war and fight against Islamic State with Israel”

Family of Jerusalem teen executed by ISIS says he was seduced with lies and empty promises.

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD

As a video of their son played on their big-screen television, moments before it showed an armed child shooting him dead, Muhammad Said Musallam’s mother, Hind, averted her eyes. His father, Said, stared icily at the screen.

THE PARENTS of Israeli teen Muhammad Said Musallam, whom a child purportedly shot dead in an Islamic State video, react on Tuesday as they hold pictures of him in their Jerusalem home. – Photo: REUTERS

Sitting in the wood-paneled family room of their modest apartment in Jerusalem’s primarily Jewish Neveh Ya’acov neighborhood on Wednesday, Said watched as his son, clad in an orange jumpsuit, stated that he was an Israeli spy.

Category: Israel News | Tags: ISIS, Israeli Arabs

Palestinian Power Company Reneges on Israel-Palestine Natural Gas Contract

After delays by Israel’s Antitrust Authority to make decisions, Palestine Power Generation Co decided to cancel its $1.2-billion Leviathan contract with the Delek Group & Noble Energy.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

An Israeli partner in the Leviathan offshore gas field said on Wednesday a Palestinian Arab company had cancelled a $1.2-billion supply contract, citing delays by Israel’s Antitrust Authority.

Delek said it had informed the Tel Aviv stock exchange that a 20-year contract it had signed with the Palestine Power Generation Co was cancelled by the Arabs on Tuesday, reports AFP.

Delek said this was because of “non-fulfillment of the conditions precedent set forth in the agreement, and essentially non-receipt of the approval of the Antitrust Authority, the delay in approving the development plan of the Leviathan project as well as other regulatory approvals required by law.”

Category: Israel News | Tags: Delek Group & Noble Energy, Israel Palestine, Leviathan gas field, natural gas

EU foreign policy chief praised for supporting EU task force on anti-Semitism

ADL president applauds Federica Mogherini & leading Italian parliamentarians for taking steps to ‘help Europe’s Jews to truly feel more secure.’

By Ynet news

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has expressed support for the creation of a European Union task force on anti-Semitism.

Jewish graves desecrated in Hungary. ‘Anti-Semitic assaults, hate speech, harassment, and vandalism are severely impacting Jewish communities across the EU’ – Photo: Feher Gabor

Mogherini, vice president of the European Commission and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, announced her support in a statement published in Italian newspaper La Repubblica and indicated that she had sent a proposal to Frans Timmerman, the European Commissioner whose portfolio includes human rights and non-discrimination. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Anti-Defamation League, antisemitism, EU, European anti-Semitism, Federica Mogherini

Ex-CIA official says former Mossad chief Dagan contradicts his official 2010 assessments

Ex-CIA analyst Fred Fleitz writes former Mossad chief Meir Dagan is ‘playing politics with security.’ “His criticism of Netanyahu’s statements about the Iranian nuclear program don’t hold up.” & in a 2010 security briefing “sang an entirely different tune.”

By Yoni Hersch & Israel Hayom Staff

The mudslinging nature of Israeli election season has also caught the attention of the press in the United States, and on Monday conservative online news site National Review published an article challenging claims by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

Vindictive Former Mossad head Meir Dagan speaking against Netanyahu since his position as ‘spy chief’ wasn’t extended – Photo: Roni Shutzer

The article’s author, Fred Fleitz, a former CIA analyst who worked with the House Intelligence Committee, wrote that Dagan’s “criticism of Netanyahu’s speech is a case of a former government official politicizing national security and is not reflective of the views of Israeli intelligence.”

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel Politics, Meir Dagan

High Court of Israel rules on racial profiling at Ben Gurion International Airport

After many years before Israel’s High Court of Justice, the current civil rights case was dismissed, but allows future petitions if necessary.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB

The High Court of Justice on Wednesday carved out a middle ground in one of the most important recent cases to be decided on the issue of racial profiling, with the particular case relating to security at Ben-Gurion Airport.

Entry into security check at Israel’s Ben Gurion Int’l Airport – Photo: REUTERS

On one hand the court dismissed the petition which had an ultimate goal of complete elimination of racial profiling and partially accepted the state’s argument that it could not completely change without heavily burdening all travelers, a change which would have been disproportionate. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ACRI, Arab discrimination, Ben Gurion International Airport, High Court, High Court of Justice

New Israeli app streams live video feed to Twitter followers from iPhone

Meerkat, originally a side project by Israeli high-tech ‘Life on Air’, is becoming a massive success on Twitter since its release.

By Sagi Cohen

Meet Meerkat, the new Israeli app that has achieved almost overnight success, has taken Twitter by storm, and has earned widespread coverage in the media and on websites around the globe.

Meerkat

Meerkat allows Twitter users to stream video of themselves or their surroundings to their followers with just the touch of a button. How does it work? You download the app to your iPhone and begin filming a video clip. At the same time, your Twitter account will automatically post a Tweet with a special link.

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: innovations, Israel high-tech, Meerkat, twitter

IDF to Have Gaza Belt Residents in Bombshelters Longer in Next War With Gaza

IDF is shortening the warning times for incoming Gaza rockets, saying the 15 seconds given was not enough time to find safety: Gaza Belt residents will be instructed to live in, or next to, protective shelters during future conflicts with Gaza.

By Tova Dvorin

Guidelines during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza gave a 15-second window to Gaza Belt residents to run to shelters in the event of a “Code Red” alarm – a short time to find safety.

Israelis find shelter from Gaza’s deadly rockets in a ‘converted’ sewage pipe – Reuters

But even 15 seconds is insufficient, a senior Home Front Command official revealed Wednesday – and during the next war, Gaza Belt residents may be instructed to live out of their shelters for the duration of the conflict.

Category: Israel News | Tags: bomb shelters, Code Red, Gaza attacks, Gaza rockets, IDF, Operation Protective Edge

Syrian gunfire lightly wounds IDF officer in Golan Heights

The IDF did not return fire following the slightly wounding of an officer, part of an Engineering force attempting to extricate a stuck bulldozer.

By BEN HARTMAN, NOAM AMIR/MAARIV HASHAVUA

An IDF officer was lightly wounded by a gunshot fired from Syria on Tuesday evening. The officer was treated at the scene in the northern Golan Heights and did not need to be evacuated from the scene.

An IDF soldier stands atop a tank near Alonei Habashan on the Golan Heights, close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria. – Photo: REUTERS

The gunshot came from an area near Quneitra under the control of government troops. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Golan Heights, IDF, IDF Engineering Corps, Syrian unrest