Israel News

Israeli authorities caution public on bitcoin risks, considers regulation

Israeli financial authorities scrutinized the use of virtual currencies, warning that it’s not legal tender, unsupervised, & presents fertile ground for dubious transactions.

Israel has emerged as a bitcoin hotspot.

By Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

Israel is considering regulating the bitcoin, the Internet’s crypto-currency, and financial authorities are warning citizens that using such decentralised virtual currencies is risky.

Money, money, money: Israel is considering regulating the bitcoin and is warning citizens of the risk of using it – Photo: Reuters

Bitcoins are passed between two parties digitally and can be traded on exchanges for real-world currencies. The bitcoin’s value fluctuates according to user demand but it is not backed by any government or central bank. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: finance, High Tech, Internet, money

Lady Gaga comes to Tel Aviv… Again!

Not intimidated by BDS and calls to boycott Israel, Lady Gaga to perform in Tel Aviv, September 13.

By Jana Banin

The upcoming Lady Gaga concert has an official date and location: September 13^th in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park. The news was announced Wednesday on the Israeli show “Good Evening with Guy Pines.”

Lady Gaga (PR Photos)

Other acts set to perform in the Holy Land over the next few months include the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, the Pixies, and more.

Get busy Roger Waters—looks like you have some serious open letter writing ahead of you.

Category: Israel News | Tags: BDS, concert, Lady Gaga, music

Syrian father asks Israeli doctors after death of wife & son: Save my boy, he’s all I have left

Israeli doctors at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa preforms brain surgery to save wounded Syrian child after mother & brother killed in Syria by explosion.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Rambam Medical Center in Haifa performed life-saving brain surgery on a Syrian child, releasing him this week, the hospital announced Thursday.

WOUNDED SYRIANS are treated at this Israeli field hospital on the Golan Heights. – Photo: REUTERS

After arriving at the hospital in critical condition from Syria, the child’s father told doctors, “Please save him, he’s all I have left.”

According to a press release, the child was released earlier this week on his own feet and walking. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: IDF Emergency Medical, Israel Syria, medical attention, Syrian unrest

Church Leaders Reject BDS Boycott After Tour in Soda Stream Factory

American delegates from the Presbyterian Church, which formally endorsed boycotting Israel, change their minds after viewing up close the West Bank Soda Stream factory.

By Maayana Miskin

A delegation of 14 leaders from the Presbyterian clergy, a church that in the past supported boycotting Israeli products manufactured in Judea and Samaria (Shomron), arrived last week to visit Israel.

Presbyterian delegates – Photo: Courtesy of AIFL

The visit was organized by the America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL); the delegates’ goal was to discover Israel personally and to better understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Representatives from the Presbyterian Church, which has an estimated six million followers, visited the Soda Stream factory which is located in Maaleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: BDS, Israel boycott, Judea and Samaria boycott, Presbyterian Church, SodaStream

Jerusalem strengthening ties with China

Israel’s special delegation headed by NSC chief Yossi Cohen will visit Beijing in the coming weeks, to hold strategic dialogue with Chinese leaders.

Current Israel-China relationship is based predominantly on bilateral trade.

By Shlomo Cesana

A special delegation headed by National Security Council chief Yossi Cohen will leave for China in the coming weeks to hold a strategic dialogue with Chinese officials.

National Security Council chief Yossi Cohen

Political sources said Tuesday that while Israel’s unique relationship with the United States was invaluable, Israel cannot ignore China’s growing standing as a world power and the subsequent need to reinforce Jerusalem’s ties with Beijing.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel China

Anti-Israel NGOs supported by EU funding spark calls for reform by MEPs

Israel based NGO Monitor, presents EU funding bias to Members of the European Parliament.

Sarah Ludford, a British MEP says, “To have EU money supporting the BDS agenda is shooting ourselves in the foot.”

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

The Jerusalem-based organization NGO Monitor delivered a presentation on Tuesday to members of the European Parliament, which outlined irregular funding practices for EU funded NGOs in the Middle East, including organizations that seek to delegitimize Israel.

GERALD STEINBERG – Photo: NGO MONITOR

Speaking from Brussels, Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO monitor, told The Jerusalem Post that a “highly disproportionate number of NGOs are focused on the Israel-Palestinian conflict… more so than any other part of the world.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: European Parliament, NGO, NGO Monitor

Israel signs $500 million natural gas export deal with Jordan

This is the1st export deal from the Tamar field off Israel’s coast, supplying natural gas over 15 years to 2 separate Jordanian companies.

By Eran Azran and Reuters

The partners in the Tamar natural gas field off Israel’s Mediterranean coast signed their first export deal, to sell at least $500 million of gas over 15 years to two Jordanian companies.

The platform at the Tamar offshore gas field. – Photo: Albatross

Under the agreement, Tamar will supply 66 billion cubic feet of gas a year to Arab Potash and its unit, Jordan Bromine – a joint venture with U.S.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel economy, Leviathan gas field, Noble Energy, Tamar Gas Field

Kerry: Jewish Evictions from West Bank May Not be Required

John Kerry suggests that Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, in a future peace agreement, may not be evicted from their homes.

By Elad Benari

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is trying to push Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to sign a peace agreement, is hinting that Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria may not be evicted from their homes when an agreement is signed.

John Kerry – Reuters

In an interview with journalist Ilana Dayan on Channel 2, Kerry was asked what will be the personal price that residents of Judea and Samaria will have to pay for peace. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel settlements, John Kerry, Judea and Samaria, Peace Process

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Sheikh Aladoan of Jordan: ‘Israel Belongs to the Jews!’

Sheikh Ahmed Aladoan teaches that in the Koran, “there is no name ‘Palestine’ for this land, and therefore, the Arabs should not be fighting the Jews over control of this land.”

By Yossi Aloni

Sheikh Ahmed Aladoan of Amman, a member of Jordan’s well-known Adwan tribe, posted to Facebook this week that there is no such place as “Palestine,” and provided references from the Koran to back up his assertion.

Sheikh Ahmed Aladoan of Amman (in middle) – Screenshot Ynet clip

One of the Koranic verses provided states that Allah gave the Holy Land to the sons of Israel until the Day of Judgment (Surah Al-Ma’ida, verse 21), and the other (Surah Al-Shara’a, verse 59) says that the land was bequeathed to the Jews. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: pro-Israel

103 stolen Torah scrolls found in Russia by Hungarian Rabbi

Rabbi Slomo Koves reported that he has uncovered, in a library in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, 103 stolen Torah scrolls from Hungarian Jews during World War II.

Rabbi Koves told a press conference in a Budapest synagogue that he has initiated talks with Russia about the return of the scrolls.

By Reuters & Israel Hayom Staff

A Hungarian rabbi said on Tuesday he had uncovered 103 Torah scrolls stolen from Hungarian Jews during World War II and stashed in a Russian library, adding he planned to restore and return them to the Jewish community.

Rabbi Baruch Oberlander shows media how a Torah is used in a synagogue during a news conference in Budapest on Tuesday – Photo: Reuters

Slomo Koves, chief rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation, said he had found the scrolls while following up a previous recovery of Hungarian war loot in the Lenin Scientific Library in Nizhny Novgorod, 420 kilometers (260 miles) east of Moscow.

Category: Israel News, The Diaspora | Tags: Torah

Breakthrough in Knesset committee makes way for vote on Haredi IDF service

Israel’s TV 2: Shaked committee members strike deal on age of enlistment for ultra-Orthodox and criminal sanctions for draft evaders.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Knesset members in the committee charged with hammering out legislation that would mandate the military enlistment of ultra-Orthodox youngsters reached an agreement late Tuesday night that seemingly paves the way for the legislation to be enacted.

Haredi protest IDF, Jerusalem, February 6, 2014 Photo: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM

According to Channel 2, the Shaked Committee, which was tasked with finding a formula that would ensure mandatory military service for haredim while also taking into account the need to maintain a religious lifestyle that would allow for Torah study, came to an agreement on the two main issues thought to be holding up a deal: criminal sanctions for draft-dodgers, and the age of conscription. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: haredi draft, Israel Politics, Knesset

IDF Radio Report: White House Demands Settlement Freeze

US negotiation team is set to force Israel to stop selling housing to Jews outside the recognized large settlement blocs, according to IDF Radio.

By Gil Ronen

The US team in the negotiations for peace between Israel and the “Palestinians” has demanded that Israel agree to an “informal” freeze of settlement activity outside the large settlement blocs, according to IDF Radio. The freeze will go into effect immediately after the signing of a framework agreement.

Israel will have to commit not to approve plans for housing, or market housing units, outside the large Jewish population concentrations in Judea and Samaria. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: construction freeze, housing, peace talks

Report: Vatican Maneuvering for Control of Mount Zion in Jerusalem

Christian leaders pressuring Israel to relinquish to the Vatican control of Mt. Zion housing King David’s tomb, and the building with the ‘last supper’ hall.

By Maayana Miskin

Christian leaders reportedly pressured Israel to turn over control of Mount Zion in Jerusalem during a clandestine meeting of senior city officials.

The meeting took place Tuesday in the office of Attorney Amnon Merhav, the director-general of the Jerusalem municipality. It was attended by officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, President’s Office, Tourism Ministry, Police, Kotel Rabbi’s Office, and more.

During the meeting, representatives of Christian groups in the capital pushed Jerusalem leaders to give the Catholic Church control over the Mount Zion area that includes the “Hall of the Last Supper.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Catholic Church, Jerusalem, King David's Tomb, Mount Zion

US Professors Follow Scarlett Johansson’s Lead in Rejecting Boycotts of Israel

248 heads of major American universities & colleges publicly object to the ASA academic boycott of the Jewish state.

By Yossi Aloni

Scarlet Johansson is not alone. At least 248 major colleges and universities in the US have outright rejected any boycott of Israel

zzz Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson is not alone in her principled stance against boycotts targeting Israel. Following intense activity by Jewish organizations, Israeli consulates and various friends of Israel, the heads of no fewer than 248 major American universities and colleges have in recent weeks openly stated their rejection of an academic boycott against the Jewish state. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: BDS, Israel boycott