Archive for Israel News

| December 5, 2013
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American Studies leaders back Israeli boycott, ask members to vote

The 20-member national council approved the boycott resolution unanimously, but full body endorsement is still pending.

The boycott will not inhibit collaboration with individual Israeli academics, the statement said.

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The American Studies Association leadership on Wednesday endorsed a boycott of Israeli universities, but also sought the approval of the body’s 5,000 members.The decision follows a contentious debate at the group’s annual meeting last month and 10 days of deliberations that were supposed to last a morning. The boycott resolution was approved unanimously by the 20-member national council.
Students at an Israeli university relax on the lawn.

Students at an Israeli university relax on the lawn.

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| December 5, 2013
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1st Israeli Gov’t Minister Enters Turkey Since 2010

 

Israeli Minister Amir Peretz flies to Turkey to attend the United Nations sponsored conference about Mediterranean marine & coastal environmental issues.

By REUTERS
 
Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz flew to Istanbul on Wednesday, becoming the first Israeli cabinet minister to visit Turkey since ties ruptured in 2010 over a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz - Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters Peretz was attending a four-day UN sponsored conference about Mediterranean marine and coastal environment issues.

Confirming a report on Israel’s Channel 2 television, the official said Peretz was the highest-ranking Israeli in Turkey since ties soured after IDF commandos killed nine Turkish activists three years ago when their vessel violated an Israeli blockade on Hamas Islamist-ruled Gaza.

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| December 5, 2013
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John Kerry has Returned to Jerusalem

What pearls of wisdom will we hear this time?
On his last trip to Israel, Kerry made a number of threats – including a “3rd intifada” if talks failed – & declared Israel’s presence in Judea & Samaria as “illegitimate.”

By Elad Benari

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel on Wednesday for the first time since world powers struck a nuclear deal with Iran that angered the Jewish state, and amid renewed efforts to broker Israeli-Palestinian Authority (PA) peace talks, reports AFP.

The two issues are expected to dominate Kerry’s meetings on Thursday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas when Kerry travels to Ramallah. Continue Reading »

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| December 5, 2013
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Israel’s El Al Airlines posts record profits

 

Israel’s national flag carrier’s profit rose to record $57.9 million from $37.5 million the year before.

El Al’s chief executive complains gov’t boosts Turkish airlines expansion at expense of Israeli carriers.

Reuters

Net profit at Israel’s flag carrier rose to a record $57.9 million from $37.5 million a year earlier, El Al said on Wednesday. Revenue increased 6.2 percent to $643.3 million – the highest in five years – as passenger revenue grew 6.1 percent while cargo revenue dipped 0.8 percent.

File:El Al Boeing 737-8HX.jpg

El Al 737 – Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.

Chief Executive Elyezer Shkedy said the airline faced increased competition in the quarter as foreign airlines increased the number of seats offered by 14 percent. Continue Reading »

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| December 5, 2013
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Nearly Bankrupt, Hadassah Hospital is on its Last Leg

Having fallen victim in the Madoff scheme & internal disputes that followed, Hadassah Medical Center can’t eliminate its growing monthly debt.

By & Nathan Guttmanzz

 

 

In the past few years, Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, has struggled with a multimillion-dollar loss from the Bernard Madoff scandal and downsized its operations. Now it faces its greatest challenge yet: saving its flagship program — the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Hadassah Ein Kerem.

Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, Jerusalem – Photo Courtesy

The group’s famous hospital is on the brink of financial collapse.

The medical center has been bleeding tens of millions of dollars in the past few years, and efforts by the American women’s organization to save it have resulted in a rupture with the hospital’s Israeli leadership. Continue Reading »

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| December 4, 2013
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Rockefeller initiative to aid Israeli city become ‘calamity-proofed’

 

Ashkelon accepted in New York’s Rockefeller program devoted to assisting cities become more crisis-resilient.

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The Rockefeller Foundation in New York announced Wednesday that the Israeli city of Ashkelon will be one of the first 33 cities to be part of its 100 Resilient Cities Challenge.

The beach near Ashkelon National Park.

The beach near Ashkelon National Park. – Photo: Moshe Gilad

The challenge, launched after superstorm Sandy devastated New York in 2012, is a $100 million initiative aimed at making cities around the world more resistant to both natural and man-made calamities.

Selected out of hundreds of applicants, Ashkelon will have to instate its own “chief resilience officer” who will work with the Rockefeller team to conceive and implement a broad plan to shock-proof the city from myriad threats, according to media reports. Continue Reading »

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| December 4, 2013
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New Knesset bill: Public can petition Knesset to discuss issues

 

The newly proposed legislation, which allows in the Knesset a similar practice from the European Parliament, passed its preliminary reading today.

By LAHAV HARKOV

 

 
The public will be able to more actively participate in the Knesset’s work, as a bill proposed by MK Hilik Bar (Labor) allowing people to sign petitions on the Knesset’s website, is on its way to becoming law.
Labor Party MK Hilik Bar

Labor Party MK Hilik Bar – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The J’lem Post

The legislation, which brings a practice from the European Parliament to the Knesset, passed its preliminary reading Wednesday with 40 in favor and one opposed.

“This is an unprecedented, historic bill that changes the way we relate to the citizens who sent us to the Knesset to represent them and their involvement in our work,” Bar explained.

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| December 4, 2013
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3 Palestinian Arabs hijack car with baby in back

 

After mother is forced out of car she calls husband. Then father with friend enter hostile Arab village, finds his car abandoned with daughter sitting safely inside.

Father: ‘I wasn’t scared. I was only thinking about one thing – my daughter’s life’.

By Akiva Novick

Three Palestinian men hijacked a Dolev resident’s car Tuesday, when in the back seat sat her three-month-old daughter.

The car that was hijacked (Photo: Police Spokesperson)

The car that was hijacked – Photo: Police Spokesperson

The baby’s life was saved due the father’s resourcefulness, who found his daughter in the car, abandoned, between two hostile villages.

The incident happened in the Binyamin Hills Tuesday afternoon, around 4 pm. Continue Reading »

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| December 4, 2013
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Victory in Court: Iran to pay $9 Million to Israeli Terror Victims

US federal court awarded families of victims to a 1997 Jerusalem terror attack, $9 million from frozen Iranian assets, in a ‘Chanukah miracle’ verdict.

By Ari Yashar

 

On Wednesday an unprecedented US court victory awarded $9 million in frozen Iranian assets to the families of 5 terror victims murdered in a triple suicide bombing in Jerusalem back in 1997.

The bombings, which took place in the capital’s busy Ben Yehuda street, was carried out by Hamas. Among the 5 murdered were three 14 year old girls.

Shurat HaDin (Israeli Law Center) began the petition in 2001 against Iran, which it claimed provided material and financial support to Hamas in conducting the attack. Continue Reading »

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| December 4, 2013
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1st ever Hasmonean-era home unearthed in City of David, Jerusalem


Large treasure of coins discovered on the site, dating back to the period of Antiochus II through  Antiochus VII.

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The first-ever Hasmonean structure to be found in Jerusalem has been uncovered in recent months in the City of David area. The large structure Hasmonean-period is located in the Givati parking lot, across from the entrance to the City of David National Park and only a few dozen meters from the Temple Mount.

Hasmonean-era structure.

Hasmonean-era structure uncovered in Jerusalem archaeological digging.- Photo: Emil Salman

Hasmonean-era Jerusalem is well known from the historic descriptions of Josephus and small archeological finds, including pottery and coins, from the period. Continue Reading »

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| December 4, 2013
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Norwegian delegation to appear at Knesset & apologize for Oslo Accords

 

Delegation of Christian leaders from Oslo wish to ask for forgiveness for the disaster of the Oslo agreements.

By GIL HOFFMAN

 

They are coming from Oslo – to apologize for “Oslo.” A group of more than 20 Christian leaders from Norway will be coming to the Knesset on Wednesday to ask for forgiveness for the diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians that began in their capital.

Yitzhak Rabin ז"ל, Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat at the White House during the Oslo Acords, Sept. 1993. - Photo: Reuters

Yitzhak Rabin ז”ל, Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat at the White House during the Oslo Acords, Sept. 1993. – Photo: Reuters

The group will be delivering an apology for the Oslo Accords, which passed in 1993 and 1995, to Deputy Knesset Speaker Gila Gamliel (Likud), the co-chair of the Knesset’s Christian Allies Caucus and a vigorous opponent of the accords from the start. Continue Reading »

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| December 4, 2013
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EU Source: 14 EU countries prepared to ban settlements products if talks fail

 

European Union source says 14 countries interested in implementing boycott on products manufactured in settlements and no financial aid to PA if talks fail.

By Elior Levy

A source with the European Union said on Tuesday that if negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians do not yield an agreement, the EU’s ties with both the Palestinian Authority and Israel may suffer.

EU Headquarters - Photo: Yves Herman/Reuters

EU Headquarters – Photo: Yves Herman/Reuters

According to the source, if the peace talks fail, the EU might discontinue its annual donations to the Palestinian Authority and expan its ban of Israeli products manufactured in the West Bank.

The issue of marking products manufactured in Israeli settlements has spread across Europe, as 14 EU states, including Britain and France, have noted they would be willing to mark products of Israeli settlements. Continue Reading »

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| December 3, 2013
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EXPOSED: Israel providing humanitarian assistance to Syrian civilians

Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon says the IDF has sent food & water across the border, and has been helping the Syrian refugees prepare for winter rains.

By

 

The Israel Defense Forces has been providing humanitarian aid to Syrians living near the border, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon revealed on Tuesday during a tour of the frontier.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on a tour of the Syrian-Israeli border on Tuesday, December 3, 2013.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on a tour of the Syrian-Israeli border on Tuesday, December 3, 2013.- Photo: Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry

According to Ya’alon, Israel has sent water and food, including baby foods, across the border, and has been helping the Syrians prepare for winter. Continue Reading »

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| December 3, 2013
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U.S. Ambassador Power Welcomes Israel to UN Human Rights Council’s WEOG

The United States’ Ambassador at the UN tells the UNHRC. “For far too long Israel has been unfairly excluded.”

By Elad Benari

 

Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has welcomed Israel’s admittance into the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Western European and Others Group (WEOG).

 

OVERVIEW OF the Human Rights Council at the UNHRC – UN Photo/Pierre Albouy

In a statement she issued on Monday, Power said, “For far too long Israel has been unfairly excluded from regional bodies at the United Nations. I applaud the decision to admit Israel into the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) at the UN in Geneva beginning January 1, 2014, providing Israel membership into one of the regional bodies that shape policy and determine leadership posts in UN fora.” Continue Reading »

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| December 3, 2013
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Israel holds 36th place in Gov’t Corruption Index

 

Israel climbs 3 spots from 39th to 36th place of 177 countries in level of transparency.

By Avital Lahav, Reuters

Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Israel 36th out of 177 countries, giving it a score of 61 out of 100 for its level of transparency. This suggests a minor improvement from last year when Israel was ranked 39th with a score of 60. However, 64% of OECD members were rated above Israel.

graft Illustration - Photo: Shutterstock

Graft Illustration – Photo: Shutterstock

Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index ranks more than four-fifths of countries in the Middle East below 50 on a scale where zero is a country perceived to be highly corrupt and 100 perceived to be very clean. Continue Reading »

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