Archive for Israel News

| February 15, 2013
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The deceptiveness of Israel’s ‘The Gatekeepers’

The film presents a ‘simplistic political message,’ erroneously implying that Israel’s ‘occupation of the West Bank’ stands between terror & coexistence.

By ROZ ROTHSTEIN & ROBERTA SEID

 

Dror Moreh’s documentary, The Gatekeepers, could have been a profound film.

Instead, Moreh uses his interviews with six former directors of Israel’s top security services to send a simplistic and deeply partisan political message: If Israel withdraws from the West Bank, terrorism will subside and peace will break out.

Yaakov Perry

Yaakov Perry – Photo: Reuters

To promote this message, the documentary engages in intellectual dishonesty and omits critical context. While most Israelis know the wider context, the average viewer probably does not, and therefore is vulnerable to the filmmaker’s biased version of the facts.
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| February 15, 2013
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Analysis: – A Case of Negligence & Tragedy

 

How does a ‘Prisoner X’ go from being an idealistic Zionist Jew to ending his life by suicide in Block 15 at Ayalon Prison?

By OR HELLER

 

Two words immediately come to mind in connection with the Ben Zygier-Alon-Allen affair: Tragedy and negligence.

Ben Zygier at his wedding, captured from an image broadcast by ABC News.

Ben Zygier at his wedding, captured from an image broadcast by ABC News. Photo: ABC Screenshot

Why tragedy? Because at the end of the day, we’re talking about a young, idealistic Australian Zionist Jew who left a comfortable life in a quiet Melbourne suburb and made aliya at the age of 19, joined the IDF, and then later the Mossad.

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| February 15, 2013
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Israel also faces existential economic threat, but from within

The threat:  Today, Ultra-Orthodox & Arab populations largely do not contribute to the mainstream workforce or pay taxes. 

By Israel Today Staff

 

Outgoing Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer this week stated that Israel has one of the strongest and most resilient economies in the world.

Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer says he is more optimistic about the Israeli economy than he was two months ago. – Photo: Dudi Vaaknin

 

However, Israel is facing a very serious existential threat… well, many existential threats, really, but one of those threats is the economy itself.

Israel is a fully welfare state, and there are two large sectors – the ultra-Orthodox Jews and the Arabs – which largely do not contribute to the mainstream workforce or pay taxes. Continue Reading »

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| February 15, 2013
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Israel’s ever-challenging diplomatic conundrum

Having the U.S. to impose a solution will be completely self-defeating as it hardens the Palestinian readiness to come to the negotiating table, since Israel will be delivered on a silver platter anyway, and makes any real diplomatic progress more difficult than ever.

By Dore Gold

In light of developments over the last few years, there has been a growing realization in Israel that the chances of reaching a complete final status agreement with the Palestinians are presently extremely small. This is not just an ideological position coming out of certain quarters in Israel, but it is also the professional view of practitioners who have been involved in the political process itself.

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| February 14, 2013
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UN ‘Concerned’ For Imprisoned Hunger Striking Arab Terrorists

A UN official has voiced concern over the health & well-being of hunger-striking Palestinian Authority terrorist prisoners.

By Elad Benari

 

A United Nations official on Wednesday expressed concern about the well-being of Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist detainees in Israeli prisons and in particular about the condition of hunger striker Samer Issawi, AFP reports.

A UN statement quoted in the report said that Humanitarian Coordinator James W. Rawley met in Ramallah with the PA’s prisoner affairs minister, Issa Qaraqe.

During the meeting, Rawley “expressed the United Nations’ continued concern about Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody,” according to the statement.

“They discussed the situation of four Palestinian detainees currently on hunger strike and, in particular, the critical health condition of one Palestinian detainee, Samer Issawi, who has been on hunger strike for more than 200 days,” it said, according to AFP. Continue Reading »

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| February 14, 2013
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Human Rights Watch: Israel committed war crimes during offensive on Gaza

New HRW report says Israel mounted multiple airstrikes on civilian targets & used disproportionate force during Operation Pillar of Defense against Gaza’s rocket attacks, which claimed the lives of over 40 non-combatant Gazans.

 

A U.S.-based rights group said Israel violated laws of war in a series of airstrikes it conducted during an eight-day military operation last November against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian girl stands next to a relative's house after it was destroyed

A Palestinian girl stands next to a relative’s house after it was destroyed in what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Nov.

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| February 13, 2013
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Gov’t initiative to annex Judea & Samaria then give Arabs citizenship

Women in Green advance initiative. Time to Wake Up from ‘Peace Delusion’. The Annexation Plan is moving forward. The ‘Sky won’t fall’ if Israel annexes Judea & Samaria, Geula Cohen, former Likud MK says.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and MK Yair Lapid, the leaders of Israel’s two biggest parties, have both said in recent days that Israel must resume negotiations with the Palestinian Authority with the goal of the creation of a new Arab state in Judea and Samaria. However, there is also a second diplomatic plan moving forward in recent weeks: an initiative to annex Judea and Samaria and give Arab residents citizenship. Continue Reading »

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| February 13, 2013
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Pat Boone sells Galilee land to American Evangelicals

At a ceremony at Yad Vashem, the 1950’s American singer/songwriter presented the original lyrics to “This Land Is Mine” made famous by ‘Exodus’ film. (Clip included)

 

American singer, actor and evangelical Christian Pat Boone is in Israel to present Yad Vashem with the Christmas card on which he scribbled the lyrics to “This Land Is Mine” – the popular song that he wrote to accompany a tune from the movie Exodus.
PAT BOONE holds up the framed Christmas card on which he wrote the lyrics to his song.

PAT BOONE holds up the framed Christmas card on which he wrote the lyrics to his song. – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The J’lem Post

One of the biggest chart-toppers of the late 1950s, Boone – who recently announced a new venture to sell small plots of land in the Galilee to Christian Zionists in the United States – is here as part of a delegation led by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

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| February 13, 2013
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WATCH: Obama says ‘We will stand steadfast with Israel’

Barack Obama’s State of Union address was dominated by domestic issues, but he also commented on his upcoming visit to Israel & the Middle East, expressing support for the Jewish State & promising to ‘do what is necessary to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon’

By Yitzhak Benhorin, AP

 

WASHINGTON – The economic crisis and the serious political disputed on Capitol Hill were at the focus of US President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress’ two chambers on Tuesday, yet he did address the situation in the Middle East as well, stating that his country “We will stand steadfast with Israel in pursuit of security and a lasting peace.” Continue Reading »

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| February 13, 2013
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Gag Order Removed by Court on Mossad Australian ‘Prisoner X’

Israeli Judge cancels gag order on investigation into ‘Prisoner X’, an Australian who allegedly was a Mossad agent who committed suicide in prison in 2010.

By Arutz Sheva staff

 

The District Court in Lod removed the gag order on an investigation into Israel’s mysterious Prisoner X, an Australian citizen named Ben Zygier who allegedly committed suicide in an Israeli prison in 2010.

Ben Zygier

The story of so-called Prisoner X first surfaced in May 2010 when Israel’s Ynet news website ran a story in which it alleged that a prisoner was being held in top-secret conditions, whose identity and crime were not known even to his jailers. Continue Reading »

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| February 12, 2013
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Lapid: I’ll Advocate Civil Marriages & Reform Judaism

Yesh Atid’s chief, Yair Lapid says his platform includes dialog with Abbas, civil marriage & bringing reform Judaism to Israel.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, spoke Tuesday at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, held at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem. Lapid declared that his political agenda includes making the Reform and Conservative movements – both popular in the United States – equal to orthodox Judaism in terms of state support.

Yair Lapid“I want to do everything in my power to ensure the equality between all movements of Judaism in the state of Israel, Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform,” he declared. Continue Reading »

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| February 12, 2013
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MKs blow off censored event in Knesset

In Knesset assembly, MK Tibi asks: Is it true an Australian citizen under a different identity committed suicide in an Israeli prison?

Justice minister replies that he doesn’t know if foreign reports are accurate & the incident should be investigated.

 

The citizens of Israel will eventually learn information on a sensitive security case that was censored by the government, MKs told Justice Minister Ya’acov Ne’eman.

MK Ahmed Tibi“An article was published that an Australian prisoner committed suicide under a different identity. Do you know about the situation? Do you confirm that it occurred?” MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL-Ta’al) asked, in reference to a report by Australia’s ABC news. Continue Reading »

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| February 12, 2013
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Jerusalem under ‘High’ terror alert

Police, Firefighters and Magen David Adom emergency personal placed under high level of alert after warning of possible terrorist attack

Noam (Dabul) Dvir

 

Security forces in Jerusalem raised their alert level on Tuesday following a general warning of a possible terror attack in the capital.

Police, firefighters and Magen David Adom emergency crews were instructed to raise their alert level.

Jerusalem Fire Department spokesman Asaf Abras said the order to raise the level of alertness was given by Jerusalem District police chief in light of a security warning.

To continue reading, go to:

 

View original Ynet publication at:  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4344210,00.html Continue Reading »

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| February 12, 2013
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Israeli group plans to launch to moon in 2015

Space IL to demonstrate ground-breaking technology in the field of miniature smart spacecraft.

Space IL’s goal of sending a space module to the moon in 2015 receives significant backing from Bezeq telecommunications company

Ilan Gattegno

 

The Space IL organization has set an ambitious goal for itself – to send an Israeli spaceprobe to the moon in 2015. The project received significant backing on Monday when the Bezeq telecommunications company announced it had signed on.

Fly me to the moon: A model of the spacecraft that Space IL plans to send to the moon in 2015. – Photo: Alon Hadar

Bezeq will provide the advanced communications infrastructure needed for the spaceflight and also support Space IL’s educational activities.

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| February 12, 2013
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Protestant org that protected Jews from Nazis snubs Shoah ceremony

The French Protestant group established in 1939 has since become a staunch supporter of ‘Palestinian Rights’ and distances themselves from their honorable past.

By JTA

 

A French organization that saved Jews during the Holocaust has declined to attend a commemoration because it was organized by pro-Israel Jews.

The Marseille branch of CIMADE, a French Protestant group established in 1939, declined to attend the region’s main memorial ceremony for Jewish Holocaust victims because of the pro-Israel attitude of CRIF, the umbrella group representing French Jewish communities, which organized the event together with the municipality.

Certificate of Honor

Certificate of Honor

The values that led CIMADE to save Jews make the group “equally committed to oppose the colonial, discriminatory and bellicose policy of Israel with regards to the Palestinians,” CIMADE regional deputies Françoise Rocheteau and Jean-Pierre Cavalie wrote in a letter to the local CRIF branch on Dec. Continue Reading »

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