Report: DM Barak approved expansion of Gva&#8217;ot settlement in Gush Etzion prior to Palestinians&#8217; UN bid.

Dush the Clown, Helps Nepal & Gives Israel Good PR on the side

Dush the Clown is not a medical doctor but if laughter is the best medicine, then he’s a great Doctor. His work also reflex well on Israel.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

He may not be much of a doctor but the children’s faces light up when Dush The Clown shuffles onto their ward in his floppy shoes and red nose to prescribe his unique brand of medical care.

Medical clowns – INN TV

Dush — alias 36-year-old Israeli David Barashi — is in Nepal to teach doctors and nurses that laughter really can be the best medicine, with the latest evidence suggesting clowning around in hospitals can boost patient care. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Medicine, Napal

14 of 15 United Nation SC members slam Israeli building plans

Germany, Portugal, France, & Britain issue joint statement expressing “extreme concern” over Israeli construction plans in Ma’ale Adumim, E1

Israeli envoy Prosor: UNSC focusing on Israeli housing while Assad bombs his own people.

By HERB KEINON, MELANIE LIDMAN

The US prevented a UN Security Council condemnation of Israel for a spate of settlement construction decisions on Wednesday, leading the other 14 countries on the 15-member council to issue separate condemnations of their own instead.

UN Security Council members vote on resolution – Photo: REUTERS

France, Britain, Germany and Portugal issued a joint statement read out after a meeting on the Middle East in the Security Council saying thy were “extremely concerned by, and strongly opposed, the plans by Israel to expand settlement construction in the West Bank, including in east Jerusalem.”

Category: Israel News | Tags: E-1, UNSC

Signed Checks Worth $500 Million Found at Kotel

Jerusalem police were left bewildered Wednesday, after finding signed checks worth around $500 Million at the Western Wall.

By Rachel Hirshfeld

Jerusalem police were left bewildered after finding signed checks worth around half a billion dollars at the Western Wall on Wednesday.

The 507 checks were discovered in an envelope at the Jewish holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem and handed in to police by a good citizen, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said in a statement.

“The honest finder handed them over in accordance with the law to the police lost property office. For now the checks are waiting for whoever lost them,” the statement said. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Western Wall

Elections C’tee bars Zoabi from Knesset for supporting terrorism

The Central Election Committee banned Balad party head, MK Hanin Zoabi from the Knesset elections on grounds of supporting terror & rejecting Israel as a Jewish state.

The committee is set to discuss disqualifying Strong Israel, haredim from running for Knesset later in the week.

By LAHAV HARKOV

The Central Election Committee banned Balad MK Hanin Zoabi from running for the 19th Knesset on Wednesday, on grounds of supporting terror and rejecting Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

Zoabi’s disqualification will automatically be brought to an appeal before the High Court of Justice. The only individual disqualification to be upheld by the court was that of Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1988.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israeli politics

In addition to the 2,612, Barak approves another 523 West Bank houses

Report: DM Barak approved expansion of Gva’ot settlement in Gush Etzion prior to Palestinians’ UN bid.

Netanyahu to Asian envoys: ‘All Israeli gov’ts built in Jerusalem. We’re not going to change that.’

Itamar Fleishman

In addition to the approval of 2,612 housing units in Jerusalem’s Givat Hamatos, Defense Minister Ehud Barak has green-lighted the construction of an additional 523 units in the settlement of Gva’ot, located in the West Bank’s Gush Etzion region, Ynet learned Wednesday.

On way to becoming a city. Gva’ot

Barak approved the construction plan prior to the Palestinian bidin the United Nations. It was further reported that the Housing Ministry has issued a tender for the construction of 5,760 housing units across the country, including a 1,000 in Givat Ze’ev, Har Homa, Karnei Shomron and Efrat. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Ehud Barak, housing, new construction

Sadly, another Israeli warhorse is laid to rest – Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, 68

Former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak dies

IDF’s 15th Chief of Staff, at 68 dies after long battle with leukemia.

Mofaz: “We lost an extraordinary man.”
Yachimovich: “He was an officer and a gentleman.”

By Ynet

Former IDF Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 68-years-old.

He passed away in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, at noon.

Lipkin-Shahak was the IDF’s 15th chief of staff. He later served as the tourism and transportation minister in the 15th Knesset.

ליפקין-שחק במהלך תרגיל של חטיבת הצנחנים (צילום: זן ארליך, דובר צה"ל)

As chief of staff – Archives: ID

Born in 1944, Lipkin-Shahak enlisted in the IDF in 1962, joining the Paratroopers Brigade. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, IDF

2,610 Houses Approved for Jerusalem Neighborhoods

More than 2,000 additional new houses have been approved for Jerusalem neighborhoods. More int’l ire is expected.

By Chana Ya’ar

More than 2,000 additional housing units have been approved for a southern Jerusalem neighborhood adjoining Talpiot, in a move sure to set off another firestorm of protest in the international community.

Jerusalem’s local committee on Wednesday approved building permits for 2,610 housing units in the Givat HaMatos neighborhood in Jerusalem. The approval was passed by a vote of six to one, with former deputy mayor of Jerusalem Pepe Alalu voting against the proposal.

Givat Hamatos is a southern suburb of the capital located in an area restored to the city during the 1967 Six Day-War. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: housing, Jerusalem

Israeli Arab bus-bomber charged with 27 counts of attempted murder

Mohammed Mafarja, 18, is accused of planting hidden bomb on a Tel Aviv bus on the last day of Operation Pillar of Defense

Mafarja reportedly boarded a train to go back to work after he disembarked from the targeted bus

The explosive device was allegedly detonated remotely from the West Bank.

By Israel Hayom Staff

An indictment has been filed in the Tel Aviv District Court against the Israeli Arab man suspected of planting a bomb on a Tel Aviv bus on Nov. 21.

The site of a Tel Aviv bus bombing last month. – Photo: KOKO

Mohammed Mafarja, an 18-year-old resident of Taybeh, was charged with aiding the enemy during wartime, conspiring to commit a crime and 27 counts of attempted murder, among other charges.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Palestinian terrorism

Israel issues travel visas to Gazans for Christmas in West Bank

500 Christian Palestinians & 75,000 tourists to visit Bethlehem for Christmas

IDF to decrease military activity in area during holidays

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JERUSALEM POST STAFF

The IDF is set to issue permits to some 500 Palestinian Christians residing in Gaza allowing them to travel to the West Bank, specifically Bethlehem, for Christmas. Additionally, at least 20,000 entrance visas will likely be issued to Christian pilgrims who are expected to visit Bethlehem from abroad for the holiday.

Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem – Photo: Michael Omer-Man

The IDF traditionally decreases its activities in the Bethlehem area around the holiday in order to facilitate Christmas celebrations among the Christian community. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Arab Christians, Bethlehem, Christmas, Gaza

3,000 New Homes Planed for Existing ‘Settlement Blocs’

The gov’t ministry plans to issue tenders for construction in 3 large Israeli towns in Judea & Samaria.

By Maayana Miskin

The Housing Ministry is planning to issue building tenders for projects in three large Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria, Channel 2 reports.

According to the report, the new tenders are part of a plan to allow construction of 3,000 new homes in Israeli communities in the region.

Tenders will be issued for projects in Karnei Shomron, Efrat, and Givat Zev, all of which are located in “settlement blocs” – areas with a large Israeli population that, based on past negotiations, it has been assumed will remain under Israeli sovereignty if a diplomatic agreement is reached with the Palestinian Authority. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: new construction

European UNSC members to condemn Israel over East Jerusalem housing

Netanyahu urges all Zionist parties to support building in the capital, but Livni slams gov’t’s plans.

The 4 European members that condemn the Israeli building plans are France, Britain, Germany & Portugal, diplomatic source says.

By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF

European nations in the 15-member United Nations Security Council are set to jointly condemn Israel over its plans for Jewish settler homes in east Jerusalem, a European diplomatic source said on Tuesday.

JERUSALEM’S RAMAT SHLOMO neighborhood. – Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski/The Jerusalem Post

Israel approved plans for a further 1,500 homes on Monday after provoking international protests earlier this month against a project for another 3,000 such homes in a sensitive area known as E1.

Category: Israel News | Tags: E-1, Jerusalem, new construction, UNSC

Israel Antiquities Authority & Google launch Dead Sea Scrolls digital library

Using NASA & Google technology, the new website allows visitors to read the fragments, text search in Hebrew & English translation, as well as place the specific scroll at the site where it was first found.

By Nir Hasson

The Israel Antiquities Authority and Google Israel launched the Dead Sea Scrolls digital library on Tuesday.

Dead Sea Scrolls digital library.

The library, stored on Google servers, will eventually hold all of the tens of thousands of fragments of the scrolls in very high resolution. For now, some 4,000 scans of infrared photographs taken right after their discovery in the 1950s have been uploaded, as well as 1,000 new scans done in a lab specially constructed for this task by the Antiquities Authority. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Dead Sea Scrolls, Google

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Haaretz News Writer ‘Wins’ the 2012 Booby Prize for ‘Dishonest Reporting’

HonestReporting, which tracks int’l media bias against Israel, awards Israel’s newspaper Haaretz writer Gideon Levy with the “Dishonest Reporting Prize” for 2012.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

The HonestReporting website, which tracks media bias against Israel, awards Haaretz writer Gideon Levy the “Dishonest Reporting Prize” for 2012.

The media watch site explained that although it traditionally cites international media for faulty reporting, it cited Levy as the worst offender this year because foreign media often base their reports on Haaretz, the most popular left-wing newspaper in Israel.

The newspaper denies it is anti-religious or anti-Zionist, but only the most left-wing liberals, and non-Israelis who do not really know the country, could view it otherwise. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: anti-Israel, Media, media bias