Archive for Israel News

| December 4, 2012
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Al-Arabiya presents: Jewish Beauties for Knesset

Saudi-based Al-Arabiya news service dedicates special elections feature to what it headlines ‘surge of beautiful women in Israeli politics’

By Roi Kais

 

Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya news network devoted a special feature Tuesday to the rise of beautiful women in Israeli politics, following the recent primaries in Labor and the Likud, and the foundation of Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua.

"היפות מובילות בבחירות בישראל". חילו, מיכאלי וחוטובלי

Hotovely (L) Michaeli (M) and Hilo (Screenshot)

The feature, titled “Beauties lead Israeli Politics,” said that “The fair sex is in the midst of a Knesset race,” adding that “The lists of the parties running for Knesset electionsin 2013 are enveloped in perfume.” Continue Reading »

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| December 4, 2012
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Alanis Morissette rocks Tel Aviv in amazing concert

Canadian singer performs new songs & signature hits at sold-out concert

Despite pressure by pro-Palestinian groups to cancel the show, Morissette chooses Israel to wrap-up her world tour

Eran Suissa

 

More than 8,000 Israeli fans arrived at Tel Aviv’s Nokia Arena on Monday night to watch beloved Canadian singer Alanis Morissette perform in Israel for the first time since 2000.

Head over feet: Beloved Canadian singer Alanis Morissette performs to a cheering audience in Tel Aviv, Monday. – Photo: KOKO

After an hour’s delay and wild cheers from the audience, the singer entered the stage shortly after 10 p.m., opening the sold-out show with “I Remain,” a song from her latest album. Continue Reading »

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| December 3, 2012
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France: Israeli settlement plan won’t bring sanctions, yet

French President says to Israel’s envoy in Paris at French Foreign Ministry:  ‘extremely concerned’ by Israel’s decision to build 3,000 new homes, but adds ‘we don’t want to shift into sanctions mode.’

Prime Minister’s Office: We won’t succumb to pressure

By Attila Somfalvi, agencies

 

French President Francois Hollande criticized a new Israeli settlement-building drive on Monday as contrary to peacemaking with Palestinians but said Paris was not ready to impose sanctions on the Jewish state.

Speaking after Israel‘s envoy in Paris was summoned to the French foreign ministry, Hollande said he was “extremely concerned” by Israel’s announcement that it would build 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, after a de facto UN recognition of Palestinian statehood. Continue Reading »

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| December 3, 2012
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Commander of Elite Sayeret Matkal: Stop leaking secrets to the press

IDF commander of one of Israel’s most elite units writes letter after Israeli media outlets publish information of Sayeret Matkal’s secret activities, including fatal training accidents & past assassinations.

By Lilach Shoval

 

The commander of the Israel Defense Forces’ secretive and elite Sayeret Matkal (General Staff Reconnaissance Unit) has posted a message asking all former members of the unit to stop sharing classified information with the press. Lt. Col. G. asked the former commandos to “return to a policy of discretion regarding the unit’s confidential operations and keep the unit away from the media.”

IDF training exercises – Photo- IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

“In the past years, and even more so recently, we have witnessed increased exposure of our unit’s activities in the media,” Lt.

Continue Reading »
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| December 3, 2012
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Australia’s Woodside buys 30% of Israel’s largest gas well, the Leviathan

Country’s 2nd largest gas producer agrees to $696m. initial payment

CEO: We’ll pursue a Liquified Natural Gas  plant (for

 export from Israel ) as quickly as we can.

By BLOOMBERG, JPOST.COM STAFF

 

Woodside Petroleum, Australia’s second-largest gas producer, agreed to pay an initial $696 million for a stake in Israel’s largest natural gas field.

Leviathan holds 453 billion cu.m. of gas. - Photo: Albatross

Leviathan holds 453 billion cu.m. of gas. – Photo: Albatross

Woodside will acquire a 30 percent interest in the Leviathan field, estimated to contain 17 trillion cubic feet of gas, from partners Noble Energy Mediterranean Ltd., Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration and Ratio Oil Exploration, the Perth-based company said Monday in a statement.

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| December 2, 2012
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Netanyahu: Human Trafficking in Israel is a Thing of the Past

PM Binyamin Netanyahu declared the problems of human trafficking & illegal immigration “have been solved.”

By David Lev

 

At an annual event discussing ways to end human trafficking, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared that the problem of illegal immigration into Israel “has been solved.” With no more than a few dozen illegals managing to get into Israel in recent months, Netanyahu said that for all intents and purposes, his government had managed to put an end to illegal immigration, and with it, the problem of human trafficking.

At the ceremony celebrating the end of human trafficking in Israel

At the ceremony celebrating the end of human trafficking in Israel
Koby Gideon

“Human trafficking, human torture, and murder of children were phenomena that accompanied the parade of illegals that entered the country. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| December 2, 2012
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BGU is the only foreign university to develop software for US robot.

Ben-Gurion University has been given an American grant to develop control software for a disaster-response military operations robot.

 

 

The US government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is responsible for the development of new technologies for use by the military. The agency at the Department of Defense, which has been responsible for funding the development of many technologies that have had a major effect on the world, also finances a “Robotics Challenge.” Now Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba has become the only foreign university chosen to lead a team on a track to develop control software for the DARPA robot. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: ,
| December 2, 2012
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US ‘shocked’ by Israel’s new homes to be built in E. Jerusalem

NYT wrote: Israel gave U.S. only few hrs notice of their decision to pursue housing development that may actually prevent the creation a contiguous Palestinian state.

Former US Ambassador Kurtzer: ‘This is one of the most sensitive areas of territory,’

By Ynet

 

The Israeli approval of 3,000 new housing units in east Jerusalem and the West Bank came as a shock to the US administration, the New York Times reported Saturday.

US President Barack Obama (Archive photo: AFP/THE WHITE HOUSE / Pete Souza)

US President Barack Obama -Photo: AFP/THE WHITE HOUSE/Pete Souza

The Americans were particularly angry at the decision to pursue “preliminary zoning and planning preparations” for a development on the segment connecting the town of Ma’aleh Adumim to Jerusalem (known as area E1) that would separate Ramallah and Bethlehem from Jerusalem and could prevent the creation of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state. Continue Reading »

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| December 1, 2012
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Latest Palestinian charge: ‘Israel behind increase in Palestinian AIDS cases’

A PA official now charges that Palestinians who work in Israel are subjected to “political blackmail” by their Jewish authorities – something that exposes them to AIDS infections.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

Israel is responsible for the increase in the number of AIDS patients in the Palestinian territories, As’ad Ramlawi, director of Primary Heath Care in the Palestinian Authority, claimed Saturday.

Taking blood for an HIV test [illustrative] - Photo: Yannis Behrakis/Reuters

Taking blood for an HIV test [illustrative] – Photo: Yannis Behrakis/Reuters

Ramlawi’s allegation was reported by the PA’s official new agency Wafa.Ramlawi was speaking during an event organized by the PA Ministry of Health in Jenin, marking the United Nation’s World Aids Day.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| November 30, 2012
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Israel fares better than many European countries, to be born in

Israel ranks surprisingly well on list of ‘Best countries to be born in’, ranked 20th, ahead of many European countries 

Switzerland comes in 1st & Nigeria came in last.

 

Switzerland is the best country in which to be born in 2013, but Israel ranks surprisingly highly, coming in above many European countries in 20th place, according to a new study of some 90 countries by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Swiss bliss: Switzerland is ranked as the best country to be born in. – Photo: GettyImages

The study, which aimed to measure the opportunities in each country for citizens born in 2013, took into account 11 statistically significant indicators, including: per capita gross domestic product, life expect­ancy at birth, the state of political freedoms, faith in government, unemployment and crime rates, divorce rates, gender equality and climate. Continue Reading »

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| November 30, 2012
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Canadian FM: ‘Canada won’t let the Jews or Israel stand alone’

Abbas & the PA should have used the support  received in the UN to reach out to Israel for peace talks, said Canadian foreign minister.

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, who delivered a supportive speech of Israel at the UN before its vote Thursday on the Palestinian statehood, said Friday “the bottom line is we will not let the Jewish people and the State of Israel stand alone when the going gets tough.”

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird - Photo: Courtesy of Herzliya Conference

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird – Photo: Courtesy of Herzliya Conference

Baird, in a phone interview from New York, said he had “absolutely no hesitation” about taking the podium and opposing the Palestinian bid, something he knew was not a popular position in the hall.

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| November 30, 2012
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Doctor euthanizes daughter then takes his own life

Police Report: Father in Nir Yisrael a community in Southern Israel, takes own life after rendering euthanasia to daughter suffering from terminal cancer.

 

Tragedy befell the southern Israel moshav of Nir Yisrael on Friday morning, when a local doctor killed his daughter, who was suffering from terminal cancer, before taking his own life, Lachish subdistrict police reported.

MDA

MDA Ambulance – Photo: WIkicommons

Lachish District Spokeswoman Shlomit Zachariya said that the father was a doctor in his 60s, who decided to euthanize his daughter, either with an injection or an overdose of some sort, rather than see her suffer a slow death from cancer. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Jewish News | Tags:
| November 29, 2012
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Amb. Michael Oren: Why Fall for Hamas’s media manipulation

If Hamas cannot win the war, it wants to win the story of the war.

By Michael Oren,

Michael Oren is Israel’s ambassador to the United States.

 

What makes better headlines? Is it numbing figures such as the 8,000 Palestinian rockets fired at Israel since it unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the 42.5 percent of Israeli children living near the Gaza border who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder? Or is it high-resolution images of bombed-out buildings in Gaza and emotional stories of bereaved Palestinians? The last, obviously, as demonstrated by much of the media coverage of Israel’s recent operation against Hamas.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| November 29, 2012
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Amid opposition & hacking fears, National Biometric Database is launched

Knesset approves use of national biometric identification database for a trial period of 2 years.

Volunteers can submit their face scans & fingerprints to receive “smart” passports and/or identification cards

Knesset opposition leader Yachimovich warns: All databases can be hacked.

By Gideon Allon

 

The Knesset approved the launch of a national biometric identification system on Wednesday, which will be tested at the beginning of 2013. The decision to begin using the system was made by a joint committee comprising the Science and Technology Committee, Internal Affairs and Environment Committee and Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

The biometric database trial is launched.

Continue Reading »
Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| November 29, 2012
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Stevie Wonder pulls out of Friends of the IDF fundraiser

Stevie Wonder, who performed at a 1998 gala honoring Israel’s 50th anniversary, will not be participating at the fundraiser, says his representative.  The performance would be incongruent with his status as a UN ‘Messenger of Peace.’

By JTA

 

Stevie Wonder is set to pull out of a performance at a fundraiser for the Israel Defense Forces, a source told JTA.

Wonder’s representatives will claim that he did not know the nature of the group, the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and that he believes such a performance would be incongruent with his status as a UN “Messenger of Peace,” according to a source who has read email exchanges between Wonder’s representatives and organizers of the event. Continue Reading »

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