In letter to Wall Street Journal, R. James Woolsey writes: For those hung up on the fact that he’s an American Jew, pretend he’s a Greek- or Korean- or Filipino-American and free him.

El Al Plane’s Engine Breaks Apart in Mid-Air

An El Al plane flying from London to Tel Aviv was forced to turn back after one of its engines failed and began falling apart

By David Lev

An El Al plane flying from London to Tel Aviv was forced to turn back to Heathrow Airport Wednesday night, after one of its engines failed. All 390 passengers on board Fight 318 were safe, and they were transferred to another plane. Passengers were forced to remain on the ground while arrangements were made for an alternative flight, and many of the passengers will not be arriving until mid-afternoon Thursday.

The plane’s crew declared an emergency shortly after takeoff when one of the Boeing 747-400’s engines failed. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: El Al

Kenya Arrests Iranian Terrorists who Targeted Israeli

Two Iranian terrorists who were arrested in Kenya were planning to attack Israeli, American, British and Saudi targets in the country.

By Elad Benari

Officials in Nairobi reported on Monday that two Iranian terrorists who were arrested in Kenya last week were planning to attack Israeli, American, British and Saudi targets in the country.

According to the officials, 15 kg of RDX-type explosives, designed to carry out powerful terrorist attacks, were found to be in the possession of the terrorists.

The suspects denied the charges against them, the officials said. One of them said, “We are asking the court to let us go because we are innocent.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: Iranian terrorists, Kenya

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Annexation Wins Hands Down over a Two-State solution

History, Demographics, and Law Favor Israel’s Annexation of Judea and Samaria, Not a Two-State Solution

By Matthew M. Hausman (reposted from Aug 2011)

It has become an article of political faith in the West that the creation of an independent Palestinian state will resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. But the two-state paradigm is based on fictional assumptions – that an ancient Palestinian people occupied the land for thousands of years until its displacement by Israel, that the conflict is driven by this displacement, and that Israel usurped ancestral Arab soil. These false premises are used to obscure the true nature of the conflict, which is not really a dispute between Israelis and Palestinians over real estate, but rather is a war of annihilation being waged by the entire Arab-Muslim world. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: one state solution

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Israel’s Emergence As Energy Superpower Making Waves

Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir famously lamented that Moses led the children of Israel for forty years of wandering in the desert until he found the only place in the Middle East where there wasn’t any oil.

By Walter Russell Mead

But could Moses have been smarter than believed? Apparently the Canadians and the Russians think so, as both countries are moving to step up energy relations with a tiny nation whose total energy reserves some experts now think could rival or even surpass the fabled oil wealth of Saudi Arabia.

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock.

Actual production is still miniscule, but evidence is accumulating that the Promised Land, from a natural resource point of view, could be an El Dorado: inch for inch the most valuable and energy rich country anywhere in the world. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: energy, Oil

K’, an Arab-Israeli from Haifa, “Proud to Serve, No Matter What They Say”

The unusual story of Corporal K’, an Arab-Israeli plane technician, who decided to enlist in the IDF despite all her fears. Today, she maintains combat planes at “The Valley” squadron

Lilach Gonen | Photography: Yonatan Zalk

K’ with an F-16 Engine

For Corporal K’, a front rank technician at Ramat David Airbase, enlisting in the IDF was not a given. As all her friends began receiving their first military warrants, it still wasn’t clear what awaited her along the way. But against all expectations, K’–an Arab-Israeli from Haifa–decided to enlist in the military. “I was very afraid of my parents’ response”, she shares.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Apartheid, IAF

Israeli technology to secure France’s Louvre

France-based Synel technology to install comprehensive security system in world’s most visited art museum in effort to prevent burglary

By Sagi Cohen

With the help of Israeli technology, the Louvre Museum in Paris will stay secure. Synel, an Israeli subsidiary company based in France has just been awarded a large contract at the Louvre Museum.

Louvre Museum – Photo: AP

As part of the major project, Synel France was contracted to install a comprehensive system for security access control combined with electronic attendance. The deal is estimated to reach millions of shekels within several years.

The project, which is set to boost the museum’s security, will further entail the installation of Synel’s time and attendance management hardware, as well as the use of fingerprint verification, keypad entry, magnetic card, barcode card, proximity card, contactless smart card and facial recognition. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: Israel-France

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U.S. Presbyterian Church committee votes in favor of Israel divestment resolution

Committee Vote at assembly in Pennsylvania could be a sign that discourse among U.S. Christians on Israel is about to change, final vote to be held in the coming days.

By Natasha Mozgovay

Following a lengthy and heated debate, committee 15 of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States voted in favor of a motion calling for divestment from three companies that do business with Israel.

Whether or not the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel is gaining traction is one of the hottest questions being asked among the most politically active members of the Jewish community – as many people take the issue to heart. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Israel boycott

Ex-High Court Judge: Israel not ‘Occupier’ Under Int’l Law

A panel headed by a retired High Court judge concluded that there is no “occupation” and international law does not bar Jews from Yesha.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

A panel headed by a retired High Court judge concluded that there is no “occupation” and international law allows Jews to live in Judea and Samaria.

The conclusions of the committee represent a revolutionary turn of thought against the view widely accepted by the international community that Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are part of an “occupation” prohibited by international law.

Edmund Levy, who served on the High Court from 2001 until his retirement, headed a three-man committee that concluded that from a historical and legal prospective, and considering agreements with the Palestinian Authority, the international law against ”occupation” does not apply to Judea and Samaria. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: West Bank

New IDF military college to move to east Jerusalem

Interior Ministry approves National Defense College plan to build structure on Mount of Olives; Peace Now slams move as “crazy.”

By MELANIE LIDMAN

The Interior Ministry on Monday gave its initial approval for a new military college in east Jerusalem, which will be located on the Mount of Olives. The 42,000 square meter structure of the new National Defense College is planned for an open area between the Mount of Olives and Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus.

IDF soldiers view J'lem from Mt. of Olives - Photo: Darren Whiteside/Reuters

Left-wing groups slammed the approval. “This is a crazy plan to build a military college in one of the most sensitive areas in dispute,” said Hagit Ofran of Peace Now, who oversees the Settlement Watch Division. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: IDF

VIDEO: How Jonathan Pollard was caught

The 21-year-old internal briefing video produced by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, to encourage U.S. government employees to lose their inhibitions about reporting a colleague for exhibiting suspicious behavior, was released under the Freedom of Information Act.

By Eli Leon and Israel Hayom Staff

The following video depicts the events leading to the capture of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard in 1985. The internal briefing video, which was made 21 years ago, was produced by the Threat Countermeasures Branch of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and released under the Freedom of Information Act on June 25, 2012 to the IRmep Center for Policy and Law Enforcement.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Jonathan Pollard

Synagogue and mosaic floor excavated in Galilee

Israel Antiquities Authority Press Release: Monumental synagogue building discovered in excavations in Galilee

by Jim Davila

A monumental synagogue building dating to the Late Roman period (ca. 4th-5th centuries C.E.) has been discovered in archaeological excavations at Huqoq in Israel’s Galilee.

The excavations are being conducted by Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and David Amit and Shua Kisilevitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority, under the sponsorship of UNC, Brigham Young University in Utah, Trinity University in Texas, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Toronto in Canada. Students and staff from UNC and the consortium schools are participating in the dig

Huqoq is an ancient Jewish village located approximately two to three miles west of Capernaum and Migdal (Magdala).

Category: Israel News | Tags: archaeology

1 killed, 10 injured in explosion at drilling site

Pipe explodes at Mekorot drilling site, releasing toxic chemicals; one person in critical condition, four are seriously wounded; residents in the area are not in any danger, Environmental Ministry says; Highway 90 closed.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, SHARON UDASIN

One person was killed and ten were injured on Monday when a pipe of flowing hydrochloric acid exploded at a drilling installation near Ein Yahav in the Arava region of the South.

Magen David Adom ambulances - Photo: Reuters

The injured were evacuated by helicopters and ambulances to Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba. One person was in critical condition, four in serious condition, and five others were lightly injured. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: accident, Mekorot

IDF doesn’t want a haredi (ultra-Orthodox) brigade

Members of army’s Manpower Directorate oppose creation of separate combat brigade for ultra-Orthodox soldiers. ‘This goes against the people’s army principle,’ they say

By Yossi Yehoshua

In the backdrop of the uproar surrounding the Plesner Committee‘s discussions, the IDFis currently engaged in a lively debate of its own over whether to place religious soldiers in the various combat units or create a separate haredi brigade, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.

Nahal Haredi soldiers - Photo: Pablo Bichman

“There are bigger challenges than the ‘people’s army’ right now, and nothing will happen if they are assigned to large haredi frameworks,” said an IDF official who supports the establishment of a haredi brigade. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: IDF

israelandstuffcom | July 1, 2012