Israel News

Israelis reach out to Iranians on Facebook

One Iranian writes: “We are 2 civilizations with more than 2,500 years of friendship. Why should I hate Israel?”

Man holding Israeli flag sends message to Iran

Israelis send Iranians messages of peace (Facebook)

With the war drums between Israel and Iran beating at a fevered pace, an Israeli couple has launched an online campaign with the hope of reaching out on a personal level to the people of Iran.

Israelis send Iranians messages of peace (Facebook)

Ronny Edry, 41, said that he and his partner Michal Tamir, 35, both graduates of Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, created the poster campaign last Thursday on something of a lark, with no idea that within days it would take on a life of its own.

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: Iran, Peace

PA Video Mimics Psalms: ‘If I Forget You, Al Quds’

Now, Arabs try to steal the Bible. PA TV has produced a video song with a Muslim version of Psalm 137

Official Palestinian Authority (PA) TV has produced and broadcast a music video that attempts to steal Psalm 137 regarding Jerusalem, mimicking the famed words: “If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill, may my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember thee, If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.”

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) monitored, recorded and translated the clip.

The eternal verse from Psalms expresses Jewish longing for Jerusalem after its destruction and the Jewish exile. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: PA TV, PMW, Psalms

UN: Settlers taking over Palestinian-owned springs

Report claims intimidation, violence being used to limit Palestinian access to W. Bank springs; IDF rejects claims.

Ein Hagvura natural spring in the West Bank - Photo by Sharon Udasin

Amid the sprawling olive groves that surround Ein Al Ariq – or Ein HaGvura – outside of Nablus, Jamal Daraghmeh recalled the days of the 1970s, when he and fellow community members used to come to the basin to collect water for their village drinking needs and livestock.

“We [now] have access only after coordination for the olive harvest, once a year,” Daraghmeh, the mayor of nearby village al Luban al Sharqiya, told reporters during a United Nations field tour of the area last week. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Jewish News | Tags: OCHA, Palestinians, Settlers, UN, water, West Bank

Waiting for the Messiah: Netanyahu addresses Evangelical Christian gathering in Jerusalem

Head of Christians United for Israel, largest pro-Israel lobby in U.S., compares PM to Moses and King David.

American Evangelical pastor John Hagee – who heads the largest pro-Israel lobby group in the United States – half jokingly compared Benjamin Netanyahu to the Messiah on Sunday night, as he waited for the delayed prime minister to arrive at a Jerusalem hotel to address the crowd.

“There’s a saying in Judaism about the Messiah – I know that even if he tarries, he’ll come,” Hagee told hundreds of members of Christians United for Israel. “I know that the prime minister will come, and even if he tarries, he’ll come.”

Category: Israel News | Tags: Christians, CUFI, Netanyahu

New Radars Cut Gaza Infiltrations by 70-80%

Radars scan an entire section of the border, tracking multiple targets simultaneously without rotating.

New radars in use on the border with Gaza have helped the IDF cut the rate of infiltrations by 70-80%, the IDF Website says.

The new radars, “Baron” and “Baroness”, employ a revolutionary new scanning technology. The IDF Website reports that they are equipped with a wide-view scanner, which makes it unnecessary for them to rotate like traditional radars, thus eliminating blind spots. The new radar can scan a section of the border and track multiple targets simultaneously, without leaving any area vulnerable.

IDF radar operators - Photo By IDF website

The radar is also sensitive to objects moving at low speeds.

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: IDF, terrorists

Broad Israeli-PA cooperation continues despite tensions’

Foreign Ministry report details cooperation between Israel, PA in terms of medical treatment for Palestinians in Israel, security coordination, employment opportunities for Palestinians.

Nearly 200,000 West Bank Palestinian patients and those accompanying them were granted permits in 2011 for medical treatment in Israel, a 13 percent increase from 2010, according to a Foreign Ministry report.

Security Barrier between Israel and the West Bank

The report, entitled “Measures Taken by Israel in Support of Developing the Palestinian Economy and Socio-Economic Structure,” will be submitted Wednesday to the Palestinian donors’ conference meeting in Brussels.

In addition, according to the report, some 21,500 Palestinian children from the West Bank were treated in Israeli hospitals last year, a 171% increase from the year before.The

Category: Israel News |

Israel: Palestinian economy not stable enough for independent state

The government report obtained by Haaretz, to be presented before donor meeting on Palestinian aid in Brussels, rules Palestinians are still dependent on foreign aid.

Israel is expected to present a report Wednesday at a donor meeting on Palestinian aid in Brussels claiming that the Palestinian Authority is not sufficiently stable to meet the standards of a well-functioning state.

The 44-page report, written by the Foreign Ministry and several other government ministries, will be presented by the Israeli delegation to the representatives at the donor meeting, including Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store who serves as the chairman of the committee, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, and the Mideast Quartet envoy Tony Blair.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Gaza, Palestinian Authority, Palestinians, West Bank

Intel Banks on Israel for Profit, Hangs Out ‘Help Wanted’ Sign

Intel Israel once again is hanging out the “help wanted” sign as the company says the Israeli branch provides it with 40 percent of its profits.

Maxine Fassberg, general manager of Intel Israel, told the company’s annual news conference in the southern city of Kiryat Gat, 20 miles north of Be’er Sheva, that it will hire another 600 employees this year.

Intel Israel hired 700 new employees last year, bringing its total work force in Israel to 7,800.

Intel logo

“Intel Israel’s exports totaled $22.4 billion in 1999-2011,” said Fassberg, and last year’s exports totaled $2.2 billion, helping Israel’s balance of trade and strengthening the shekel. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: Intel

BGU develops new way of testing for cancer

Health Scan: “Fingering” Obesity – why babies should learn to feed themselves; protective Parkinson gene.

A simple blood test is being developed by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba that may provide early detection of many types of cancer.

cancer cell - Photo By Thinkstock/Imagebank

Prof. Joseph Kapelushnik of BGU’s Faculty of Health Sciences and colleagues developed a device that uses infrared light to illuminate cancer cells in less than a teaspoon of blood. The experimental test detects minuscule changes in the blood of a person who has a cancerous growth somewhere, even before the disease has spread.

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: BGU, cancer

Israel to UN: Fire worker over false Gaza Tweet

Ambassador Prosor says OCHA rep in Jerusalem must be dismissed for claiming photo she posted via Twitter was of Palestinian girl killed in IAF strike; Israel found girl was killed in car crash

The Israel Mission to the UN has formally requested that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) fire its national officer in Jerusalem, Khulood Badawi, due to her blatant anti-Israel activism, Fox News reported over the weekend.

Last week, the report said, Badawi used Twitter to send a picture of a bloodied child in her father’s arms with a caption: “Palestine is bleeding. Another child killed by Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: Palestinian insitement, UN

Rainwater reaching Israel’s Kinneret fell 13% in two decades

Report also foresees a further decrease in natural water resources due to climate change.

The amount of rainwater reaching Lake Kinneret and groundwater reservoirs in Israel has decreased by 11 percent in the last two decades, according to a recent report by the Israel Water Authority. According to the report, which studied the natural water resources between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, the decrease in water reaching the Sea of Galilee was even higher, at 13 percent. The report also foresees a further decrease in natural water resources due to climate change.

Staff of the Israel Hydrological Service at the Water Authority carried out a comprehensive study of yearly rainwater in Israel and the overall replenishment volume of water reservoirs after rains.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Water conservation

israelandstuffcom | March 17, 2012

Fatah accuses Iran of trying to block Palestinian unity

Following Hamas visits to Iran, Fatah says the Islamic Republic is paying Hamas leaders in Gaza to block reconciliation efforts; attempts to implement unity agreement at an impasse.

Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh arrives in Tehran - Photo By REUTERS/Mortez

Iran is funding some Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip to encourage them to thwart efforts to achieve reconciliation with Fatah, Azzam al-Ahmed, member of the Fatah Central Committee, said Saturday.

Ahmed’s charges came in response to the visit of two top Hamas leaders, Mahmoud Zahar and Ismail Haniyeh, to Iran in the past few weeks.

“Iran does not want the Palestinians to end their divisions,” Ahmed told the Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: hamas, Iran

israelandstuffcom | March 17, 2012

Soldier ‘bans’ Prime Minister from IDF’s Facebook page

Editor of army’s Facebook page deletes a comment left by one Benjamin Netanyahu for being too political, then brags on his personal Facebook page that he ‘banned Bibi.’

When then IDF Spokesman Avi Benayahu told the Herzliya Conference that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered his unit to train soldiers to be “new media warriors,” he probably never imagined that a year later one of those keyboard warriors would brazenly block the prime minister on Facebook.

Netanyahu has a number of Facebook pages: three official pages representing “The Prime Minister of Israel,” in Hebrew, English and Arabic, which are run by editors inside the Prime Minister’s Office, as well a political page run by Likud party spokespeople.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Facebook, IDF, Netanyahu

israelandstuffcom | March 16, 2012