Israel News

IDF foils major attack; kills 2 terrorists in Gaza strike

Air strike kills PRC commander Qaisi, who was at final stages of planning large-scale terror attack against Israeli targets, says IDF; Ahmad Hanini, released in Schalit prisoner swap also killed in blast.

Palestinians look at the remains of exploded vehic - Photo By REUTERS

The IAF struck a vehicle in Gaza on Friday, killing two senior officials of the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), in a move to thwart a large-scale terror attack that was in its last stages of preparation, according to the IDF spokesperson.

The IDF confirmed that the two killed in the attack were: commander of the PRC Zuhair Qaisi; and Ahmad Hanini, a senior PRC member freed in the Schalit prisoner swap.

Category: Israel News | Tags: PRC, targeted killing

Judean Desert eagles at risk

Nature and National Parks Service warns Israel’s eagle population in danger of disappearing

Israel Nature and National Parks Service has expressed serious concern over the country’s dwindling eagle population, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

Disappearing? Photo: Israel Nature and National Parks Service

According to the NNPS, while some 380 eagles roamed Israel’s skies in 1999, in 2010 there were only 70 eagles in northern Israe and 87 in its south, and in 2011 their numbers dropped to an alarming 49 in the south and 63 in the north.

The NNPS noted that some of the eagles were affected by the urban sprawl biting into their natural habitat, others were poached and some were poisoned due to the State’s faulty enforcement of preservations laws, especially in areas where farmers illegally spread poison to ward animals away from crops. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News |

PA to Israel: Release Prisoners, Then We’ll Talk Peace

Fatah yet again demands that Israel release terrorists as a condition for peace negotiations

The leadership of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement is once again demanding that Israel release terrorist prisoners as a condition for peace talks, it was reported on Thursday.

Abbas opens up Doha conference - Photo by Reuters

According to the report on Kol Yisrael radio, among the prisoners the Fatah is demanding to be released is Ahmed Saadat, who heads the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and who planned the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001.

Saadat was sentenced in 2008 to 30 years in prison for heading the PFLP. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Abbas, Palestinian Authority

Israeli women join ‘Slutwalk’ protest movement

Movement started in Canada in response to policeman’s comment that to avoid being attacked women shouldn’t dress like sluts.

Slutwalk in Toronto - Photo By REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Less than a year after a group of Canadian women held the Slutwalk protest in response to a policeman’s comment that if women want to avoid being attacked they should not dress like sluts, Israel is poised to follow suit with its first Mitzad Sharmuta (Slutwalk) next week.

“The problem here is that rape is often seen as being the fault of the woman and during court cases or investigations there is always reference to how many partners she might have had in the past or how she was dressed, but that is just not relevant,” Ya’ara Liebermann-Callif, one of the women involved in organizing next Friday’s Slutwalk in Tel Aviv, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview Thursday.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Canada

Israeli expert forced to cancel lecture in Jordan

Hundreds of enraged Jordanian students protest Israeli expert’s participation in conference, succeed in canceling his lecture

Cold peace: Hundreds of Jordanian students rallied outside Amman’s University of Jordan on Thursday in protest of a scheduled lecture by an Israeli expert at a mental health conference.

Protest in Jordan university

The protesters demanded that Dr. Gideon Anholt’s lecture be canceled and called on authorities to expel the Israeli ambassador from Jordan and cancel the 1994 peace treaty.

A university official met with the protesters and promised to cancel the Ben-Gurion University lecturer’s appearance so as not to disrupt the conference. Protesters bragged they succeeded in cancelling “the Zionist’s lecture” on Facebook. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: Jordan

israelandstuffcom | March 8, 2012

The Rachel Corrie myth

Op-ed: Killed ‘peace activist’ one of the most powerful tools in anti-Israel propaganda campaign

March 16 is the anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s death. She is the American college student killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza while attempting to block a house demolition. Israeli authorities claim that the driver was unable to see Corrie, given the restricted vision from his perch, and that she acted recklessly by inserting herself into the path of the bulldozer. But as always happens in the Middle East, lies trumped truth.

The Corrie myth has been one of the most powerful tools in the anti-Israel propaganda campaign. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News |

israelandstuffcom | March 8, 2012

First Druze kibbutz members say they’re ‘enveloped with love’

Haza and Nibal Tafesh, originally from a Galilee village, get warm welcome on southern kibbutz.

A couple originally from a Galilee village made history last week by becoming the first Druze accepted as members of a kibbutz.

The couple, Haza and Nibal Tafesh, have been living on Kibbutz Elifaz in the southern Arava region since 2007, after starting out in the Druze village of Beit Jann. Last week the kibbutz voted by a large majority to accept the couple as full members.

Tafesh says he and his wife fell in love with Kibbutz Elifaz on their first day there. “We were captivated by the place and we integrated very well.

Category: Israel News | Tags: Druze, Kibbutz

California wine country to benefit from Haifa study

Water-monitoring system developed by IBM’s Israeli labs allows close observation of pressure valves, reduces leakage.

Water conservation tools developed in Haifa research labs will soon be arriving at Northern California’s wine country, in order to reduce water loss for the more than 600,000 people who live in the Valley of the Moon Water District.

Building upon a cooperation agreement signed in June 2010 between IBM and the Sonoma County Water Agency, the technological giant has installed analytic devices and sensors that reduce water loss by making pressure adjustments based on usage, weather and environmental conditions, the company announced on Wednesday morning.

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, Israel News | Tags: IBM, Water conservation, wine

What the IDF’s Iran wish list would look like

If the IDF were to present the Pentagon with a wish list to ensure a military attack against Iran’s nuclear program succeeds, this is what it might ask for

New smart bombs with extended ranges and greater penetration as well as landing rights on aircraft carriers are just some of the requests that would appear on an Israeli military wish list, if one was presented to the Obama administration as a way to ensure that Israel succeeds in a potential attack against Iran.

While US President Barack Obama voiced clear opposition earlier this week to such a strike, Israel has been noncommittal.

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News |

Peres launches official Facebook page

Social network CEO Mark Zuckerberg hosts president during visit to Silicon Valley; helps him launch personal page

WASHINGTON – President Shimon Peres visited social network giant Facebook’s headquarters Tuesday in what he described as an effort to use social networking to mend divides governments have been unable to bridge.

Peres met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who helped him launch the 88-year-old leader’s personal page aimed at creating a dialogue with young Arabs who live in countries that do not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

Click to see President Shimon Peres – Be My Friend For Peace (Noy Alooshe Remix Video)

“The President will call on them to talk with him, to ask questions and to offer ideas to advance peace between peoples, not just between governments,” Peres’ staff said in a statement. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: Facebook, Shimon Peres

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Israel, Kurdish fighters destroyed Iran nuclear facility, email released by WikiLeaks claims

In exchange released by website, worker at Stratfor intelligence firm doubts validity of a source claiming an Israeli ground force had already wiped out Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

The mega-leaks website, WikiLeaks, has partnered with the hackers cooperative Anonymous, to publish internal emails of the American strategic intelligence company Stratfor. In one of the hacked emails, Stratfor officials discuss information obtained from one of their sources who reports that Israeli commandos, in cooperation with Kurdish fighters, have destroyed Iranian nuclear installations.

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, will hold a press conference today in London where he plans to reveal new details from the Stratfor emails, including details on the company’s dealings with the American government and major corporations, and its network of paid sources.

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

Minor earthquake felt in northern Israel

Earthquake measuring 3.7 on Richter Scale felt north of Metula as well as in Kiryat Shmona and Safed. No injuries or damage reported.

3.7 on Richer Scale - Photo: Shutterstock

A 3.7 magnitude earthquakewas felt in northern Israel on Wednesday morning. The Geological Survey of Israel told Ynet that the quake’s epicenter was in south Lebanon and that it was primarily felt north of Metula. Israelis reported feeling the quake in Kiryat Shmona, Shlomi and Safed as well. No injuries or damage were reported.

“I suddenly felt the earth shaking below me,” Bracha Cook from Kiryat Shmona told Ynet. “It wasn’t scary, just odd. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: earthquake, Galilee

WATCH: IDF prepares for tunnel warfare in future Lebanon, Gaza conflicts

IDF special forces train at new underground training facility; training based on lessons from Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead.

The Israel Defense Forces introduced a new method of conducting underground warfare on Tuesday, in preparation for a war with either Hezbollah or Hamas.

Gaza smuggling tunnel - Photo by AP

The method, which has been developed since the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead, is meant to combat the underground tunnel systems used by Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which are often used for weapons transfers.

The IDF believes that in Lebanon, the Hezbollah has dozens of underground bases, from which the organization operates its rocket launching operations. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Mid-East News | Tags: Gaza, IDF, Lebanon

Fast Day in Memory of Esther’s ‘Life-Threatening Request’

Wednesday’s “Fast of Esther” is in memory of her risking her life by approaching the Persian king, her husband, to save the country’s Jews.

Wednesday’s “Fast of Esther” is in memory of her risking her life by approaching the Persian king, her husband, to save the country’s Jews.

The “Fast of Esther” begins Wednesday morning in memory of her risking her life by approaching the Persian king, her husband, in order to launch a series of events that ended with her asking him to save the Jews from the king’s wicked second-in-command, Haman.

The fast day started at 4.29 a.m. in Israel and ends at 6:04 p.m., Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, Jewish News | Tags: Esther, Jews, Purim