Archive for The Diaspora

| February 19, 2014
No comments

Gallup Poll: 72% of Americans view Israel favorably

 

 

Annual Gallup survey finds Israel the most positively viewed Mideast nation among Americans, up from 66% in 2013.

Iran ranks lowest at 9%.

By Ynetnews

 

A new poll by Gallup shows that 72 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Israel, up from 66 percent last year.

Israel-American flagThe annual Gallup World Affairs poll, conducted from February 6-9, also shows a relatively stable perception among Americans of Israel and seven other “important” Middle East countries – Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia and Libya.

The positive view of Egypt and the Palestinian Authority also increased by small margins. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags:
| February 19, 2014
No comments

Presbyterians reject their church’s anti-Zionist study guide

The Church’s guide, ‘Zionism Unsettled,’ proposes that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is fueled by a ‘pathology inherent in Zionism.’

By

 

 

Presbyterians who engage in dialogue with Jewish groups are scrambling to undo what they say is the damage caused by a congregational study guide assailing Zionism distributed by a group affiliated with their denomination.

The 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on Thursday, July 5, 2012.

People listen to a session of the 220th General Assembly (2012) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on Thursday, July 5, 2012, in Pittsburgh. Photo: AP

The guide, “Zionism Unsettled,” posits that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is fueled by a “pathology inherent in Zionism” and rejects theologies — Christian and Jewish — that uphold Zionism.

Continue Reading »
Category: The Diaspora | Tags: ,
| February 19, 2014
One comment

Israeli agricultural know-how boosts East African farms

The UN awarded Israeli agro-tech company Amiran, a prize for helping eradicate extreme poverty & hunger, one of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals for Africa.

 

NAIROBI, Kenya (JTA) — Bags of seeds from the Israeli seed company Hazera Genetics line the shelves of one warehouse.

Chris Mutune, a greenhouse caretaker for Amiran Kenya, working in one of the company's sample greenhouses. (Ben Sales)

Chris Mutune, a greenhouse caretaker for Amiran Kenya, working in one of the company’s sample greenhouses. (Ben Sales)

 

Another houses rolls of plastic from StePac, an Israeli firm whose bags can keep vegetables fresher for longer.

In a third warehouse are rows of coiled hoses, each pricked with holes engineered by Netafim, the Israeli company that pioneered drip irrigation. Continue Reading »

Category: Innovations & Discoveries, The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| February 16, 2014
No comments

American supermarket chain Winn-Dixie expands kosher section

What makes the Boca Winn-Dixie unique is the unusual volume & variety of its offerings, including specialty items from Israel and New York.

BOCA RATON, Fla. (JTA) – Stroll past the kosher section of most large supermarkets in America and you could be forgiven for thinking that Jewish diets consist mainly of jarred gefilte fish, unsalted matzahs and Tam-Tam crackers.

The kosher section at Winn-Dixie's Boca Raton store is larger than that of many kosher-only supermarkets. (Uriel Heilman)

The kosher section at Winn-Dixie’s Boca Raton store is larger than that of many kosher-only supermarkets. (Uriel Heilman)

Not so at the Winn-Dixie supermarket in this affluent South Florida suburb.

There’s a kosher bakery with fresh pizza and dairy and pareve desserts; a meat and deli counter with hot foods like chicken wings, potato kugel and meatballs; a refrigerated case with cold salads; pre-packaged Winn-Dixie-branded matzah balls, chicken soup and carrot “tzimmise,” and even a kosher sushi chef who makes rolls to order.

Continue Reading »
Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags:
| February 16, 2014
No comments

Canadian businessman claims Ottawa granted Israeli Mossad agent new identity

Arian Azarbar claims a  Israeli agent was granted a new identity & passport after allegedly participating in the 2010 Dubai mission of assassinating senior Hamas terrorist, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in his hotel room.

By

 

An Israeli Mossad agent living in Canada was secretly provided a new identity and passport by the government, a Canadian-Iranian businessman alleged in an interview, the Canoe website reported Saturday.

Mossad operatives who allegedly assassinated Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in 2010.

Mossad operatives who allegedly assassinated Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in 2010, dressed in tennis garb. – Photo: Courtesy Israel Ch. 2

Arian Azarbar says the Israeli spy was granted the new identity after participating in the 2010 plot to kill Hamas terrorist leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel.

Continue Reading »
Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| February 15, 2014
No comments

French courts punish anti-Israel BDS activists in hate crime

 

About 20 anti-Israel BDS activists have been convicted under the Lellouche law, which has France spearheading the efforts to neutralize the movement through legal means.

By

 

 

When Farida Trichine and 11 of her friends burst into a French supermarket in 2009 and began applying stickers with anti-Israel slogans to vegetables imported from the Jewish state, she expected to be escorted from the store by police.

Farida Trichine (third from right) and fellow BDS activists in Mulhouse, France, September 11, 2010.

Farida Trichine (third from right) and fellow BDS activists in Mulhouse, France, September 11, 2010. – Photo by Collectif Palestine 68, via JTA

What she didn’t expect was to be convicted of inciting racial hatred and slapped with a $650 fine.

Continue Reading »
Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , , , ,
| February 14, 2014
No comments

BDS Trailer: Anti-Israeli Apartheid Week Coming To Universities Near You

A new video promo-trailer has been released to aid the BDS in their Israel-bashing events for ‘Israel Apartheid Week 2014’.

By Dalit Halevi, Ari Yashar

 

Anti-Israel advocates are ramping up their rhetoric this week in a new promotional “trailer” for the events of “Israeli Apartheid Week 2014.” The annual week-long event, starting in the last week of February, will see opponents of Israel protesting in dozens of nations around the world.

Anti-Israel demonstrators – Reuters

The short video calls on viewers to take part in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to delegitimize Israel by pressuring the Jewish state over its alleged “racism” in not letting descendants of Arabs who left the country around the War of Independence in 1948 “return.” Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| February 12, 2014
No comments

Israelis stunned to find Nazi paraphernalia sold in Bulgarian tourist shops

 

An Israeli traveling in a Bulgarian town was shocked to find gift shop mugs with swastikas and Hitler’s picture.

By Michal Margalit

An Israeli traveling in Bulgaria was shocked to find mugs carrying the picture of Adolf Hitler and decorated with swastikas in a souvenir shop in a ski resort. She later realized the shop was not only one carrying the Nazi paraphernalia, and found similar trinkets in other shops on the same street.

Mugs on sale in Bulgarian store (Photo: Janna Kushnir)

Mugs on sale in Bulgarian store – Photo: Janna Kushnir

On the final day of their five-day trip, the mother and son entered a gift shop in the town’s main street and were surprised to find the mugs with swastikas and Hitler’s picture offered for sale, stacked near cosmetic items and various trinkets. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| February 12, 2014
No comments

Again! Authorities discover more Nazi appropriated art in Gurlitt’s 2nd home

 

60 additional works of art were found by police in Cornelius Gurlitt’s 2nd home, this one in Austria.

Suspicion: As in first find, most were taken from Jewish families by the Nazis during World War II.

By Eli Leon

 

After discovering over 1,400 artworks worth $1.35 billion that disappeared during World War II in a Munich apartment — German authorities did not think they would find anymore masterpieces in the possession of Cornelius Gurlitt — the son of an art dealer who worked with the Nazis during the war.

Gurlitt apartment in Salzburg – Photo: GettyImages

But life is full of surprises and it was reported Tuesday that the 81-year-old Gurlitt was holding 60 additional works — including paintings by the acclaimed Picasso, Renoir and Monet — in a second home in Salzburg, Austria. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| February 12, 2014
No comments

Disney Boots Arabic’s Donald Duck over hateful anti-Israel tweet

Egyptian voice-over personality says he’s proud to be fired over his Tweet calling for Israel’s destruction.

By
 

 

A tweet calling for the destruction of Israel cost an Egyptian voice-over artist his job with Walt Disney, as the voice of the Arabic version of Donald Duck.

Donald Duck.

Donald Duck. – Photo: Dreamstime

“Disney decided I am no longer the official voice of Donald Duck in its middle-east dubbed cartoons because of an anti-Zionism tweet,” Wael Mansour, a radio personality and a voice artist from Cairo tweeted on February 6, adding that he was “Proud!” of the punishment.

Disney dropped Mansour after he tweeted statements hostile to Israel last August. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| February 11, 2014
No comments

Israel’s Natural Gas Fields are Giving Putin Heartache

 

Israel’s gas find offers an opportunity for US interests by helping to secure Middle East peace & undercutting Putin’s pretensions in Europe & the East Mediterranean.

By Arthur Herman

 

If you think Vladimir Putin has enough worries on his plate dealing with the Sochi Olympics debacle, the turmoil in Ukraine and Russia’s sputtering economy, think again. A new potential source of trouble is brewing out in the eastern Mediterranean — one that could not only undermine Putin’s efforts to rebuild Russia’s influence in the Middle East, but his current strong hand in Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin - Photo: AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin – Photo: AP

The threat: Israel’s recently discovered offshore gas deposits — one of the biggest global finds of the past decade. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| February 10, 2014
No comments

Israel Law Center challenges BDS in Australian court

Lawsuit is the 1st time that Australia’s anti-racism laws have been utilized against those seeking to harm Israeli academics or businesses because of their national origin.

By

 

A landmark case that could determine whether the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel breaches Australia’s antiracism laws returns to court this week, The Australian reported on Monday.

Hebrew U.

Mount Scopus, one of the Hebrew University’s four campuses.- Photo: Lior Mizrahi

The parties will “debate potentially decisive orders this week,” according to the report.

Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, an Israel-based civil rights organization, last year filed suit against Jake Lynch, director of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney.

Continue Reading »
Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| February 9, 2014
No comments

Spain grants nationality to exiled Sephardic Jews

 

Spain approves law granting foreign Jews that had chosen to flee rather than convert to Catholicism, the right of dual nationality.

By REUTERS

 

 

The Spanish government approved a law on Friday allowing descendents of Sephardic Jews expelled from the country in 1492 to seek Spanish nationality without giving up their current citizenship.

Marranos: Secret Seder in Spain during the times of inquisition, painting by Moshe Maimon.

Marranos: Secret Seder in Spain during the times of inquisition, painting by Moshe Maimon. – Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Spain’s Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon said Spain owed the Sephardic community a debt for spreading the Spanish language and culture around the world. The word Sephardic comes from Sefarad, or Spain in Hebrew. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: ,
| February 9, 2014
No comments

UK Daily puts Israeli App on ‘Top 5’ apps list for Sochi Winter Olympics

Israeli service, One Hour Translation app, makes headlines for offering free on-demand translations from the Winter Olympics.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Another Israeli product beat the ongoing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign against Israel Sunday. A real-time translation app made it to the Telegraph UK‘s top five apps for following the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

Twitter site – AFP file

The app, titled “One Hour Translation,” provides free real-time translation to users during the games.

To gain real-time translations, users simply need to tweet @OHT with an image or phrase to be translated – e.g. “Where is the skating rink? Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| February 8, 2014
No comments

Historic site of U.S. ‘Jewish Expulsion Order’ by General Ulysses S. Grant

A Jewish resident from Mississippi says the house in which Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, issued the expulsion of Jews during the American Civil War, should be made a museum, local media reports.

By

 

A resident of Oxford, Mississippi petitioned Lafayette County authorities on Monday to recognize a home owned by the county as an historic landmark for its significance to both Civil War and American Jewish history, and to stop plans to turn it into a jail, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported on Wednesday.

A portrait of Ulysses S. Grant

A portrait of Ulysses S. Grant by Ole Peter Hansen Balling – Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Asher Reese, a Jewish resident of Oxford, who has been researching the property found that the house was the headquarters of Major-General Ulysses S.

Continue Reading »
Category: Jewish News, The Diaspora | Tags: ,
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »