Arab Bank to pay victims of Palestinian terror, precise figure depends on upcoming appeal

 

view videoThe Jordanian based Arab Bank reaches settlement with families of Palestinian terror victims, setting aside $1 billion to cover claims.

By David Rosenberg

 

The Amman-based Arab Bank on Tuesday agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought by the families of terror victims killed in attacks the plaintiffs say the Arab Bank helped fund.

The settlement stems from a 2014 decision by a New York jury finding the bank liable for damages. According to the lawsuit, the bank knowingly maintained accounts for Hamas terrorists and transferred payments to relatives of suicide bombers from 2000 to 2005.

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Bank officials said in January that $1 billion had been set aside for “expected obligations” related to the lawsuits, according to a report byReuters. Continue Reading »

Israel Air Force hits 2 Hamas’ terror infrastructure sites in response to rocket attack from Gaza

 

The IDF spokesperson released a statement that the Israeli Air Force attacked 2 locations that are part of Hamas’ terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, in retaliation to the rocket-fire launched towards Israel late Wednesday night.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

In response to rocket-fire launched towards Israel late Wednesday night, the Israeli Air Force attacked two locations that were part of Hamas’ terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, July 13, 2014. – Photo: JACK GUEZ/AFP

The IDF spokesperson released a statement in which they promised to continue to work in order to maintain quiet in the Gaza border communities in Israel. Continue Reading »

Israel Navy engineers made the next Sa’ar 6 missile ship stealthy

 

Since the newest Sa’ar 6 missile corvettes will have to deal with Hezbollah’s radar-guided shore-to-sea missiles, engineers redesigned it with a low radar signature.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN

 

When German engineers from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, who are building Israel’s next-generation Sa’ar-6 class missile corvette, showed Israel Navy engineers the first blueprints for the strategically vital vessel, the Israelis realized there was a problem.

Israel IDF Navy anti-missile systems Eilat Class Sa’ar Corvette with helicopter on helipad

The plans outlined a ship based on Germany’s own sea platforms, and was similar in design. Yet Israel must deal with a far more challenging environment, in which Hezbollah is stockpiling radar-guided shore-to-sea missiles that can target the navy, offshore gas drilling rigs in the Mediterranean and strategically vital sites, such as civilian sea ports – just the type of threat the Sa’ar-6 will be designed to counter. Continue Reading »

Gaza rocket hits Israel in open area, no injuries or damages reported

 

IDF sources reported the “Red Alert” siren was not activated since it was tracked heading towards an open area.

By Elad Benari

 

A rocket from Gaza was fired on Wednesday evening towards southern Israel.

The rocket exploded in an open area of the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, causing no physical injuries or damages. Security forces are searching the area.

Military sources said that the “Red Alert” siren was not activated before the rocket exploded due to the fact that it was headed towards an open area.

Rocket and mortar fire from Gaza has continued to “trickle” into Israel on occasion.

Continue Reading »

After recovering ancient loot, Israel Antiquities set priority to excavate Judean Desert caves

 

view video“The goal of the national program we’re promoting is to excavate & discover all the scrolls that remain in the caves once and for all, so they can be saved and preserved by the state.” says Israel Antiquities Authority Director Israel Hasson.

By Yori Yalon

 

Israeli authorities are stepping up the fight to save the country’s as yet unrecovered ancient scrolls from the hands of antiquities robbers.

An Israel Antiquities Authority worker excavates in a Judean Desert cave – Photo: Yuli Schwartz/IAA

The Israel Antiquities Authority, the Heritage Project by the Jerusalem Affairs Ministry, and Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev are promoting a national program of archaeological excavations in the caves of the Judean Desert to save the ancient scrolls cached there, the earliest extant manuscripts written in Hebrew. Continue Reading »

Israel reports to UN: Hamas steals 95% of cement sent to Gaza civilians for terror-tunnels

 

view videoAt the UN World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Dr. Dore Gold spoke about Israel’s extensive role in providing humanitarian aid, noting the task is made more complicated when Gaza’s rulers confiscate aid sent to Palestinian civilians then uses it for Hamas’ military agenda.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

 

Hamas is stealing 95% of the cement transferred into Gaza for the purpose of rebuilding homes so that it can use it for military purposes, Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold said on Tuesday.

“From our own investigations we found that out of every 100 sacks of cement that come into the Gaza Strip [from Israel], only five or six are transferred to civilians,” Gold said as he addressed the UN World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul. Continue Reading »

Pro-Palestinian NGO, B’Tselem decides to forgo using IDF complaints system

Pro-Palestinian rights organization announced it will stop making official complaints over IDF soldiers’ conduct against Palestinian civilians to the Military Advocate General Corps, saying that after 25 years of reporting alleged abuse, it concluded the MAG corps was merely a ‘whitewashing mechanism.’

By AFP, AP

 

Israeli rights group B’Tselem announced Wednesday it was giving up taking complaints over soldier conduct to the IDF, after years of going through official channels brought few prosecutions.

Fire at B’TSelem’s offices – Archive/Jerusalem Fire Department

 B’Tselem, a left-wing group that campaigns against Israel’s presence in the West Bank, said it had been providing information to the Military Advocate General Corps about alleged abuses for 25 years, but had concluded it was increasingly a “whitewash mechanism” and a “mere semblance of justice.”

Continue Reading »

Israel Knesset Member: ‘What would happen if Jews raped Arabs?’

 

Likud MK Nava Boker expressed her shock & outrage after hearing of Israel Police ‘cover-up’ of an Arab gang-rape of a 20 yr-old, mentally challenged Jewish girl.

By Hezki Baruch

 

Likud MK Nava Boker on Wednesday reacted to the horrific rape of a 20-year-old mentally delayed Jewish girl in southern Tel Aviv two weeks ago, after police lifted a gag order on the arrest of two suspected Arab perpetrators and a hunt after the third Arab rapist.

In revealing the vile gang-rape, police noted that the three Arab attackers – one of whom is an Israeli citizen while the other two hail from Judea-Samaria – acted out of “nationalistic motives” and shouted racist slurs during the attack, which one of them video taped.
Continue Reading »

Israel’s Unemployment Reaches Historic Low

Israel’s unemployment rate in April registered at 4.9%, but economists caution the drop may have been due to an increase in temporary Passover holiday jobs and the fact that the Unemployment Offices were closed during the holidays.

By Zeev Klein

 

This past April marked a historic drop in the Israeli unemployment rate, which sunk to 4.9% as compared with 5.3% in March, according to a report from the Central Bureau of Statistics.

April’s unemployment rate reaches historic low [illustrative] – Photo: Rafael Ben-Ari

The report indicated that some 193,000 people were unemployed in April as compared with 208,700 in March. Continue Reading »

Swiss parliament to end funding “racist & anti-Semitic actions” or are involved in BDS

 

The Swiss parliament’s inquiry into anti-Israel NGOs could bring about devastating changes for scores of pro-Palestinian NGOs operating in Israel & in the disputed territories.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

 

Berlin – The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has allocated funds in the millions to anti-Israel NGOs linked to terrorism and working in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, according to a report that appeared in Switzerland’s Basler Zeitung on Monday.

Swiss parliament in Bern – Photo: AFP

The front-page story by veteran journalist Dominik Feusi, headlined “Resistance in Parliament against money for Israel-critical campaigns,” stated that MP Christian Imark had introduced a motion supported by 41 lawmakers from across the political spectrum calling on the FDFA to stop all direct or indirect funding to organizations that sponsor “racist and anti-Semitic actions” or are involved in BDS campaigns. Continue Reading »

95.5% of Palestinians polled view Mahmoud Abbas’ government as corrupt

Palestinians are becoming increasingly fed up with the PA leadership as billions & billions have been given to Abbas throughout the years, with the leaders, their families & close associates becoming millionaires, as unemployment grows & their economy stagnates.

By The Associated Press

 

A gated community of villas with well-tended flower gardens near Ramallah may help explain why Palestinians almost universally believe there is corruption in the government of President Mahmoud Abbas.

The secluded “Diplomatic Compound,” built for senior Palestinian Authority officials on subsidized land, is one of the symbols of what many Palestinians think is wrong with their leaders – that they are cut off from the people and award themselves special privileges. Continue Reading »

Pro-Palestinians up campaign against Airbnb with video and mock webposts

Left-wing, Jewish Voice for Peace, a proponent of the BDS movement, releases YouTube video featuring activists & Palestinians urging tourists to boycott West Bank rentals.

By CORAL BRAUN

 

Left-wing organization Jewish Voice for Peace released a YouTube video Saturday to up a joint-campaign against Airbnb’s listing of West Bank settlement homes on its vacation home rental platform.

Airbnb listings of homes in the West Bank. - Photo: Courtesy

Airbnb listings of homes in the West Bank. – Photo: Courtesy

Urging travelers to steer clear of West Bank rentals, the video featured unnamed activists and Palestinians speaking out against Airbnb’s failure to “follow international law,” which, by United Nations standards, deems “Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.” Continue Reading »

Senior Iranian Military Commander, We can destroy Israel “in less than 8 minutes”

 

Senior Iranian military official threatens to “raze the Zionist regime” and can destroy the Jewish state “in less than eight minutes” after Khamenei calls to continue building missile arsenal in defiance to UN Security Council resolutions, and (empty) threats from the White House.

By Elad Benari

 

A senior Iranian military commander has threatened Israel and claimed that his country can destroy the Jewish state “in less than eight minutes”.

Screenshot of Iranian missile test – Iranian TV

The comments, quoted by The Washington Free Beacon, came hours after Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared that Iran would continue to build its ballistic missile arsenal in defiance of U.S.
Continue Reading »

Israel’s economy strengthening with development of energy sector

 

Israel’s geopolitical decision of exploiting the gas discovery for diplomatic purposes improved the geostrategic status of the State of Israel in the US, Europe & the Mid-East.

 

Israel’s natural gas discoveries could be key in transforming diplomatic relations in the region while boosting its growing economy, a number of experts said on Monday at the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York.

THE TAMAR gas field platform juts above the Mediterranean – Photo: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM

At the conference’s panel on the Israeli economy, International economic law scholar and practitioner Efraim Chalamish said Israel’s energy sector has the potential to really advance the “start-up nation” since it allows for large companies to be part of the economy, employing large workforces made up of people diverse backgrounds and skill levels. Continue Reading »

WATCH: World Seeks Israeli Technology For Fighting Global Terrorism

 

view videoA few Israeli companies have developed advanced solutions in fighting terrorism more effectively & without security personnel being placed in harm’s way, for example, an automatic interrogation of suspects at airports, advanced cameras with ‘In Motion Identification’ recognition software, & radar that pinpoints drones in sensitive air-space.

By Moshe Glantz

 

Attacks on airports have always been among terrorist organizations’ preferred objectives, leading to increased security. But from time to time, despite the investment of billions on security personnel and a range of security measure, terrorists still manage to strike. Brussels was the latest casualty, sending shockwaves throughout Europe.

Airport entrance – Photo:GettyImages

Ben-Gurion International Airport is considered one of the safest airports in the world, which led to unprecedented interest in security measures developed in Israel, with several Israeli companies now selling their wares all over the world. Continue Reading »