Most of Israelis disgruntled with Ultra-Orthodox power over the society

Annual Hiddush study revealed that 61% of Israelis support increased religion-state separation & 78% are dissatisfied with the gov’t’s actions on religion-&-state issues.

By Ben Sales

JTA – During the past 18 months, the governing coalition in Israel has passed legislation to extend the nation’s mandatory conscription to the Haredi — a group currently exempted from military service — and Knesset leaders have advanced bills that would allow for civil unions and ease restrictions on Jewish conversions.

Haredim protest plans to draft them into the military in Jerusalem on March 13.

Haredim in Jerusalem on March 13 protesting plans to draft them into the military. – Photo: AP

But a new study shows that the majority of Israeli electorate remains unhappy with the amount of religious influence on Israeli life and law.

Continue Reading »

Murderers of the Three Jewish Teens Shot Dead

Amer Abu Eisha & Marwan Kawasmeh of Hevron were located by Israel Security forces and ultimately killed in an exchange of gunfire.

By Arutz Sheva

 

Marwan Kawasmeh and Amer Abu Eisha of Hevron, who abducted and murdered three yeshiva boys Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Sha’ar, Naftali Frenkel in June, were located and killed in exchange of gunfire early Tuesday morning.

The operation was carried out by the Yamam, a special unit of the Border Police, and the IDF, in Hevron. An attempt was made to arrest the suspects but an exchange of fire developed in which they were killed.

The operation was made possible by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), which located the murderers’ hideout.  Continue Reading »

Israel downs a Syrian aircraft over Golan Heights

 

 —–SPECIAL SECURITY REPORT —–

Syrian unrest spills over the border with the violation of a Syrian aircraft into Israeli airspace; warplane downed with IAF Patriot missile.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST.COM STAFF

 

The IDF on Tuesday shot down a Syrian warplane that invaded Israeli airspace over the Golan Heights.

2 Syrian pilots seen after #Israel downed their aircraft earlier near Kanaker – Twitter

A Syrian fighter jet belonging to the Assad regime was detected over Quneitra near the Israeli border, before it crossed into Israeli air space on Tuesday morning.  The IAF fired a Patriot surface-to-air missile at the warplane, striking it down. Continue Reading »

WATCH: Former president of Israel Peres goes job hunting

In humorous video clip, one of Israel’s legendary statesmen explores employment in the private sector after 70 years in public service.

BY Yitzhak Benhorin

 

 

WASHINGTON – At the age of 91, former president Shimon Peres is out of a job. After 70 years of public service, the Israeli icon has set out to find a new line of work. His granddaughter released a satirical video in which the Labor legend tries his hand as a skydiving instructor, security guard, and a gas station attendant.

pres

Former Israeli President Shimon Peres clearing out his desk – Photo: YouTube screenshot

The video, which was released on several social media platforms, was produced by Peres’ granddaughter, screenwriter Mika Almog. Continue Reading »

Want to be a spy for Israel? The Mossad is recruiting

The Mossad’s glossy website went up years ago to boost recruitment for analysts & officers amid increasingly fierce competition from Israel’s booming private hi-tech sector.

By Dan Williams

 

REUTERS – It is already common for intelligence agencies to recruit their officers online, but Israel’s Mossad has gone one further by touting for local agents and informants too.

The Mossad website

The Mossad website – Photo: Screenshot

Israel, which has full diplomatic ties with only two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan, lacks embassies elsewhere in the Middle East that would-be informants could turn to, leaving it in need of other local recruitment channels.

Continue Reading »

Intel Plans $6 billion Investment in Israel

Intel will spend $6 billion to upgrade its manufacturing plant; Finance Minister Yair Lapid said that “Intel’s investment is a strategic asset for Israel’s industry. This is the biggest investment by a foreign company ever in Israel.”

By Yaakov Levi

 

Intel will spend $6 billion to upgrade its Kiryat Gat chip manufacturing plant, in one of the biggest single investments ever by a foreign company in Israel. In exchange for the investment, the government will provide Intel with grants and tax breaks over the next ten years. The deal is expected to generate thousands of jobs.

Economics Minister Naftali Bennett with the Intel grant approval

Economics Minister Naftali Bennett with the Intel grant approval –
Courtesy of the Ministry of Economy

Under the deal, Intel will get a grant of $300 million over a five year period, and be eligible for a significant reduction in corporate tax rates over a ten year period. Continue Reading »

Exposé: Gaza Palestinian’s hatred for Hamas and resentment & anger of the West Bankers

The Gazans may be too scared to speak publicly against Hamas, but the hatred is seen & felt, and they haven’t forgotten that protests from their compatriots during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, were conspicuous in their absence.

By Francesca Borri

 

In the time that has elapsed since the end of the war, Gaza has been trying to return to normal – if you can ever call life in Gaza normal. But under the surface, the suppressed emotions are bubbling.

Central Gaza building hit by the IDF during Protective Edge (Photo: AFP)

Central Gaza building hit by the IDF during Protective Edge – Photo: AFP

The tap water is the same salty sea brine – there has been no potable water coming out of the taps in Gaza for a very long time. Continue Reading »

Gaza Wars Demonstrated Need for Tank Cartridge Specifically for Urban Warfare

The new Israel Military Industries 120mm Hatzav delayed action tank shell penetrates outer wall of structure first, then explodes.

By Gil Ronen

 

The IDF Armored Corps has begun using the Israel Military Industries (IMI) Hatzav shell (M329 APAM-MP-T), after first deploying it operationally during Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip.

Merkava fires shell

Merkava fires shell – IDF Spokesman’s Unit

The projectile was developed by IMI and the IDF Ground Arm following to lessons drawn from the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead. The 120mm Hatzav shell, fitted with a delay mechanism, is intended to penetrate the first, outer wall of a building and only detonate inside the building. Continue Reading »

IDF leases 1st MRI machine exclusively for soldiers’ examinations

 

Mobile model to be stationed at Tzrifin base is expected to cut the waiting time for MRI scans from months to days.
• 4 additional new machines en route to public hospitals in Holon, Hadera, Tiberias & Safed
• Number of MRIs in Israel still below OECD average.

By Meytal Yassour Bat-Or

 

Almost everyone who has served in the army knows the story: A soldier suffering from pain tries to make an appointment to diagnose what is causing it. By the time he can see a doctor, the problem is long gone and might even have been replaced by new ones.

Continue Reading »

Watch: Hezbollah uses drones for missile attack on Syrian rebels

 

Iranian news agency reports this attack as the 1st operation Hezbollah has used drones.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

 

With the three-and-a-half-year civil war in Syria spilling over into Lebanon, Hezbollah has upped its military capabilities in its fight against al-Qaida-affiliated Syrian rebels.

boom

Alleged Syrian rebel target – YouTube screenshot

According to the Iranian Fars News Agency, the organization is now using drones – which until recently were used mainly for surveillance missions – to fight off Al-Nusra Front rebels

The newly-released one-minute video shows a small structure, believed to be the Al-Nusra Front headquarters in Lebanon, being directly hit from the sky. Continue Reading »

Palestinian infiltrating Sinai through Gaza smuggling tunnel killed by Egyptian army

 

One shot to death, 2 others arrested after the the 3 ignored Egyptian border guards’ orders to stop, then tried to return via the Gaza tunnel instead.

By Ynetnews

 

 

A Palestinian man trying to infiltrate Sinai through a smuggling tunnel was shot dead and two others arrested by the Egyptian army on Saturday, Palestinian media reported.

Egyptian soldiers on Gaza border – Photo: AP

The three were spotted exiting a tunnel near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the Egyptian side of Rafah.

The Egyptian border guards ordered them to stop, but instead the three Palestinians tried to return into the tunnel. Continue Reading »

Israeli-Arab high-tech incubator acquires $4.5 million

 

Most Israel’s Arabs who study technology become teachers since only 2% land jobs with Jewish employers.

By NIV ELIS

 

Takwin Labs, an incubator for Arab Israeli high-tech entrepreneurs focused on Internet and Mobile technologies, announced Sunday that it closed $4.5 million in funding.

THE TEL AVIV skyline; the area around the city is home to many Israeli start-ups

THE TEL AVIV skyline; the area around the city is home to many Israeli start-ups. – Photo: REUTERS

The Haifa-based Takwin, which means “beginning” in Arabic, was spun off from several leaders already active in the Arab Israeli High-tech space: Imad Telhami, whose company Babcom is one of the largest employers of Arab engineers in Israel,  Labor MK Erel Margalit, who founded Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), and Chemi Peres, Chairman Al Bawader, a VC that invests in Arab start-ups (and son of former President Shimon Peres). Continue Reading »

School bus full of Jewish children pelted with stones in East Jerusalem

Mother of one of the kids says the children were scared and crying.

Egged reports damage caused to bus’ windshield.

Noam (Dabul) Dvir

 

An Egged bus shuttling children to school was pelted with stones and a bottle of paint on Sunday morning while driving by the Ras al-Amud square in East Jerusalem.

Damage caused to the bus from stones and paint bottle thrown at it.

Damage caused to the bus from stones and paint bottle thrown at it.

Damage was caused to the bus’ windshield and Border Police forces were searching the area for the perpetrators.

Yonatan, one of the children on the bus, told his Mom the experience was “really scary.”

“They were really frightened,” Tehiva Shaham, Yonatan’s mother, said. Continue Reading »

UN Warns Israel Over Relocating Bedouins From Squatting on E1 Area Land

UNRWA urges int’l community to oppose Israeli plans to relocate thousands of Bedouin from illegal, unlicensed makeshift structures to proper communities connected to water, sewers, electricity.

By Arutz Sheva

 

The UN’s “Palestinian refugee agency” UNRWA on Sunday urged the international community to oppose Israeli plans to relocate thousands of Palestinian Bedouin from the E1 and Maaleh Adumim areas east of Jerusalem, to the area around Jericho, next to the Dead Sea.

“If such a plan were implemented this would … give rise to concerns that it amounts to a ‘forcible transfer’ in contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention” banning involuntary population relocation in occupied territory, UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl said. Continue Reading »

Iran Judiciary orders Rouhani to block immoral Jewish/Western Viber, Tango & WhatsApp

After Rouhani says internet ‘an opportunity, not a threat’, Iran’s Judiciary has given the ministry of communications a month to block instant messaging services like Viber & Tango that deal with derogatory and un-Islamic content‘.

Reuters

 

Iran’s hardline judiciary has given the government one month to block WhatsApp and other popular instant messaging services, as pressure mounts on reformist President Hassan Rouhani to scale back his social and political liberalization.

Viber, founded and co-owned by four Israeli partners: Talmon Marco, Igor Megzinik, Sani Maroli and Ofer Smocha.

In the severest warning yet to Rouhani’s one-year-old administration, chief prosecutor Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei accused Communications Minister Mahmoud Vaezi of failing to unplug social networking sites and apps “with immoral and criminal content.” Continue Reading »