Druze Sheikhs Indicted for illegally crossing into Syria

 

Northern Magistrates Court rejected the 16 sheikhs’ appeal to dismiss its indictment against them because Israelis are forbidden from crossing into Syria.

Group of Sheikhs say they should be free to visit holy sites in Arab republic.

By Hassan Shaalan

The Nazareth Magistrates Court rejected Wednesday the appeal of 16 Druze sheikhs filed against an indictment according to which they were accused of illegally entering Syria.

Sheikhs in court (Photo: Hassan Shaalan)

Sheikhs in court – Photo: Hassan Shaalan

The sheikhs crossed into Syria via Jordan in 2010, with the purpose, according to the defendants, of visiting relatives and the gravesite of a Muslim prophet. Continue Reading »

5 Years Later, Israeli Airlines Begin Flights to Turkey

Agreement signed between Israel & Turkey civil aviation authorities allow scheduled flights after five-year hiatus.

Turkey agrees to exercise Israel’s security protocols.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Yisrael Katz, Minister of Transportation and Road Safety, announced Wednesday that Israeli airlines would be resuming flights to Turkey after more than a five-year hiatus.

Flights between Israeli carriers to the middle-eastern country stopped in 2007 due to security issues at Turkish airports, which were not up to the special standards set for air travel by the Israeli government.

Katz noted that the move opens up new opportunities for Israeli carriers, who can now compete on equal terms with Turkish airlines. Continue Reading »

Former Egyptian President Morsi to stand trial for conspiring with Hamas & Hezbollah

 

Egyptian prosecutor says ousted Islamist president Morsi committed acts of violence & terrorism with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Morsi is also being charged with conspiracy in “terrorist plan” with Hamas Palestinians from Gaza and with Lebanese terror groups.

Prosecutor says charges could result in execution.

By REUTERS
 

CAIRO – Egypt’s public prosecutor ordered former President Mohamed Morsi and 35 other Islamists to stand trial on charges including conspiring with foreign groups to commit terrorist acts in Egypt and divulging military secrets to a foreign state.

Deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi

Deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi – Photo: REUTERS

The charges leveled against Morsi and other top Muslim Brotherhood members on Wednesday could result in their execution.

Continue Reading »

West Bank Nature Reserve Denies Entry to Palestinian Security Offenders

Palestinians who served time for security offenses are refused entry by the parks authority inspectors at Ein Prat Nature Reserve.

 

 

Palestinians convicted of security offenses are being barred from entering the Ein Prat Nature Reserve in the Judean Desert, even though visitors’ security records aren’t checked at other West Bank nature reserves.

People cooling off in the waters of Ein Prat in the Judean desert.

People cooling off in the waters of Ein Prat in the Judean desert. – Photo: Amir Aloni / The Israel Nature and Parks Authority

Inspectors from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority kept two Palestinian visitors out of Ein Prat, also called Ein Fara, two weeks ago, said Dror Etkes, a researcher who monitors settlement construction and was with them at the time. Continue Reading »

EU threatens Israel not to make further settlement construction announcements

 

EU dictates to Jerusalem: No gov’t announcements on new settlement construction after Palestinian prisoner release at end of month.

European delegation tells Israeli officials: There will be dire consequences if current round of peace talks collapses.

By The Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

The European Union yesterday said it had asked Israel not to announce any new West Bank settlement construction following an expected Palestinian prisoner release, warning it would be blamed for any resulting failure in the Mideast peace talks.

A construction worker working on a new housing unit in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, which the EU considers illegal [Archive] – Photo: AP

In further pressure on Israel, a European delegation told Israeli officials there could be dire consequences if the current round of peace talks collapsed, including economic sanctions against the settlements, an EU official said. Continue Reading »

Native American Studies group latest to join academic boycott of Israel

 

Native North American academic association is newest group to declare their support for boycotting of Israeli academic institutions.

 

 

 

Another small North American academic association – the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) –  decided this week to boycott Israeli academic institutions.

oycotting Israel - Photo: REUTERS

Boycotting Israel – Photo: REUTERS

Ohio State English professor Chadwick Allen, the president of the association and coordinator of American Indian Studies at Ohio State, wrote on the association’s website that the move followed a “member-generated” petition asking that the group “formally support the Boycott of Israeli Academic and Cultural Institutions that was initiated by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.” Continue Reading »

14 camels killed in freak train accident in Negev

 

In an unfortunate freak accident in the Negev, a train hits group of camels. Police currently working to find the owners.

Israel Railways reports, ‘Animals wandering onto tracks do get hit by passing trains from time to time,’ 

Mati Siver

A train ran over a group of camels, leading to massive delays for passengers and an untimely death for the desert animals.

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An Israel Railways train traveling from Dimona to Beersheba Tuesday night hit and killed 14 camels that were on the tracks, near the Segev Shalom Junction. After the incident the train continued on its way and completed the journey without additional incident. Continue Reading »

In Stiff competition: Teva will sell Generic Viagra-impotence drug from 2017

The sales of Teva’s Generic Viagra could provide the company with succor from the specter of generic competition to its Copaxone.

By Reuters and  

 

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries may sell a generic form of Viagra starting in late 2017, Pfizer said on Tuesday. The announcement marks the end of protracted patent litigation between the two drugmakers.

Teva.

Teva’s plant in Jerusalem. – Photo: Bloomberg

Pfizer’s U.S. patent on Viagra only lapses in 2020, including a six-month extension granted for having tested the medicine in young patients. But now, following its agreement with Pfizer, the Israeli drugmaker may launch its copycat version of the impotence drug years before other generic drugmakers.

Continue Reading »

Israel’s Defense Minister: Lebanese Army Will Put Killer-Soldier on Trial

The Lebanese army has arrested & will try the rogue soldier who, without justification, shot & murdered IDF soldier Shlomi Cohen ז”ל , reported Defense Minister Yaalon .

By Elad Benari

 

The Lebanese army has arrested the soldier who shot and killed IDF soldier Shlomi Cohen near the border on Sunday night, Moshe Yaalon said on Tuesday evening.

Yaalon’s comments were made during a tour of the Jordan Valley.

“This is a serious incident and the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army are responsible for this,” he declared, adding that there had been a meeting on Monday between the liaison officers of the Lebanese army and the IDF, attended by members of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), during which the Lebanese army reported the findings of its investigation of the shooting incident. Continue Reading »

Jordan Protest Israel’s Newly Installed Temple Mount CC Security Cameras

Jordan expressed its outraged at Israel’s installation of closed-circuit security cameras following attacks on civilians and Israel Police, accuses Israel of violating Muslim religious freedom.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Jordan, the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, demanded on Tuesday that Israel remove surveillance cameras at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount, the AFP news agency reports.

“Jordan rejects Israel’s installation of surveillance cameras on December 8 to monitor waqf officials and worshippers, particularly women,” Information Minister Mohammad Momani told state news agency Petra.

“Jordan does not accept that Israel has set up a police station inside the compound. Continue Reading »

Sheba Medical Center save Syrian refugee boy’s life in heart surgery

 

First time ever: 4 yr-old Syrian boy with a rare heart condition undergoes life-saving surgery at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center.

After the successful surgery, the boys father was quoted as saying, “The Israeli doctors saved his life and I am happy to have met this country.”

By Adi Rubinstein

 

 

A 4-year-old Syrian refugee from the besieged city of Homs underwent surgery recently at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, the first time a Syrian has been operated on at the pediatric cardiology ward.

Heart-warming success: 4-year-old Syrian heart patient Mohammed Hamudi with his father and Dr.

Continue Reading »

UN Security Council condemned killing of IDF soldier by Lebanon

IDF representatives met with Lebanese Army officers & UNIFIL officials to discuss the incident.

 

JERUSALEM – The United Nations Security Council condemned the killing of an Israeli soldier by a rogue Lebanese soldier on the border between the two countries.

Photo: ‎The IDF soldier that was killed last night by a cowardly Lebanese soldier was Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen ז"ל, 31, of Afula. He was married and had a little girl.Our heartfelt condolences goes out to his family & loved-ones.May he Rest in Peace.baruch dayan ha'emet‎

The IDF soldier killed was Master Sgt. Shlomi Cohen ז”ל, 31, of Afula. He was married and had a little girl.- Photo: Family courtesy

The Security Council in a statement released Monday night called the incident “a serious contravention of the existing operational rules and procedures as related to resolution 1701,” which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah.

Continue Reading »

IDF to relocate it’s personnel towards peripheral areas

 

Army source reports that once the IDF command relocates most of its bases to sites outside the country’s center, 100,000 housing units can be built on vacated land.

 

 

The IDF is poised to launch the first phase of its move out of greater Tel Aviv. It’s a move that, when completed, would eventually see almost all bases and complexes move to the South, North, and around the Center of the country.

Photo: Good morning from #Israel.

IDF soldiers on patrol – Photo courtesy: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

When complete, some 1,100 hectares (2,718 acres) will be vacated, enabling the construction of 100,000 housing units and 2.5 million sq.m. Continue Reading »

NEW FIND: Nobel Oil reports another oil find for Israel

Israel’s Off-Shore Leviathan Oil Field May Contain 3 Billion Barrels of Oil.

A Noble analysts reported that drilling will not begin before the end of 2014.

By: Jewish Press News Briefs

 

Noble Energy now estimates that that its Leviathan oil field discovery in Israeli and Cypriot waters may contain up to 3 billion barrels of oil, double the previous estimate that did not include Block 12 off of Cyprus.

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The same field also ready has been determined by Noble and its partner Delek to contain 19 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and another 4 trillion at Block 12. At today’s prices, the value of the potential oil field is nearly $3 billion. Continue Reading »

Damaged Torah scrolls from Iraqi trove buried in New York

 

Damaged Torah scrolls found amid discarded trove of more than 2,700 books & documents in a flooded Iraqi intelligence building basement were buried in a religious ceremony in a suburban New York cemetery.

By Associated Press

Torah scroll fragments found amid a trove of more than 2,700 books and documents in the flooded Iraqi intelligence building basement have been buried in a religious ceremony at a suburban New York cemetery.

Burial is method used for disposal of sacred objects deemed unfit for use under Jewish law - Photo: AP

Burial is method used for disposal of sacred objects deemed unfit for use under Jewish law – Photo: AP

“This project is somewhat reflective of the new Iraq,” said Lukman Faily, the Iraqi ambassador to the US. Continue Reading »