Al-Jazeera Sacks its Reporter for Questioning Arafat ‘Assassination’

One of the original authors of the network’s coverage of Swiss investigation, Ken Silverstein was reportedly fired after citing media bias.

By Tova Dvorin

 

An Al-Jazeera reporter was fired last week for questioning the objectivity of the investigations surrounding the death of PLO leader Yasser Arafat, according to The Washington Free Beacon. The reporter was part of the network’s investigative team into the death, which was controversially declared a “poisoning” by Swiss officials in October.

Yasser Arafat

Yasser Arafat, not yet dead

 

Al-Jazeera has been one of the prime networks advocating the theory that the PLO leader was poisoned by polonium in 2004, and has been actively presenting the story with that bias since 2012. Continue Reading »

Jordan & U.S. Agree: Israel Needs to Control Jordan Valley

Palestinians steaming after Kerry reported the US backs Israel’s demand to maintain full IDF presence in Jordan Valley.

By Ryan Jones

 

The Obama Administration and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan have both reportedly sided with Israel in its demand to retain control over the Jordan Valley in any future peace agreement with the Palestinians.

US, Jordan Agree: Israel Should Control Jordan Valley

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Benny Gantz look out over the strategic Jordan Valley. – PHOTO Courtesy

In a new proposal to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry is said to have suggested that the Jewish state be permitted to maintain a military presence in the strategic Jordan Valley. Continue Reading »

Zahar: Following Rouhani election, Hamas renewed ties with Iran

A senior Hamas official reports his organization will not be bound by “Oslo 2″and goes further claiming Fatah’s Abbas does not represent the Palestinian people.

By YASSER OKBI
 

 

Hamas announced Monday that the government in the Gaza Strip renewed its ties with Iran following the election of Hassan Rouhani as Iranian president.

Mahmoud Zahar

Mahmoud Zahar- Photo: Courtesy of Channel 1

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar sad that relations had never been completely severed, but were affected by events in Syria.

According to Zahar, Hamas made clear that it was not involved in the Syrian conflict and would not claim allegiance to either side in the country’s civil war. Continue Reading »

American Professors call on Students Association to vote against Israel boycott

 

 

The American Studies Association said that it will withdraw the resolution if a majority of the ASA’s voting members do not vote to endorse the boycott resolution by December 15.

By

 

 

The American Association of University Professors called on members of the  to vote down a resolution endorsing an academic boycott of Israel.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.- Photo: AP

In an open letter to American Studies Association members published Dec. 6, two days after the ASA’s 20-member national council approved the boycott resolution, the American Association of University Professors, or AAUP, which says it opposes academic boycotts as violations of academic freedom, wrote that it “recognizes the right of individual scholars to act in accordance with their own personal consciences.” Continue Reading »

IDF’s new emergency field hospital will treat 250 patients per day

Nice to know the IDF is a step ahead…

 

In times of national disaster, war or even a shutdown of ordinary hospitals, the IDF’s new emergency field hospital will provide assistance & medical care to those injured in field by using the newest & most advanced medical gear.

By Yoav Zitun

According to Kryce, “during the Yom Kippur War, a third of the deaths were injured for a period of time before they were treated. During Operation Peace for Galilee the figure stood at 22% and in the Second Lebanon War – 15%. Our target, similar to what the Americans achieved in Afghanistan and Iraq, is to lower the figure to single-digit. Continue Reading »

Terrorist Behind Eilat Rocket Attack Killed by Egyptian Army

In a shootout, Egyptian soldiers shot to death Ibrahim Abu Atiyeh, leader of the terrorist group responsible for recent rocket attacks on Eilat in August.

By David Lev

 

Egyptian sources said Monday night that Egyptian Army soldiers had eliminated Ibrahim Abu Atiyeh, a terrorist belonging to the Al Qaeda-linked Ansar Beit al-Makdis terror group. Abu Atiyeh was a leader of the group, which has claimed responsibility for a recent rocket attack on Eilat in August. Abu Atiyeh  was killed in a shootout with Egyptian soldiers in northern Sinai.

The group has been at odds with Eypt’s new military government, and has attempted to kill Egyptian officials, including the country’s interior minister. Continue Reading »

Electronic Artificial Skin Could Help Amputees Sense Touch, Temperature & Humidity

Scientists at the Haifa’s Technion Institute of Technology celebrated a medical breakthrough that could allow amputees to actually feel again.

By Sean Fitz-Gerald, Mashable

 

 

Researchers have developed a flexible sensor with the potential for integration into electronic skin. If successful, the e-skin could attach to prosthetic limbs, letting people with artificial appendages experience changes in their environments, such as touch, humidity and temperature, simultaneously.

ZZxZ

Image courtesy of Agustín Ruiz

This is a big step forward, per the Technion Society, as current forms of e-skin can only detect touch. The researchers developed the new system using gold particles and a kind of resin, which is at least 10 times more sensitive to touch than other touch-based e-skin systems. Continue Reading »

Finance Committee Just Doubled Monthly Tax On Empty Apartments Brginning 1-1-2014

New monthly tax hikes unanimously approved on roughly 47,000 empty apartments.

Heavy taxation to encourage renting or selling, to help alleviate national housing crisis.

By Ari Yashar, Arutz Sheva Staff

 

On Monday, the Finance Committee unanimously approved the application of doubled real estate tax (arnona) on empty apartments, of which there are an estimated 47,000 units.

According to the new law, an apartment will be considered empty if unused for 9 consecutive months, or 9 cumulative months in the real estate tax fiscal year, from January 1 till December 31. The new rules will come into effect starting January 1, 2014. Continue Reading »

Abbas Rejects Terrorists Release Delay, Warns ‘Total Failure’ of Peace Process

In November a senior PLO official revealed that the only reason the PA is participating in peace talks was to free all 104 terrorists.

By Ari Yashar, Arutz Sheva Staff

 

In response to reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry will delay the third batch of terrorist releases by a month, a spokesperson of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas declared Monday that the PA will not agree to the delay, reports Kol Yisrael government radio.

Issa Karaka, PA Minister of Prisoner Affairs, said that while an official confirmation of the postponement has yet to be made, there are definite American pressures in that direction. Continue Reading »

Is Israel Really Destroying the Al-Aqsa Mosque?

Continue Reading »

Israel, PA, & Jordan to sign historic trilateral Red Sea-Dead Sea pipeline plan

The project involves 180 km. of tunnels & pipelines, a tremendous desalination plant & 2 hydro-power plants.

Energy & Water Minister Silvan Shalom is due to attend “historic” signing ceremony at World Bank headquarters in Washington DC.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, SHARON UDASIN

 

Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority were expected on Monday to sign an agreement on a Red Sea-Dead Sea pipeline project.

Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom was due to attend what he called the “historic” signing ceremony at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC.

“The program has garnered the Prime Minister’s support, along with the support of [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas among the Palestinians and of course the support of the King of Jordan,” Shalom told Army Radio. Continue Reading »

New IDF satellite system to be deployed nation-wide

 

Now army brigade commanders will have access to receive real-time live footage of ground events directly on their secured military mobile phones as new IDF satellite system will be operational in topographically-challenged areas throughout the country.

By Yoav Zitun

In the next few weeks, the three regional IDF commands – Northern, Southern and Central – are expected to be deployed with a new satellite system developed by the Computer Service Directorate.

Illustration (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Illustration – Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

The new system will dramatically improve the real-time observation skills on topographically-challenged areas, such as the northern Golan Heights, where explosive devices were planted near an IDF force this past weekend. Continue Reading »

No longer able to smuggle stolen or cheap fuel & products from Egypt, Gaza struggles

Intended to block the smuggling of weapons, stolen goods, drugs & terrorists, Egypt’s tunnel clampdown is good for it’s security & public order, but for Hamas’ ‘gangster’ style government, many Gazans say they have never had it so tough.

By Reuters

 

Mohammed Al-Telbani, owner of one of Gaza’s biggest food factories, is the sort of businessman plucky enough to thrive despite an Israeli blockade of the Palestinian coastal enclave, but even he says he is finally running out of answers.

A Palestinian laborer in Gaza.

A Palestinian laborer works through a pile of steel reinforcement rods collected from destroyed homes in Gaza Strip on December 4, 2013.-

Continue Reading »

U.S. & Israel’s Generals Agrees on Jordan Valley

All that has happened in the Middle East – the regional upheaval, stability problems amongst Israel’s neighbors & everything that is going on in Syria – only prove Israel’s concerns.

By Gil Ronen

 

Major General Nitzan Alon, the Head of the IDF’s Central Command, met leaders of the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria Sunday and attempted to allay their concerns about a possible agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA) regarding the final status of the Jordan Valley in a future permanent accord.

Major General Nitzan Alon, the Head of the IDF’s Central Command, – Arutz 7

An audio recording of the general’s statements reached daily newspaper Yisrael Hayom, which published it. Continue Reading »

Hamas: We Will Never Agree to Accords or Solutions That Cedes a Single Grain of Soil

Hamas celebrates 26 year anniversary of 1st Intifada, swearing it will never settle for less than a ‘Palestine from the sea to the river.’

By Dalit Halevy

 

The Secretary of the Hamas government in Gaza, Abd el-Salam Siam, said Sunday in a press release marking 26 years since the outbreak of the First Intifada that the Gaza government supports all forms of the struggle against “Israeli occupation,” including popular struggle, struggle through peaceful methods and armed struggle.

Siam said that the Palestinian people can develop new tactics in the struggle, and called on the Palestinian people to learn from the experience of the ‘rock intifada’ and unite its ranks. Continue Reading »