Spotlight: From Iran to an Israeli Border Guard Unit

Just 18 months ago, ‘S.’ was still lived in her Iranian Jewish community & could only dream of making Aliyah. Now, she is serving in Israel’s Border Guard.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Sixty young people will be accepted into the Border Guard Unit, Tuesday in the village of Maaleh Michmash – and among them is S., an Iranian new immigrant, according to a story by Yediot Aharonot.

S. immigrated to Israel from Iran 18 months ago – leaving her entire family behind in the Islamic Republic. “Since I was a little girl, my dream was to move to Israel and join the army,” S. Continue Reading »

US Air Force & IAF hold largest joint-military exercise in Israel’s history

 

Greece, Italy, Israel and the U.S. are holding joint aerial training exercise above Israel with about 100 aircraft.

IDF points out: Joint exercise has nothing to do with Iran

By Yoav Zitun

Some 50 fighter jets belonging to Israel, Greece, the US and Italy took off Sunday morning from the Ovda air base, signaling the beginning of the largest military air exercise in Israel’s history.

Israel Air Force - Phot courtesy: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

Israel Air Force – Phot courtesy: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit

The Blue Flag exercise is being hosted by Israel will continue until Thursday and will include more than 60 jet fighters among them the Tornado, AMX and F-15. Continue Reading »

Hezbollah applauds nuclear deal as ‘major victory’ for Teheran

Hezbollah announcement reports interim deal that Western leaders struck with Iran in Geneva is a ‘defeat for the enemies’ of the region.

By Reuters

 

 

Lebanon‘s Hezbollah on Monday hailed a nuclear deal between its patron Iran and world powers as “a major victory” for Tehran.

Nasrallah, Assad and Ahmadinejad

Feb. 25, 2010 file photo of Hezbollah leader sheik Hassan Nasrallah speaking with Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Iran’s then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. – Photo: AP

The agreement, struck over the weekend, will see some sanctions that were imposed on Iran over its nuclear program eased in exchange for Tehran halting some of its most sensitive atomic work. Continue Reading »

Israeli Scientists Find New Treatment For Brain Damage

Tel Aviv University researchers discovered hyperbaric oxygen treatment can greatly increase a subject’s cognitive ability.

By Tova Dvorin

 

Israeli researchers have found a revolutionary way to treat brain damage, Business Standard reports.

Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers and staff at the Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center in Tzrifin have found that high levels of oxygen in a pressurized atmosphere can significantly improve chronic brain damage.

After treatment, patients who sustained brain injuries from 20 years ago improved their cognitive and physical responses following the treatment, the study concludes.

Doctors worldwide treat brain injuries with physical rehabilitation, but its effects have been limited partly because the window of opportunity to repair the brain damage after the injury is short. Continue Reading »

Jewish immigration from France to Israel up by 49%

French Jewish immigration to Israel has increased by 49% in the first 9 months of 2013 compared to last year.

By JTA

 

Through September, 2,185 French Jews have immigrated to Israel, compared to 1,469 immigrants during the same time frame in 2012, according to Jewish Agency for Israel figures. The number of immigrants who arrived from France to Israel during the whole of 2012 was 1,907.

New Immigrants – Photo courtesy: Nefesh B’Nefesh

On average, Jewish immigration to Israel from the rest of the world under the  Law of Return showed an increase of 1 percent during the first nine months of 2013.

Continue Reading »

PM convenes urgent Cabinet meeting on Horizon 2020, as EU sticks to settlement boycotts

 

EU guidelines require every agreement with EU to include clause specifying that ‘deal’ is not applicable beyond Green Line.

 

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held urgent consultations Sunday to discuss what Israeli officials termed the European Union’s refusal to show the necessary flexibility on its settlement guidelines to allow Israel to join the massive Horizon 2020 project.

Meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with EU Foreign Commissioner Catherine Ashton in Jerusalem. - Photo: Amos Ben Gershom, GPO

Meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with EU Foreign Commissioner Catherine Ashton in Jerusalem. – File Photo: Amos Ben Gershom, GPO

Israel and the EU have been in intensive talks since August looking for a formula that would enable Israel’s participation in the flagship EU Research and Development program in light of EU settlement guidelines published in June barring the transfer of any money or funds to entities beyond the Green Line, including east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Continue Reading »

Eli Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, honored with President’s Medal of Distinction

 

Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel, accepts Israel’s President’s highest civilian award, calling himself an honorary Israeli: ‘Even though I don’t live in Israel, Israel lives within me.’

Shimon Peres: ‘It’s a great honor & privilege for me’

Noam (Dabul) Dvir

Eli Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, received the President’s Medal of Distinction from President Shimon Peres Monday night. He received the prize for “his unique contribution to the memorial of the Holocaust and in light of his uncompromising drive for peace and tolerance.” The medal is the highest civilian award in Israel, which was also given to US President Barack Obama when he visited Israel. Continue Reading »

Norwegian gov’t official: Muslims and Jews circumcise out of ignorance

Norwegian gov’t’s child welfare adviser says minorities’ parents would shy away from  circumcision if they knew pain, risk & lack of health benefits involved.

By

 

 

The Norwegian government’s child welfare adviser said Jews and Muslims would stop circumcising children if they learn more about the risks and pain that the ‘procedure involves.

Eitan's Brit

A Jewish circumcision ceremony. – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

“With good information about risk, pain and lack of health benefits of the intervention, I think parents from minorities would voluntarily abstain from circumcising children,” Anne Lindboe, Norway’s Children’s Ombudsmen, told the Norwegian Aftenpost daily last week.

Lindboe, who last year advised Jews and Muslims to replace circumcision with “a symbolic ritual,” also told the paper that non-medical circumcision of pre-teen boys should be outlawed and those performing it should be punished similarly to people who use violence against children. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Defense Minister: Gov’t to Begin Dealing With Illegal Arab Construction

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon reported Monday evening that his ministry would develop methods to deal with illegal Arab construction in Judea & Samaria.

By David Lev

 

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Monday night that he would set up a committee to develop a legal framework to prevnet illegal building in Judea and Samaria that would apply to all residents. The announcement by Ya’alon came in response to a lawsuit by the Regavim group that demanded the state intervene to prevent illegal Arab building, just as it acts to prevent illegal construction in Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria.

The lawsuit by Regavim demands that the state order the demolition of illegal building by Palestinian Authority Arabs between the Binyamin region community of Neve Tzuf and the Arab village of Deir Nazim. Continue Reading »

Awareness campaign opens 4 investigations into Nazi war criminals in Germany

Operation Last Chance will bring aging war criminals to justice.

The response to the ad campaign — with the slogan “Late but not too late” proves that the poster struck a very strong nerve in German society.

By JTA

 

BERLIN — At least four investigations of possible Nazi-era war criminals have been turned over to German investigators in recent months.

Operation Last Chance Poster: Late, but not too late

Operation Last Chance Poster: Late, but not too late

The alleged Nazi war criminals were identified following an awareness campaign by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

“Operation Last Chance II,” launched in 2011 and expanded Monday with a new poster campaign, has yielded hundreds of calls and emails from around the world, said Efraim Zuroff, the organization’s chief Nazi
hunter.

Continue Reading »

Artillery Corps seeks more recruits in growing northern role

 

Israel’s Artillery Corps is becoming a strategic force on Israel’s Syrian border, where it responds with lethal surface-to-surface missiles at enemy positions.

 

With a new precision rocket battalion also coming into service soon, the Artillery Corps, which maintains the Ground Forces’ only drone unit, is hoping that its growing role will attract more young recruits. On Tuesday, the Corps is set to learn how many Israeli youths from the November round of draftees signed up with the Artillery Corps.

An IDF artillery vehicle on the Golan Heights – Photo courtesy: IDF Spokesperson Unit

 “We’re investing a lot to bring combat soldiers to us,” Brig.-Gen.

Continue Reading »

Palestinians plan new flotilla to launch from Gaza

 

 

Palestinian protesters & fishermen will try to reach the open seas of the Mediterranean to remind the world Gaza is still under closure.

The activists are expecting Israel’s Navy to interfere, but say they will not confront seamen.

BY Elior Levy

A group of Palestinian activists from Intifada Youth Coalition is planning on sailing from Gaza Strip in an attempt to challenge the naval blockade on the territory.

Swedish flotilla to Gaza in 2012 (Photo: AFP)

Swedish flotilla to Gaza in 2012 – Photo: AFP

The group of 200 Palestinian activists, backed by other foreign activists who are currently in Gaza, is planning to take boats from the Palestinian coast to the line of the marine closure, six nautical miles from shore, on Friday. Continue Reading »

Israeli agritech company improves crop harvests without genetic modification

The Israeli agritech firm Kaiima reports that it is developing a technology that will replicate natural processes to produce stronger, bigger plants for growing & hungry world.

By Reuters

 

Israeli enterprise Kaiima believes it has found a way to improve crop harvests by replicating and accelerating a natural genetic phenomenon in the laboratory.

Wheat fields in Israel's Negev Desert.

Wheat fields in Israel’s Negev Desert. – Photo: Eliyahu Hershkovitz

The future of growing sturdier, sustainable crops for an increasingly hungry world is represented in their rice fields. Most plants evolve via a process called genome doubling, where over time, two species become one with a single genome comprising the strongest features of each parents. Continue Reading »

Israeli Elderly Taught Self-Defense to Fight Off Illegal Immigrant Attacks

Israel Police, gov’t & NGO hold self-defense classes for southern Tel Aviv elderly, who face constant immigrant violence.

By Gil Ronen

 

The Israel Police, in cooperation with the Ministry for Senior Citizens and the non-governmental Center for Israeli Immigration Policy, provided dozens of elderly residents of southern Tel Aviv with self-defense lessons Monday.

A senior police self-defense trainer, Haim Hakani, taught the senior citizens how to behave in dangerous situations, and how to effectively defend oneself from violence.

Lt. Col. Alon Magen and Lt. Col. Nisan Menashi, commanders of police stations that maintain order in southern Tel Aviv’s poorer neighborhoods, addressed the participants and confirmed that their neighborhoods are in added danger because of the numerous illegal immigrants who live in them. Continue Reading »

Gov’t document before Cabinet: Illegal infiltrators are a threat to society’s resilience

PM Netanyahu: We will remove tens of thousands of illegal migrants to preserve the state’s Jewish & democratic character & restore safety to Israeli citizens.

The incentives offered to illegal migrants to leave the country will be raised from $1,500 to $3,500.

By Shlomo Cesana

 

Continue Reading »