Gen. Dempsey in Israel for Meetings with P.M. Netanyahu

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs is in Israel for meeting that will deal with the Syrian civil war, Sinai terrorism & unrest in Egypt, and on Iran’s ongoing nuclear aspirations.

By Gil Ronen

 

General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is in Israel for a visit that will deal with the Syrian civil war and Sinai terrorism. He was received by an IDF honor guard.

Dempsey with Gantz – IDF Spokesman’s Unit

During the visit, General Dempsey is scheduled to meet with Lieutenant-General Gantz and other IDF commanders to discuss cooperation and common security challenges.

Dempsey is also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. Continue Reading »

Israeli volunteers in Nepal find solution to extend life expectancy

Israeli volunteers suggest unique solution to extend current low life expectancy of  inhabitants in rural Nepal.

By Yossi Aloni

 

Dozens of Israeli volunteers, including Israeli Ambassador in Kathmandu, Hanan Goder, recently visited a remote village in Nepal where inhabitants typically die at a young age and found an original way to instead give them long and healthy lives.

Israeli volunteers help Nepalese extend life expectancy

Behind the project is the Israeli humanitarian organization Tevel b’Tzedek (The Earth – In Justice), which every years picks about 100 Israeli and Jewish volunteers from around the world to come to Nepal for educational programs and humanitarian work.

The organization has been operating for the past four years in the impoverished village of Mahda Besi, providing training in the fields of agriculture, women’s empowerment, youth and education, and health and sanitation. Continue Reading »

125 new IDF recruits out of 330 new immigrants arrive in Israel

 

Almost half of the Nefesh B’Nefesh flight carrying 330 new immigrants from North America are eager to serve in IDF combat units.

New immigrants were greeted at the airport by a host of Israeli dignitaries, including Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

By Eran Suissa & Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

A charter plane dubbed the “soldiers’ flight” touched down in Israel on Tuesday morning, bringing 125 young American Jews ready to don uniforms and join the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces.

Immigrating to enlist in the IDF – Photo:: Shahar Azran

The flight, carrying a total of 330 new immigrants from North America, included 63 men and 62 women aged 18 to 22 who will soon be inducted into the armed forces, most of them slated for combat. Continue Reading »

New pro-Israel Arab party declares EU boycott to be counterproductive

 

 

“Releasing murderers is not going to bring peace,” exclaimed Bishara Shlayan, an Israeli Christian Arab from Nazareth. He said he is against the release, and that only after a final peace deal should prisoners be released.

 

 

Bishara Shlayan, an Israeli Christian Arab from Nazareth who is creating a new Arab political party, said that the EU boycott of Israeli businesses and institutions operating in the West Bank is counterproductive, since it mainly harms Arabs living there.
Bishara Shlayan

Bishara Shlayan – Photo: Courtesy

“The boycott is a big mistake – it is the livelihood for many, mainly Arabs in the West Bank,” Shlayan told The Jerusalem Post, adding that the absence of Israeli businesses will create more violence, as more Arabs will be left with no way to put food on their tables.
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Anti-Israel MK Zoabi considers running for Mayor of Nazareth

Knesset Member and ardent anti-Zionist Hanin Zoabi reported on Tuesday that she’s ‘seriously considering’ running for mayor of Nazareth.

Fellow Balad party members are divided on this issue.

By Hassan Shaalan

Knesset Member Hanin Zoabi (Balad) announced Tuesday morning that she was “seriously considering” running to in the Nazareth mayoral race.

Zoabi told Ynet that though her decision was not final, she expressed interest in running for mayor and will announce her final decision soon.

A senior Balad official told Ynet: “The issue of Hanin Zoabi running for Nazareth mayor came up a while ago. We are still deliberating – today we’re holding another meeting in an attempt to reach decisions. Continue Reading »

Egypt’s post-Morsi gov’t limits Palestinian visitors from Gaza

Recent restrictions on Palestinians are ‘not a punishment’ for Hamas  says Egyptian official, but limiting foreigners during escalated fighting against Sinai militants.

By Reuters

 

Egypt has sharply cut the number of Palestinians allowed to enter from the Gaza Strip since its military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last month, Gaza’s Hamas leaders said on Monday.

Palestinian youths take a nap as they wait with other passengers to cross into Egypt at Rafah border

Palestinian youths take a nap as they wait with other passengers to cross into Egypt at Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip. August 12, 2013. – Photo: Reuters

An Egyptian official said the curbs were “not a punishment” for Hamas’s Islamist leanings but an effort to reduce civilian traffic as Egypt has stepped up military operations against Islamist militants in the Sinai region bordering Gaza. Continue Reading »

Jerusalem Construction ‘ is Merely a Drop in the Ocean’

Jerusalem city representative enthusiastically welcomes the 200 new housing units, but remarks, ‘I would be happier if it were 8,000.’

By Maayana Miskin

 

The decision to allow construction projects in Jerusalem neighborhoods east and south of the 1949 armistice line is a good one, says Attorney Herzl Yehezkel, a city representative from the neighborhood of Homat Shmuel.

However, he told Arutz Sheva, Jerusalem’s fast-growing population needs far more housing than the few hundred units that will be built.

“I would be happy if they were building 8,000 units instead of 800,” he said. “The little bit that they are marketing is merely a drop in the ocean.” Continue Reading »

Rocket fired by Sinai terrorists at Eilat intercepted by Iron Dome

 

Siren activated then blasts heard around the southern city.

Rocket attack comes just days after alleged Israeli drone successfully killed Al-Qaida-affiliated terrorists in the Sinai.

 

 

 

Terrorists fired a rocket at Eilat shortly before 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning, triggering an air raid siren and activating the Iron Dome anti-rocket battery, which is stationed at the Red Sea city.

Iron Dome battery deployed in North

Iron Dome battery deployed in North – Photo: Ben Hartman

The Iron Dome system intercepted at least one rocket, according to initial IDF assessments.

It is unknown at this stage whether additional rockets fell in open areas outside of the city.

Continue Reading »

Four Jordanians end 3 month hunger strike in Israeli Prison

 

3 month hunger strike comes to an end on prisoners’ own volition,  says Israeli Prison Service. But Jordanian officials report prisoners’ visitation rights for families led to decision.

By AFP

Four out of five Jordanian prisoners held in Israel have ended a three-month hunger strike against prison conditions, Israeli officials said on Monday.

“Four Jordanian prisoners ended their hunger strike of their own volition and without any conditions,” a source in the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) told AFP.

“The prisoners’ move was not conditioned on receiving benefits,” the source stressed.

But Jordan’s National Committee for Prisoners in Israel said the inmates ended their strike after an agreement was made, through the Jordanian foreign ministry, to allow their families to visit them. Continue Reading »

Palestinian Authority Denies Jews Any Rights to Western Wall

 

Decree is just another example in a string of anti-Israel propaganda, as “peace talks” are set to begin.

By Ari Soffer

 

In what is being described as yet another example of Palestinian Authority (PA) denial of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the very legitimacy of the State of Israel, the Presidential Guard of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has claimed the Western Wall as an Arab and Islamic site.

Last week, a picture of the Western Wall was posted onto the PA Presidential Guard’s official Facebook page with a PA flag superimposed on it, along with the words “The Al Buraq Wall – Public Relations and Information – The Presidential Guard – Palestinian youth know their rights.”

Continue Reading »

After refusing to play Davis Cup match on Yom Kippur, Israel fined

Israel Tennis Association was ordered to compensate the Belgian team for inconvenience of postponing game one day.

By

 

 

The Israel Tennis Association has been fined more than $13,000 for refusing to play a Davis Cup match on Yom Kippur.

Israeli tennis player Dudi Sela, right, and Jonathan Erlich, left

Israeli tennis player Dudi Sela, right, and Jonathan Erlich, left, wipe their faces as they listen to the advice of team coach Eyal Ran, during the first round of the Davis Cup, Feb. 2, 2013. – Photo: AP

The Israeli national tennis team had been scheduled to play against the Belgium national tennis team in Antwerp on September 14, which is Yom Kippur, in the world group playoffs, the highest level of Davis Cup play. Continue Reading »

MK Shaked: High Time for Implementation of Death Penalty for Terrorists

 

MK Ayelet Shaked says that when the gov’t cannot be trusted in keeping murdering terrorists in prison, it’s time for implementing the death penalty for convicted terrorists.

By David Lev and Ari Soffer

 

 

MK Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) on Monday called for implementing the death penalty for terrorists. She said the measure was necessary to ensure that terrorist murderers are “never released.”

Member of Knesset Ayelet Shaked – Photo: Moti Kikayon

At a protest at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv against the release of 26 terrorists that the government confirmed earlier Monday would be set free, Shaked said that the only way to guarantee that the government did not use terrorists who killed Israelis and Jews as “negotiation cards,” as was currently happening, was to kill the terrorists. Continue Reading »

Egyptian Christian Leader tells the EU & US to back off in ‘Open Letter’

 

 

Western maneuvering to quietly reinstate the Muslim Brotherhood baffles Egypt’s frightened & persecuted Christians.

By Ashraf Ramelah

 

The following is an open letter from Egyptian Christian Dr. Ashraf Ramelah, director of Voice of the Copts, to European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, who, together with leading American officials, has been working to reinstall Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt.

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I have followed with great interest your latest visit to my native country of Egypt — particularly your request to free former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.

Sources in Egypt inform me that Egyptians fear that your aim to have Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood leaders released from custody and dismissed from their day in court. Continue Reading »

Minister Livni: The European Union will not dictate Israel’s borders

Israel’s Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who’s also Israel’s lead negotiator in peace-talks with the PA, said during a meeting with German foreign minister, that any final status agreement relating to Israel’s borders will be determined only through negotiations with the Arabs and not by any EU decision.

By Yori Yalon & Edna Adato
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Ban on Shabbat candles leads Hasidic Jews to leave Welsh resort

 

Despite efforts to mediate between the university and visiting Orthodox Jews, the ban on Shabbat candles drove the hasidim from the seaside resort to take their holidays elsewhere this year.

 

 

Hasidim looking to vacation on the Welsh seaside are scrambling to find alternate arrangements after Aberystwyth University banned the use of candles in its residences.

File:Shabbat Candles.jpg

Shabbat Candles – Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Hundreds of Orthodox Jews have vacationed in the resort for over two decades, according to The Telegraph. Hasidim have traditionally taken up summer residence in Petre Jane Morgan, a university housing complex across a footbridge from the main campus.

Continue Reading »