More agricultural research from Israel

 

Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization focuses on how to keep food fresher longer & to make it better.

By Linda Gradstein, The Media Line

Strange things are happening at the Volcani Center in a Tel Aviv suburb. Potatoes sprayed with spearmint oil are not sprouting for months, Granny Smith apples deprived of oxygen stay fresh for over a year, and cows are eating less grain and producing more milk.

apples

Granny Smith apples deprived of oxygen stay fresh for over a year – Photo courtesy: Fir0002/Flagstaffotos

These are just a few projects at the Agricultural Research Organization, the research arm of Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture which houses six separate research institutes. Continue Reading »

Polish General accused of unethically preferring Israel-made drones

Poland’s General Waldemar Skrzypczak’s security clearance was withdrawn over his alleged illicit preference based on close personal ties with the head of Israel’s drone manufacturer.

 

 

Poland’s Deputy Defense Minister General Waldemar Skrzypczak has been stripped of his security clearance over suspicions that he gave preferential treatment for acquiring Israeli military equipment and over his close personal ties with Yedidia Yaari, the head of Israeli armaments maker Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

Skylark drone

A miniature drone, the Skylark. Photo by IDF Spokesman

The Polish Military Counterintelligence Service leveled the accusations at General Skrzypczak as the ministry planned to add a unit of unmanned aerial vehicles, based partly on Israeli-made aircraft, to the Polish Air Force. Continue Reading »

Dutch teens visit Nazi transit camp in effort to rid anti-Semitism from schools

After 63  years, organizers add the Holocaust’s Kamp Westerbork to the annual high-school cycling trip’s itinerary for first time in effort to instil empathy & understanding about the Holocaust.

By

Some 150 teenagers from The Netherlands visited Westerbork, a transit camp for Holocaust victims, in an activity designed to combat recent expressions of anti-Semitism in the city’s schools.

Participants of the Fietsvierdaagse (Four day bicycle tour) ride their bicycles in Drenthe

Participants of the Fietsvierdaagse (Four day bicycle tour) ride their bicycles in near Kamp Westerbork on July 23, 2013. – Photo: AFP

The youths from the eastern Netherlands city of Arnhem arrived at Kamp Westerbork on bicycles on July 25 carrying white roses provided to them by the organizers of the activity, which was planned in cooperation with the Jewish community of Arnhem. Continue Reading »

Abbas’ PA Pirate Radio Stations’ Signals Interfere at Israel’s Ben Gurion Int’l Airport

Palestinian Authority’s pirate radio stations are unregulated and dangerously interfering with Ben Gurion Int’l Airport’s air tower communication network.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

 

Signals from Palestinian Authority pirate radio stations are interfering with the air tower communication network at Ben Gurion International Airport.

Officials from the Israel Airports Authority turned to the Ministry of Communications on Sunday, asking that the source of the interference be tracked down.

All radio transmissions are regulated by law; unauthorized signals are subject to termination, and their operators can be charged with in connection with the broadcast.

Pirate broadcast signals also interfere with reception of Israeli radio stations throughout Judea and Samaria (Yehuda and Shomron), as well as broadcast signals in the northern Negev region. Continue Reading »

Israel terminates support for ongoing & future European Union projects

There are to be no building permits for EU projects, existing permits won’t be renewed and all working meetings between the IDF, the gov’t & EU representatives have been canceled.

By Tommy Mueller

 

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has instructed the army and the authorities in Judea and Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”) to no longer support European Union (EU) projects there.

Israel halts support for European Union projects

Israel halts support for European Union projects – Israel Today

 

In the fully-Israeli-controlled parts of the West Bank, termed Area C, there are to be no new building permits for EU projects, and existing permits will not be renewed. Continue Reading »

Palestinians claim Kerry promised Abbas to reject any Israeli bid for interim deal

 

Palestinians take a stand on borders & prisoners, with official warning that there will be no talks without prisoner release.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, KHALED ABU TOAMEH
 

 

The US has given the Palestinian Authority assurances that it will reject any Israeli proposals to establish a Palestinian state with provisional borders as part of an interim agreement, a senior Palestinian official was quoted on Sunday as telling the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.

Kerry, with Abbas, makes a short statement for reporters during recent visit.

Kerry, with Abbas, makes a short statement for reporters during recent visit. – Photo: REUTERS

After US secretary of State John Kerry’s whirlwind round of shuttle diplomacy which lasted months, Israeli and Palestinian officials are due in Washington this week to kick off the latest round of peace negotiations.

Continue Reading »

MK Bennett at Jerusalem protest: “Terrorists should be eliminated, not freed”

 

Family members of the Israelis murdered in terrorist attacks demonstrated before the cabinet votes on Netanyahu’s proposal to free 104 Palestinian prisoners as gesture to Abbas.

The crowd chanted, ‘Bibi is a coward’.

By Moran Azulay

 

The cabinet was expected to convene Sunday morning to vote on the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority ahead of the expected resumption of US-brokered peace talks.

Ahead of the vote, relatives of Israelis who were killed in terror attacks gathered outside the government complex in Jerusalem to protest against the release of prisoners.

The protesters chanted: “This is a day of mourning,” “You do not release murderers of children” and “Bibi is a coward.” Continue Reading »

MKs: Has the U.S Ever Freed Terrorists?

MKs ask why U.S. gov’t officials pressure Israel to free murderers, while refusing to release Jonathan Pollard.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Members of Knesset expressed frustration Sunday that Israel is releasing terrorist killers in order to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority, following intervention from United States Secretary of State John Kerry.

The United States would never do what Israel is being asked to do, they accused.

“It isn’t moral to release murderers. It isn’t safe to release murderers… Has the United States ever released murderers as a concession to terrorism?” asked MK Motti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi).

“The United States hasn’t even freed Jonathan Pollard, after he served his sentence and has been in prison for more than 28 years,” he noted. Continue Reading »

American born Amb. Michael Oren returns home to Israel

Completing his 4 years in office Michael Oren, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. talks of his close relations with U.S. officials, getting Obama’s help during Carmel fire disaster & ‘yelling’ at Washington Post editor over doctored photo.

By Yitzhak Benhorin

 

WASHINGTON – Michael Oren finds it tremendously painful when people doubt his “Israeliness”. He spent long periods of time in Israel in the 1970s, made official aliyah in 1979, joined the IDF‘s Paratroopers Brigade and fought in the 1982 Lebanon War.

45 מאמרי דעה בתקשורת האמריקנית. אורן (באדיבות שגרירות ישראל בוושינגטון)

Amb. Michael Oren – Photo: Courtesy of the Israel Embassy in DC

This week, after it was decided to appoint Ron Dermer as the next Israeli ambassador to the United States, Oren told Ynet: “I’m still surprised that some people, even advisers in the Prime Minister’s Office, ask me if I’m Israeli.” Continue Reading »

Full Text: PM Netanyahu’s Open Letter to Israelis

In a rare communiqué, the Prime Minister explains his rationale for releasing terrorists, despite harsh opposition from the public.

By Gil Ronen

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took the rare step Saturday evening of publishing a long missive to the Israeli public. In it, he explains why he has agreed to release 104 terrorists as a “gesture” accompanying “peace talks” with the Palestinian Authority. He also states that the talks need to last at least nine months.

Netanyahu’s messages to the public are usually delivered through much shorter communiques, or in interviews. His decision to opt for a relatively long letter may reflect his awareness that the Israeli public is solidly opposed to the terrorist prisoner release, and is generally fed up and cynical about “peace talks” that have been going nowhere for 20 years. Continue Reading »

EU ban on Hezbollah a nice start, but impact will be minimal

NEWS ANALYSIS: The new regulations are declaratory and will likely have very little effect on the ground. Hezbollah will just say, “Don’t worry, these men are from the political arm.”

 

The decision Monday by Europe’s 28 foreign ministers to put Hezbollah’s military wing on the EU list of terrorist organizations followed months of jostling by member states in the wake of last summer’s killing of five Israelis and a Bulgarian in a bus bombing near the Black Sea resort of Burgas.

Continue Reading »

Hamas objects to Egyptian authorities’ charge of Morsi’s link to Gaza movement

 

Egypt’s interim gov’t warns both, Mashaal and Haniyeh: Stay out of Egypt’s internal affairs.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

 

Hamas officials condemned over the weekend the Egyptian authorities’ decision to charge ousted President Mohamed Morsi with links to the Palestinian Islamist movement.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh gestures during an interview with Reuters in Gaza City May 10, 2012.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City May 10, 2012. – Photo: REUTERS

The officials said that the allegations against Morsi came in the context of Egypt’s recent punitive measures against Hamas, including the demolition of about 80% of the smuggling tunnels along the border with the Gaza Strip and the closure of the Rafah terminal.

Meanwhile, sources in the Gaza Strip said on Saturday that the Egyptian authorities have warned Hamas leaders against “meddling in Egypt’s internal affairs.”

Continue Reading »

Breaking News: Israel reportedly attacked Syrian weapons convoy to Hezbollah

Syrian rebels & Lebanese news website report Israel Air Force activity in Baalbek area, over Quneitra, in Golan Heights, claim Hezbollah-bound weapons convoy bombed.

BY Roi Kais

 

 

Another Israeli strike in Syria? Arab media outlets reported Israeli Air Force activity in the Beqaa Valley in east Lebanon and in the Golan Heights on Saturday.

Israel Air Force F-16i (Sufa) - Photo Courtesy: IDF Spokesperson's office

Israel Air Force F-16i (Sufa) – Photo Courtesy: IDF Spokesperson’s office

Meanwhile, the Military Revolutionary Council in Golan Quneitra, a rebel group, claimed that aircraft also bombed a missile convoy making its way to Lebanon from Syria. The reports could not be confirmed by any Western source. Continue Reading »

Europe’s ‘holier than thou’ attitude to Israel maintains momentum

In direct opposition to UN 242, the EU has unilaterally dictated the outcome of the Israeli-Arab peace talks, and is biasly working to ensure its anti-Jewish agenda is carried out.

By Tsvi Sadan

 

The European Union’s new guidelines concerning withdrawal of financial support from Israeli “entities” working in the “occupied territories” didn’t surprise Israelis. For a long time now the EU’s biased stand toward Israel has caused Israeli governments to keep the EU at arm’s length, especially when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

 

Careful reading of the EU’s latest declaration shows that Europe sees negotiation between the parties as superfluous since the outcome has already been decided: Israel will withdraw fully from all territories captured in 1967. Continue Reading »

Japan gives Israel, Jordan & Palestinians a new industrial complex in Jericho

 

Israel’s Regional Development Minister Silvan Shalom said yesterday in Jericho, “The industrial sector will provide jobs to thousands of workers & is part of a series of projects whose goal is to aid the Palestinian economy & promote regional cooperation.”

By Daniel Siryoti

 

Israel, The Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Japan inaugurated a new industrial complex in Jericho on Thursday, a project funded by Japan that will bolster the Palestinian economy.
Continue Reading »