Ignoring pressure from BDS, Alicia Keys to go forward with concert in Tel Aviv

Keys balks at calls from anti-Israel activists, among them author Alice Walker, to boycott Israel & says in New York Times interview: ‘I look forward to my 1st visit to Israel.’

 

Alicia Keys said Friday that she plans on going forward with her scheduled July concert in Israel, despite pressure from activists to drop the gig, the New York Times reported.

Alicia Keys performs at half time during the NBA All-Star basketball game in Houston, Texas

Alicia Keys performing at halftime during the NBA All-Star basketball game in Houston, Texas, February 17, 2013. – Photo: Reuters

 

Just days after Alicia Keys confirmed her summer performance in March, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign began to kick into gear, and websites, Facebook pages, and petitions urging Keys to cancel her plans to play Tel Aviv started popping up. Continue Reading »

Another Major BDS Movement Defeat in U.S.

A Palestinian inspired resolution calling for the boycott of Israeli firms will be ignored at the upcoming TIAA-CREF shareholders meeting.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

 

A resolution calling for the boycott of Israeli firms will not be put to a vote at the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund’s (TIAA-CREF) upcoming shareholders meeting.

Protester calling for a boycott of Israel – Photo: REUTERS

The move comes after the pension fund giant received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to “take no action” on a submission by pro-Palestinian Authority Arab activists. This followed the company’s warning by an Israeli civil rights group that passage of the resolution would violate NY and Federal law. Continue Reading »

Transplant makes blood brothers of Arab and Jewish families

 

Mohammed Eckert receives a kidney from Shmuel Ben-Yair, whose father gets a kidney from Mohammed’s wife in complex and rare procedure “We bonded both physically&  mentally,” says Jewish patient who now has a new lease on life.

By Daniel Siryoti

An extraordinary story that defies borders, religions and race recently unfolded at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa recently: Two patients who desperately needed kidney transplants, one Jewish and one Arab, received donations that saved their lives — with the Arab patient’s wife donating a kidney to the Jewish patient, and the Jewish patient’s son donating his kidney to the Arab patient.

Continue Reading »

Meet the 1st ultra-Orthodox to enlist into IAF flying school

Modern day ‘Pioneer’ says he always wanted to be a pilot.


Family: We wanted him to become a Torah scholar, but we support his decision.

By Akiva Novic

In the midst of the political turmoil surrounding the universal draft bill, an 18-year-old ultra-Orthodox youth is set to make history by being the first haredi to enlist in the IAF’s hugely prestigious flying school.

Illustrative Photo Courtesy, Israel Air Force

Illustrative Photo Courtesy, Israel Air Force

Becoming a flight pilot is a childhood dream for Y., whose father heads a Chabad center, and expected his son to follow the family tradition and devote himself wholesale to the study of Torah. Continue Reading »

This Sunday in NYC: 1 Million to Celebrate Israel

The Parade features 28 floats, 17 marching bands, and 35,000 marchers.


 

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In what promises to be a massive outpouring of heartfelt public affection for the Jewish state, the annual Celebrate Israel Parade will take over Fifth Avenue in Manhattan this coming Sunday, June 2. Featuring 28 floats, 17 marching bands, and 35,000 marchers, the parade will likely attract its usual crowd of hundreds of thousands of joyous spectators, representing a cross-section of the Jewish community and supporters of Israel. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu orders gas masks for every Israeli

With Syria’s now-proven willingness to use chemical weapons, the possible threat of an unconventional attack brought Netanyahu to insists it’s time to get protection for all Israelis.

By Israel Today Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week ordered the defense establishment to urgently get gas masks and protective kits into the hands of all Israelis, according to Israel’s Channel 10 News.

Trying on my gas-mask - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Trying on my gas-mask – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

Currently, only an estimated 42 percent of Israelis have up-to-date gas masks and protective kits. Budgetary constraints in recent years prevented both the manufacturing and distribution of enough masks to protect the entire population. Continue Reading »

In Maintaining the Inertia of ‘resistance’, PA Leaders Threaten Their Own Businessmen

Once again Khaled Abu Toameh presents us with another example of how covertly, Palestinian leadership takes steps to maintain the status quo. Peace is a direct threat to the financial gains of the corrupt PA leadership, its military, and cronies who ‘aid and advise’ the leadership.

Peace will simply bring an end to the conflict, on which the parasitic entity thrives.

By Khaled Abu Toameh

 

So far, not one Palestinian Authority official has come out in public against the campaign of intimidating Palestinian businessmen. It will not only foil Kerry’s plan, but also scare away potential investors. Those making threats do not want to see prosperity; instead they want the Palestinians to continue living in misery in order to keep alive the fight against Israel.

Continue Reading »

Israel’s electric car drove to a Better Place, but the road ahead still needs traveling

 

Better Place’s demise was a road with wrong turns, but the dream is still valid.

With 350 electric cars the road, & several battery charge stations still operating, the road is paved for the next electric car entrepeneur.

By Ilan Gattegno

On Wednesday, an appointed receiver arrived at the Rosh Haayin offices of electric car company Better Place, which declared bankruptcy this week, and found calm employees. She received an in-depth explanation about the installation, control systems, ongoing maintenance and clients, who are waiting to learn what will become of the electric vehicles they purchased.

Continue Reading »

Palestinians & US upset by Israel’s housing construction in east Jerusalem

Once again Erekat accuses Israel of sabotaging peace efforts, while maintaining precondition demands to begin talks.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

Israeli officials on Thursday tried to douse a diplomatic fire Channel 10 ignited with its report about two building projects in Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem – of 1,100 units – that have been in the pipeline for years.

Construction in Har Homa Photo: Courtesy

Construction in Har Homa Photo: Courtesy

These east Jerusalem housing units are a real and official destruction of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to revive the peace process, Chief PLO Negotiator Saeb Erekat said Thursday.

In response, Israeli officials noted that no new approvals had been given for east Jerusalem housing and that the Palestinians understood this.

Continue Reading »

Moscow to sell at least 10 advanced MiG-29 fighter jets to Assad

 

Russian jet manufacturer Sergei Korotkov says his company signed contract to deliver MiG fighters to Damascus. Meanwhile, Russian news affiliates refute Assad’s assertions that he’s already received shipment.

News agencies

Russian arms manufacturer says it is signing a contract to deliver at least 10 fighter jets to Syria.

Russian Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29M-2 - Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Russian Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29M-2 – Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Sergei Korotkov, general director of the MiG company that makes the jets, told Russian news agencies Friday that a Syrian delegation was in Moscow to discuss terms and deadlines of a new contract supplying MiG-29 M/M2 fighters to Syria.

Korotkov did not say how many MiGs Syria were buying, but says it would be “more than 10.” Continue Reading »

Netanyahu Informs Putin: We will Destroy the S-300s

Israel’s PM warns the Russian President that their weapons to Syria can not, and will not, be allowed to become operational.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hinted in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that if Russia sends S-300 missiles to Syria, Israel will destroy them before they become operational. So reports Maariv based on reports from diplomatic sources who were updated regarding the meeting between the two leaders.

Netanyahu’s language reportedly was echoed by National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror, who told EU diplomats that Israel would prevent Russian S-300s delivered to Syria from becoming operational.

Those present at the meeting were reportedly “shocked” by Netanyahu’s bold language in speaking to the leader of a world power. Continue Reading »

Israel to Fund Reform and Conservative Rabbis in Groundbreaking Decision

New ruling represents a milestone victory for the Reform & Conservative movements, both which long have chafed at their second-class treatment by previous Israeli gov’ts.

By JTA Staff

 

 

Israel’s Ministry of Religious Services will, for the first time, allow non-Orthodox rabbis to serve in communal positions with state-funded salaries.

non-Orthodox Jewish Brit - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

non-Orthodox Jewish Brit – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The announcement on Thursday of the intention to change current policy follows a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court filed in January by the Reform and Conservative movements arguing that it was discriminatory for the state to employ only Orthodox rabbis in state-funded positions.

Continue Reading »

PA Condemns Israel for Cancelling ‘Politicized’ UNESCO Mission to Jerusalem

The PA’s foreign ministry blasts Israel for its cancelling a UNESCO investigative mission to Jerusalem’s Old City, after the PA manipulated the schedule to politicize it.

By Elad Benari

 

The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry slammed Israel on Thursday for having called off a United Nations investigative mission to Jerusalem’s Old City, calling it an act of “contempt of international law and institutions,” according to AFP.

David's Citadel in Jerusalem - IsraelandStuff-PP

David’s Citadel in Jerusalem – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

The ministry said it “condemns in the strongest possible terms the decision of Israel, the occupying power, to prevent the technical mission of UNESCO from carrying its monitoring mission in the Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls.” Continue Reading »

Israel’s navigation app turns down $Billion acquisition by Facebook

Israeli start-up traffic GPS app ready to pass on serious payday, just to keep its firm at home in the Jewish state.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Israeli start-up Waze, which provides a real-time navigation and traffic report app for smartphones, is reportedly set to turn down a $1 billion dollar acquisition bid by Facebook in order to keep its team in Israel.

WAZE - Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

WAZE – Photo: IsraelandStuff/PP

With the improved GPS capabilities of newer smartphones like the iPhone and various Android handsets, Waze has seen a huge increase in usage in recent years, and today has an estimated user base of 48 million worldwide. Continue Reading »

Greek minister: Our countries have known each other for thousands of years

Peres & Abbas met separately with FM Dimitris Avramopoulos. While Shimon Peres focused on economic stability, the PA president said he looks towards the peace talks.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, GREER FAY CASHMAN

 

 

 

Both Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres met separately on Thursday with Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos, although the focus of the meetings seemed worlds apart.

Mahmoud Abbas meets Greece's Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos in Ramallah May 30, 2013. Photo REUTERS,Mohamad Torokman

Mahmoud Abbas meets Greece’s Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos in Ramallah May 30, 2013. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Abbas received Avramopoulos at his presidential headquarters in Ramallah on Thursday, where they debated over the peace process, official PA news agency WAFA reported.

Continue Reading »