Israel detains Palestinian-American teen for throwing rocks

The boy’s father said his 14 yr-old son was taken into custody early last Friday morning by 8 rifle-wielding IDF soldiers.

By Gili Cohen &

 

Israeli forces have been holding a Palestinian-American teenager in a military lockup for nearly a week after bursting into his family home and arresting him in an overnight raid for allegedly hurling rocks at Israeli motorists in the West Bank, his father said on Thursday.

IDF soldiers in Hebron, Feb. 24, 2013

IDF soldiers in Hebron, Feb. 24, 2013.- Photo: Emil Salman

The case highlights Israel’s system of military detention for Palestinian minors, which has been frequently criticized, most recently by the UN which said in March that an in-depth study showed it systematically and gravely violated their rights. Continue Reading »

Yair Lapid ‘vigorously opposes’ Israel – Canada Potash deal

Finance minister Yair Lapid to form a committee to review state’s rights to its natural resources. Lapid opposes ICL purchase by Canadian company Potash & says the Israeli public should be the 1st to enjoy the nation’s natural resources.

By Zeev Klein & Hezi Sternlicht

 

 

Finance Minister Yair Lapid announced Wednesday that he opposes the sale of Israel Chemicals (ICL), which produces potash from mineral reserves in the Dead Sea region, to the Canadian company Potash.

Continue Reading »

Construction of new Kotel site may begin within a month

After 3 months of consultations with a wide spectrum of Israeli & American Jewish leaders, Sharansky unveiled the proposal Tuesday in New York. Now back in Israel, he will present the plan to PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Natan Sharansky said the implementation of his plan to expand the non-Orthodox prayer site at the Western Wall could begin in as little as one month.

In an interview Thursday with JTA, Sharansky sounded cautiously optimistic about his proposal to create an egalitarian space equal in size to the current men’s and women’s sections combined.

The Jewish Agency for Israel chairman was charged last year with finding a solution to mounting tensions over women’s prayer at the Western Wall. Continue Reading »

HRW: Hamas didn’t probe executions of suspected spies

Human Rights Watch says Hamas neglected to investigate executions of 7 Palestinians accused of spying for Israel during November’s Gaza operation.

By REUTERS

 

 

GAZA – Human Rights Watch accused the Islamist Hamas government in Gaza on Thursday of failing to investigate the summary executions of seven Palestinians alleged to have spied for Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense last November.

Gunmen ride motorcycles dragging body of alleged collaborator

Gunmen ride motorcycles dragging body of alleged collaborator Photo: REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Ihab al-Ghusain, head of the Hamas government media office, denied the allegation and said an inquiry headed by the prosecutor general was set up shortly after the incidents and had made recommendations to the cabinet.

Continue Reading »

Tehran reports: We’ve built a time machine

 

The head of Center for Strategic Inventions in Iran claims he’s built a machine that allows man to see his life with 98% accuracy & up to 8 years forward. ‘It will not take you into the future, it will bring the future to you’, he said.

By Ynet

Family and friends of Razeghi were less excited about the machine, claiming that he was “trying to replace God.” Will the next big news of the science world come from Tehran? A young Iranian scientist claims that he has invented a machine that is capable of predicting the future of anyone who touches it. Continue Reading »

WJC to meet far-right ‘anti-Zionist’ rally in Budapest

Although they rarely hold annual gatherings outside of Israel, the World Jewish Congress decided to meet in Budapest this year to show solidarity with Hungary’s Jews, who are facing ‘exceptionally strong’ anti-Semitism.

By

A far-right Hungarian priest said an “anti-Zionist” demonstration will be held in Budapest on the first day of the World Jewish Congress’ General Assembly.
Former member of Hungarian far-right Jobbik.

Former member of far-right Jobbik party burns an Israeli flag during an anti-Zionism demonstration in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012 – Photo: AP

 

Lorant Hegedus Jr., a Calvinist priest and member of the ultra-rightist, anti-Semitic Jobbik party, announced that an “Anti-Bolshevik and anti-Zionist people’s gathering” will be held in the Hungarian capital on May 4, the first day of the WJC annual assembly. Continue Reading »

Haifa’s Rambam Hospital Teaches Int’l Teams to Treat Trauma Victims

Last week 26 doctors, nurses & hospital administrators from 17 countries participated in a unique medical seminar at Rambam Hospital’s Health Care Campus.

By David Lev

 

Last week 26 doctors, nurses and hospital administrators from 17 countries completed a unique seminar at Rambam Health Care Campus. The two-week course, held with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs , has a simple–– and essential ––goal: to share Rambam’s rich experience and knowhow in treating trauma victims with medical personnel worldwide.

The course consists of lectures, workshops, simulations and tours throughout Rambam and Israel. All prepare attendees to build systems for treating victims of disaster –– both natural and manmade–– in their own countries. Continue Reading »

Facebook Shuts Down Anti-Semitic Page Showing Graphic Holocaust Photos

Example: Photograph of Mass Jewish Grave Is Labeled, ‘Lazy Jews’

By JTA

 

Facebook has removed a page featuring anti-Jewish content, including a photo of murdered Jews in a mass grave at Bergen-Belsen with the headline “Lazy Jews.”

graphic face

From the Jewish Daily Forward

In response to a formal complaint by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Mia Garlick, Facebook’s Sydney-based manager of communications and policy, confirmed Saturday that the Jewish memes page was no longer available.

Peter Wertheim, executive director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, welcomed the removal and said that Facebook’s decision about another 15 such pages about which the council has complained is pending. Continue Reading »

Portugal to vote on citizenship for the descendants of exiled Jews

Popular support for the motion stems from a desire to “make amends” for a dark historical chapter in Portugal – a country that is described as being“virtually free of anti-Semitism.”

By JTA

 

The parliament of Portugal is scheduled to vote on whether to naturalize descendants of 16th-century Jews who fled the country because of religious persecution.

File:Parlamento April 2009-1a.jpg

The Parlamento of Portugal – Photo Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The motion will be brought to a first reading on Thursday by Portugal’s Socialist Party and is expected to pass, as it has the support of the ruling Social Democratic Party, according to Jose Oulman Carp, president of Portugal’s Jewish community. Continue Reading »

Palestinian NGO accuses Israel of ‘water apartheid’ in West Bank

Israel Water Authority dismisses West Bank NGO’s claims as just a ‘political weapon,’, claims Palestinians are actually breaching water agreement.

 

 

The Water Authority dismissed as a “political weapon” a Palestinian report that condemned Israel for depriving Palestinians of their “rightful water supply.”
Jordan River

Jordan River – Photo: Daniel Easterman

Titled “Water For One People Only: Discriminatory Access and ‘Water-Apartheid’ in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” the report is a product of the Ramallah-based non-governmental organization Al-Haq.

The document slams Israel for providing “discriminatory access” to water and enacting “water apartheid” policies that result in the 500,000 Israelis in the West Bank and east Jerusalem receiving six times the amount of water that the 2.6 million Palestinians in the same area do.

Continue Reading »

Israeli source: ‘There will be no more goodwill gestures towards Palestinians’

Israel refused to give in to demands of gestures of goodwill, as the Palestinians continue to

 seek

more & more preconditions in their bid to sabotage peace talks before they start.
Jerusalem: ‘We are ready to discuss everything – in direct talks’

By Attila Somfalvi

Talks yes, gestures of goodwill no. Senior officials in Jerusalem who were present during talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Wednesday that Israel does not intend to present any confidence building measures towards the Palestinians. The sources claim that the “preliminary demands presented by the Palestinians attest to the fact that they are peace refusniks. Continue Reading »

Reuters: Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad tenders resignation

Sources report that Palestinian PM Fayyad offered his resignation to PA President Abbas on Wednesday.

By Reuters

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad offered his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday following a rift between the two men over government policy, two sources told Reuters.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Jan. 6, 2013.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Jan. 6, 2013.- Photo: AP

Abbas was due to return to the West Bank from Jordan on Thursday, and it was not immediately clear whether he would accept the resignation of the U.S.-educated economist.

A spokeswoman at Fayyad’s office declined to comment on the reports, which followed persistent rumors that Abbas wanted to sack Fayyad following internal political wrangling. Continue Reading »

Planned U.S. Budget with Increase in Defense Aid for Israel

President Obama announced that the new U.S. budget for the coming year, includes increased American defense aid for Israel.

By Elad Benari

 

The planned U.S. budget for the coming year, which was announced by President Barack Obama on Wednesday, maintains and even increases the American defense aid to Israel, Channel 10 News reported.

Netanyahu & Obama - Photo by Kobi Gideon

Netanyahu & Obama – Photo: Kobi Gideon

According to the numbers published, the United States will provide Israel with $3.4 billion in defense aid, a record number, according to Channel 10.

The budget proposal submitted to Congress also includes a request for the addition of approximately $220 million to finance the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, a request that was not included in last year’s budget proposal, but was added later on. Continue Reading »

Huge Ancient Cone-Shaped Structure Found Deep in Lake Kinneret

Nautical archeologists think the monumental cone-shaped structure may have been built more than 4,000 years ago onshore when the water level was lower than today.

By Gil Ronen

 

Nautical archaeologists have reported the discovery of a “monumental” conical stone pile built of large, natural, unhewn basalt cobbles and boulders, on the floor of the Sea of Galilee.

Lake Kinneret, a.k.a. the Sea of Galilee

Lake Kinneret, a.k.a. the Sea of Galilee

The structure is definitely man-made, and measures about 70 meters in diameter at a depth of about 219 meters, reported archaeologists Yitzhak Paz, Moshe Reshef, Zvi Ben-Avraham, Shmuel Marco, Gideon Tibor and Dani Nadel, in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology

Close inspection by scuba diving revealed that the structure is made of basalt boulders up to 1 meter long with no apparent construction pattern and no signs of cutting or chiseling. Continue Reading »

Jews Still Planning to Sue Jimmy Carter over Anti-Israel Book

“It is, indeed, a sad day for all of us as Americans, when a former President demeans the dignity of his office by intentionally misstating critically important facts concerning events of great historic significance and public interest, simply to advance a personal anti-Israel animus and to foster the agenda of the enemies of Israel who pump so much money into the Center which bears his name.”

By: Yori Yanover

 

Asserting that no individual has done more than former President Jimmy Carter to defame Israel and to challenge its right to exist, a group of readers filed a class action suit against Carter and the Simon & Schuster publishing company, back in February, 2011, alleging that Carter’s book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” contains numerous false and knowingly misleading statements intended to promote the author’s agenda of anti-Israel propaganda and to deceive the reading public instead of presenting accurate information as advertised. Continue Reading »