Israel’s blockade to be challenged as Scandinavian ship sails to Gaza

The SV Estelle, boarded by Swedish & Norwegian groups, sets sail from Oslo as organizers hope other ships will join on its way to Gaza.

By Reuters

 

Scandinavian activist groups are launching an aid ship destined for Gaza on Tuesday, hoping to challenge the Israeli blockade and draw international attention to the conflict in a move reminiscent of the 2010 “Freedom Flotilla”, organizers said.

The SV Estelle, a 53-metre Irish vessel

“We have the same goal as the previous flotillas, to put an end to the blockade of Gaza by challenging the Israeli navy,” said Torstein Dahle, the leader of the Norwegian section of the activist group “Ship to Gaza.” Continue Reading »

Egyptian campaign: Sealing all the smuggling tunnels between Egypt & Gaza

Source says heavy equipment brought to  Rafah, “aims at closing all openings between Egypt, Gaza; Egypt PM heckled at soldiers funeral & pelted with shoes.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERS

 

Egypt began work to seal off smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a security source said, amidst an uptick in public discussions by Israeli leaders over Egypt’s willingness and capability of policing the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula.

A Palestinian man moves a goat through a smuggling tunnel under the border at Rafah. – Photo: Associated Press

The move came two days after gunmen shot dead 16 Egyptian border guards in an attack blamed partly on Palestinian Islamists.

Continue Reading »

IDF Releases Video: Terrorists Terminated

Israeli generals reveal that Ground Forces & Air Force engaged Sinai-Gaza terrorists in several clashes before wiping them out in 15 minutes.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu & Gil Ronen

 

IDF generals revealed Monday that soldiers and planes engaged Sunday night’s terrorists in several clashes before wiping them out in 15 minutes. On Monday, the IDF released a video recording of the elimination of the APC carrying the terrorists.

Some of the weapons carried by militants in infiltration attempt, August 6 2012 – Photo: IDF Spokesperson

Lt. Gen Gantz and Southern Command Major General Tal Russo toured the Kerem Shalom crossing area Monday morning, less than 24 hours after a gang of jihad terrorists carried out a well-planned attack on Egyptian soldiers, killing 16 of them and wounded several others, but failing in their second objective to kidnap and murder Israelis. Continue Reading »

It’s Morsi’s choice

It should be apparent to the new Islamist gov’t in Cairo that Israel & Egypt have a mutual interest in maintaining a peaceful border

By Boaz Bismuth

The deadly attack on Monday near the Kerem Shalom Egypt-Israel border crossing, in which 16 Egyptian policemen were killed, should make it clear to Egypt that Israel isn’t the problem — it is the solution.

Boaz Bismuth

Boaz Bismuth – Photo: facebbok

It should be apparent to the new Islamist government in Cairo that Israel and Egypt have a mutual interest in maintaining a peaceful border and protecting it from Islamist terrorist organizations that don’t hesitate to kill their Muslim brethren as they sit down to break the Ramadan fast.

Continue Reading »

Adelson presses Romney on Pollard’s release, embassy move, & Palestinian insincerity

The Daily Beast reports Billionaire also pressing GOP candidate to denounce peace talks with Palestinians as a waste of time.

By JTA

 

WASHINGTON – Sheldon Adelson, a major contributor to Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, has asked Romney to speak out publicly for the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.

Sheldon Adelson – Photo: Reuters

Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee, has said he needs to see the relevant intelligence material accessible to a president before deciding whether to grant Pollard clemency, sources told the Daily Beast website.

Pollard was working as an American civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy when he passed classified information to Israel. Continue Reading »

British PM Cameron: “We must never forget Munich victims”

Prime Minister David Cameron, foreign & local dignitaries gather to remember Israel’s slain athletes; Munich widows say IOC ‘discriminating against athletes because they are Israelis, Jews’

By Yaniv Halili

 

 

LONDON – The 11 victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack were finally remembered at London’s 2012Olympic Games.

Hundreds gathered for a moment of silence in memory of the murdered athletes, but the gesture did not take place at the site of the Olympic Games, or in the Olympic village. Instead it was held at the periphery of the events.

הכניסה לטקס האזכרה לי"א. זוכרים את הנרצחים (צילום: AP)

Pictures of Muncih victims at entrance to Guild Hall – Photo: AP

The ceremony was held by the Israeli embassy in cooperation with the local Jewish community at London’s famous Guild Hall. Continue Reading »

British bank may be stripped of state banking license after hiding Iranian dealings

In violation of U.S. laws, British bank Standard Charter failed to disclose $250 billion deal with Iran.

By Reuters

New York’s top bank regulator threatened to strip Standard Chartered Plc of its state banking license, saying the British bank was a “rogue institution” that hid $250 billion in transactions tied to Iran, in violation of U.S. law.

The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) said Standard Chartered “schemed” with the Iranian government and hid from law enforcement officials some 60,000 secret transactions to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in fees over nearly 10 years, also exposing the U.S. Continue Reading »

Israeli Emigration at 40-Year Low; Israelies are Staying Home

The number of Israelis leaving home for the Diaspora declined to a 40-year low, & many “yordim”  (emigrants) – are returning Home.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

The number of Israelis leaving home for the Diaspora declined to a 40-year low, and many “yordim” – emigrants – are returning.

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) released data for 2010, the latest period available, and said that the number of Israelis who left the country to live elsewhere was 15,600, 300 fewer than in 2009. Most of the emigrants are from Europe, and only 23 percent are American.

After taking into account new immigrants, the figure for net emigration was only 5,400, which is slightly more than in 2009. Continue Reading »

Anti-Semitism In Egypt Is Back in Fashion

The Egyptian revolution that overthrew  Mubarak, held great promise &  exposed the challenges facing Egyptian politics & culture. Anti-Semitism, if nothing else, has always been a sign of a deeply damaged culture.

 

 

A travel tip for the international executive class: If you find yourself doing business in Egypt and you feel the urge to insult your interlocutor, 1) try not to insult your interlocutor; and 2) if you must, cast aspersions on the chastity of the person’s mother or sister. This insult will be taken hard, but it may eventually be forgiven.

Whatever you do, don’t accuse the person of being Jewish. Continue Reading »

Egypt’s Brotherhood & Hamas say Israelis orchedtrated Sinai attack

Muslim Brotherhood suggests the attack “can be attributed to Mossad” to undermine Morsy; Hamas & Palestinian groups accuse Israel with aim of driving wedge between Palestinians & Egypt.

By REUTERS, KHALED ABU TOAMEH

The Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas each blamed Israel Monday for orchestrating a terrorist attack in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula which killed 16 Egyptian soldiers and wounded seven a day earlier. The accusations prompted a swift dismissal from Israel, which was also targeted in the attack.

Egyptian soldiers at checkpoint in Rafah – Photo: REUTERS

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said on its website that the attack “can be attributed to Mossad” and was an attempt to thwart Islamist President Mohamed Morsy. Continue Reading »

Knesset Member Danon: PA’s UN Bid Means Israeli Sovereignty Bid

PM must tell PA leaders that if they seek recognition as a state in ‘West Bank’, Israel will seek to annex the region, MK says.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Likud MK Danny Danon has a response to the Palestinian Authority’s plan to seek United Nations recognition as a state. If the PA seeks statehood unilaterally, he told Arutz Sheva, Israel must unilaterally annex Judea and Samaria (Shomron).

Past experience with the PA’s UN bids shows there is no need to fear the “political tsunami” predicted by Defense Minister Ehud Barak last time, he said.

However, while the PA bid is not risky, it deserves a “fitting” response, he said. Continue Reading »

Netanyahu’s outreach for dialogue with Erdogan was rejected

Officials say PM Netanyahu reached out to his Turkish counterpart, Recep  Erdogan, for a reconciliation with Turkey, but Erdogan responded, “there is nothing to talk about” until Israel apologizes for Mavi Marmara raid.

By Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff

 

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refuses to speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, senior officials in Jerusalem revealed on Sunday, saying that Israel’s efforts at establishing a meaningful dialogue with the Turkish government had failed.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refuses to reconcile with Israel. – Photo: AP

The officials said Netanyahu asked to speak with Erdogan and sought to set up a meeting between the two to resolve the ongoing crisis between their countries.

Continue Reading »

Israel’s Sourasky Medical Center successfully perform ‘Deep-Brain Implantation’

Groundbreaking surgical treatment designed to combat epilepsy that does not respond to drugs.

A patient with intractable epilepsy that has not improved with medications has undergone implantation of electrodes deep in his brain to stimulate neurons and halt his attacks. Prof. Itzak Fried of Sourasky Medical Center performed the surgical treatment, which has been a success thus far. It is available in some centers abroad but is not yet in the basket of health services, and has not been attempted on patients at other medical centers with expertise in deep brain stimulation (DBS).

X RAY shows DBS probes in the brain

X RAY shows DBS probes in the brain
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Fried, the head of the functional neurosurgery unit at the Tel Aviv hospital, said on Sunday, when the operation was announced, that he used a DBS system made by the Medtronic company based in Switzerland.

Continue Reading »

Iranian TV airs confessions in the assassinations of scientists

14 suspects in  the murder of Iranian nuclear scientists confess to the killings on state television; say they were trained at a Tel Aviv facility

By Associated Press

 

Iranian state television on Sunday broadcast purported confessions by more than a dozen suspects in connection with the killing of five nuclear scientists since 2010.

Car of killed Iranian scientist

The broadcast showed some of the suspects re-enacting the assassinations in different districts of the capital Tehran. The 14 suspects shown on TV included eight men and six women.

The TV showed pictures from a military garrison it said was a training camp outside Tel Aviv in Israel. Continue Reading »

Barak: Terrorist Attack on Israel-Sinai border is ‘wake-up call’ for Egypt’s gov’t

Sunday’s terrorist attack was the largest assault from the Sinai by global jihad operatives against both Egyptian & Israeli targets.

 

 

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said that Sunday’s attack by insurgents in Sinai would serve as a “wake-up call for the Egyptians to take matters into their own hands.”

One of the armored vehicles used in the attack.

One of the armored vehicles used in the attack. – Photo by IDF Spokesman

Speaking during a briefing at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, Barak added that throughout the incident, Israel was in touch with the Egyptian side, and that a deadlier attack was avoided. Continue Reading »