Jerusalem Fires ‘Under Control’

A major blaze in Jerusalem’s Motza area has been brought under control by some 28 firefighting teams from across the country

By Gabe Kahn

 

Firefighters on Tuesday succeeded in bringing several fires in Motza area of Jerusalem under control.

Fire at Motza

Fire at Motza - Fire at Motza Arutz Sheva

Fire and Rescue Services Commissioner Shahar Ayalon postulated that the massive blaze could have broken out due to arson.

“A fire doesn’t start itself,” he said. “This was either caused by negligence or was lit intentionally.”

Police closed the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway (Highway 1) in both directions and reopened it two hours later. Continue Reading »

‘Eritrea won’t accept forced citizen repatriation’

‘Thank you for betraying your country,’ Eritrean envoy tells asylum-seeker at Knesset panel; 144 S. Sudanese head back to Juba.

 

 

Eritrea will not accept the forced repatriation of its nationals living in Israel, Ambassador Tesfamariam Tekeste said on Monday, at a lively and at times heated meeting of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers.

Tekeste said his government’s position remains that it will welcome those who choose to return and will help the Israeli government determine which migrants are Eritreans. He also said his government would ensure the safety of those returning and would not prosecute them for leaving the country, except those who skipped out on mandatory military service.

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3 haredim suspected of vandalizing Yad Vashem

Police arrest three residents of Jerusalem, Bnei Brak in connection to defacement of Holocaust Museum

Itamar Fleishman

 

 

The police have arrested three suspects in the vandalism of Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum earlier in June.

Some of the graffiti Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg

Some of the graffiti - Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg

The three, 18, 26 and 27, are ultra-Orthodox residents of Jerusalem and Bnei Brak.

The Jerusalem district Police said Tuesday that the suspects have also been linked to other vandalism cases of monuments in the greater Jerusalem area.

According to police sources, a search of the suspects’ apartments yielded anti-Israel and anti-Zionists material, spray cans and PLO flags. Continue Reading »

‘Ceasefire War’ Continues with Rocket Attack on Kibbutz

Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza continue their “ceasefire war” and fire a Kassam rocket on a kibbutz chicken barn, causing damage.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

 

Terrorists from Hamas-controlled Gaza continued their “ceasefire war” Tuesday morning and fired a Kassam rocket on a kibbutz chicken barn, causing damage but no physical injuries.

A man runs for cover from incoming rockets sounds in Kibbutz Kfar Aza

A man runs for cover from incoming rockets sounds in Kibbutz Kfar Aza - Reuters

The rocket exploded in the area of Sderot, located less than a mile from northern Gaza.

This week’s unannounced ceasefire, similar to dozens of others the past several years, resulted in a relative quiet after last week’s massive barrage of more than 150 Grad Missiles, Kassam rockets and mortar shells. Continue Reading »

Egypt’s Morsi: Iranian news agency made up interview

President-elect denies ever submitting to interview where he said he would review Israel treaty

by Roi Kais and Reuters

The art of denial: Egypt’s Islamist president-elect never submitted to an interview with Iranian news agency Fars in which he supposedly claimed that he would be reviewing the peace treaty with Israel, Mohammed Morsi‘s spokesman said Monday evening.

Morsi in first address after win Photo: AP, Egypt State TV

Morsi in first address after win - Photo: AP, Egypt State TV

“Mr. Morsi did not submit to any interview with Fars,” the spokesman said, according to Egypt’s official MENA news agency. “Everything published by this agency is baseless.”

According to the report by Fars, Morsi said he wants to restore long-severed ties with Tehran to create a strategic “balance” in the region. Continue Reading »

Mitt Romney speaking in Lansing, Mich., May 8, 2012 Photo by AP

Republican presidential candidate tells donors at campaign retreat he would do more than Obama to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

By JTA

 

Mitt Romney told donors attending his campaign’s Utah retreat that he is briefed on the Middle East by Israeli government officials.

About 50 of the 700 donors who attended the retreat this weekend in Park City were Jewish, according to one in attendance.

Mitt Romney speaking in Lansing, Mich., May 8, 2012

Mitt Romney speaking in Lansing, Mich., May 8, 2012 - Photo by AP

Many of these attended a breakout session Friday afternoon on the U.S.-Israel relationship, although between half and three quarters of the 100 donors attending the session were not Jewish. Continue Reading »

Israel launches global green branding TV campaign

 

The State of Israel is, for the first time, launching an international television campaign on CNN to brand itself as a green country which pioneers “green technology”.

Communicated by the Prime Minister’s Media Adviser

 

 

The State of Israel is, for the first time, launching an international television campaign on CNN to brand itself as a green country which pioneers “green technology”. The campaign is the joint initiative of the Prime Minister’s Office National Information Directorate, the Environmental Protection Ministry and the Foreign Ministry. This is the first time that the State of Israel has launched an international campaign of this kind.

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Iran Says Its Navy Will Patrol High Seas

Iran’s routine claims of military prowess reach a new climax: Its warships will patrol the high seas “to protect tankers.” Flotilla clash?

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

 

 

Iran’s routine claims of military prowess reached a new climax Monday with the announcement its warships will patrol international waters in the high seas “to protect tankers” beyond the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea.

Gas flares from Iranian oil production platform in Persian Gulf

Gas flares from Iranian oil production platform in Persian Gulf - Photo by Reuters

Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said in Tehran, as reported by government news agencies, “Today we witness that the Army’s naval force is deployed in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea instead of the Persian Gulf, and God willing, we will go beyond the Mediterranean in future.” Continue Reading »

Israeli Site Helps Americans Find Jobs

 

Countless Americas are currently facing layoffs as unemployment rates stagnate. With more than 22 million Americans using social networks to find their most recent jobs, Ran Enoch has developed the Israeli startup JobsMiner to help Americans find jobs.

By Jspace Staff

 

 

Jobsminer.com serves as a job aggregator that is all encompassing. The site uses Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus to find hidden jobs which job seekers may not be aware of.

Israeli Site Helps Americans Find Jobs

Israeli Site Helps Americans Find Jobs

Users can log-in to the site, select a location, a specified job and see all of the potential openings, all of which are taken from social networking sites. Continue Reading »

New law will make anonymous internet comments impossible

Ministerial Legislative Committee approves proposal to obligate Internet service providers to reveal PC addresses of people who post talkbacks • If Knesset approves, law will enable people, organizations to sue talkback authors.

By Edna Adato

 

 

In a controversial move that may limit the way people in Israel access online information, the Knesset Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a proposal on Sunday that may force Internet service providers to disclose computer identities of people who write talkback messages on Web pages.

ISPs may soon be forced to reveal the identities of people who participate in talkbacks on Israeli Web pages. | Photo credit: AP

ISPs may soon be forced to reveal the identities of people who participate in talkbacks on Israeli Web pages.

Continue Reading »

Israel to Morsi: Uphold peace treaty

Netanyahu’s office responds to Islamist’s victory in Egyptian presidential elections; says peace ‘is in the interest of the two peoples’

Attila Somfalvi

 

A few hours after Mohamed Morsi was declared Egypt’s first Islamist president Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement expressing hope that the cooperation between Jerusalem and Cairo would continue.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

The statement also noted that upholding the peace accord signed in 1979 was in the interest of both countries.

“Israel appreciates the democratic process in Egypt and respects its outcome,” the PMO said after the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate was declared successor to ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Continue Reading »

Despite win, Egypt’s new president will have his hands tied

The Muslim Brotherhood has won the presidency and nearly half the seats in the Egyptian parliament, but it will still have to tread lightly with its domestic and foreign policies.

 

 

The commotion was expected. As soon as Farouk Sultan, the chairman of Egypt’s election committee, began reading out loud on live television the number of votes received by Mohammed Morsi, the country’s first Islamist president ‏(more than 13 million‏), the crowd stopped him with their loud shouts − some of them happy and some angry.

Mohammed Morsi casts his vote

Egyptian presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi waves after he casting his vote at a polling station northeast of Cairo on June 16, 2012 - Photo by AP

 

Only then, in that electrifying moment, after more than an hour of hearing tiresome details of the appeals filed with the committee, did it become clear that Morsi won with a lead of slightly under 1 million votes, in a country of 85 million. Continue Reading »

‘Warning! Your Salad May Be Turning You Into An Infidel!’

An Egyptian Salafist group warned that eating tomatoes are “forbidden because they are Christian.”

By Rachel Hirshfeld

 

An Egyptian Salafist group appears to be trying to retract a post on Facebook that warned that eating tomatoes are “forbidden because they are Christian.”

Islam tomato

Islam tomato -Photo: Facebook/Popular Egyptian Islamic Association

 

The Muslim traditionalist group, calling themselves the Popular Egyptian Islamic Association, claims that tomatoes are offensive if they are cut in such a way that reveals the shape of a cross, according to the Now Lebanon website.

“Eating tomatoes is forbidden because they are Christian,” the group posted on its Facebook page, along with of a photo of tomato cut in half to reveal what could be interpreted as a cross. Continue Reading »

Peres: Israeli patience with rockets wearing thin

Speaking at Jewish Agency Assembly, president says if Hamas continues to endanger civilians, Israel will be forced to retaliate.

 

 

Israel’s patience against rocket attacks was wearing thin, President Shimon Peres implied at the opening of the Jewish Agency Assembly in Jerusalem on Sunday, as he cautioned Hamas against further firing of rockets

As he had at the opening of thePresidential Conference last week, Peres saluted the strength, the courage and the dedication of the residents of southern Israel in coping with the current barrage of rocket fire from Gaza.

President Shimon Peres - Photo: Marc IsraelSellem

President Shimon Peres - Photo: Marc IsraelSellem

“We can stop it and we will stop it,” he said.

Continue Reading »

Eyeballing Iran? US commissions 361 cruise missiles

US Navy to get 361 new Tomahawk cruise missiles, most of which are meant for Fifth Fleet destroyers based in Bahrain. Meanwhile, pressure to mount military strike against Tehran is permeating presidential campaign

by Yitzhak Benhorin

 

 

WASHINGTON – The United States has commissioned 361 new Tomahawk cruise missiles, and some 238 of them are meant to find their way to the Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, Ynet learned on Sunday.

Tomahawk launch (Archives) Photo: US Navy website

Tomahawk launch (Archives) - Photo: US Navy website

According to the Business Insider, the deal – inked on the backdrop of repeated deadlocks in the nuclear negotiations between the West and Iran – may suggest that the US is gearing for a possible military campaign against the Islamic Republic. Continue Reading »