Wiesel rejects Hungarian award over Nazi concerns

Holocaust survivor denies Grand Cross Order of Merit after learning of Hungarian top officials’ participation in ceremony commending Nazi sympathizer; ‘It’s too close to home,’ says Wiesel

Associated Press

 

 

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel says he’s repudiating a Hungarian award he received in 2004 because top officials from Budapest recently attended a ceremony for a Nazi sympathizer.

Eli Wiesel Photo: Reuters

Eli Wiesel Photo: Reuters

The memorial rite weeks ago offended the 83-year-old Holocaust survivor, whose parents and sister were sent to their deaths by wartime Hungarian officials.

“It’s too close to home,” Wiesel told The Associated Press in an interview last week. Continue Reading »

Grad rocket lands near Be’er Sheva; IAF strikes targets in northern Gaza

Two rockets fall in towns but cause no casualties, though light damage was done to an industrial structure.

By Gili Cohen and Yanir Yagn

 

 

The rocket fire from Gaza continued early morning Wednesday with a Grad rocket landing near Be’er Sheva and more than ten rockets landing in the Eshkol Regional Council. Two of the rockets landed inside towns but caused no casualties, though light damage was caused to an industrial structure.

The rocket that wounded the Border Patrol officer on June 19, 2012.

The rocket that wounded the Border Patrol officer on June 19, 2012. - Photo by Eliyahu Hershkovitz

In response to the fire, the Israel Air Force launched an attack in the northern Gaza Strip. Continue Reading »

IAF Strikes Seven Terror Targets in Gaza

50 rockets fired into Israel in 24 hours, IAF responds by striking terror targets in Gaza.

By Elad Benari

 

IAF aircraft struck a terror target in northern Gaza early Wednesday morning, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced in a statement.

The statement said direct hits were identified and all aircraft returned safely to their bases.

Overnight Tuesday, IAF aircraft struck six terror targets throughout Gaza.

The air strikes came in response to the barrage of rockets that were fired toward southern Israel by terrorists in Hamas-controlled Gaza. 45 terrorist rockets slammed into southern Israel between midnight on Tuesday and 3:30 a.m. Continue Reading »

Al-Qaida group claims responsibility for border attack

Saudi, Egyptian citizen purportedly launched the attack that killed an Israeli worker, video shows; over 30 rockets fired from Gaza in past day, at least six Palestinians killed in IDF strikes on the Strip.

 

 

An al-Qaida-linked group calling itself “The Shura Council of Mujahideen in the Holy Land” claimed responsibility Tuesday for a cross-border-attack along Israel’s southern border that killed one construction worker on Monday.

Reuters obtained a video showing a group of masked men who claimed responsibility for the attack. The masked men used Islamic slogans, pledging to liberate the Holy Land from what they termed Jewish control.

Continue Reading »

Rocket fire continues: 13 Qassams hit Negev; IAF strikes Gaza

Incessant rocket fire on south Israel prompts another IDF strike in Gaza; one rocket lands near police sappers, but no one hurt

By Ynet reporters

 

 

Thirteen Qassam rockets fired by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza Tuesday afternoon landed in open areas within the Negev’s Eshkol Regional Council. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Archives Photo: Ze'ev Trachtman

Archives Photo: Ze'ev Trachtman

Shortly after the rocket salvo, Israeli aircraft struck a target in the Gaza Strip. The IDF said its target was destroyed. Palestinian sources in the Hamas-ruled territory said one person was severely wounded in what they called a targeted killing attempt

The sources said the .aircraft Continue Reading »

Facebook buys Israeli start-up for estimated $100m.

Tel Aviv-based Face.com has developed facial recognition technology for photographs loaded onto websites.

By GLOBES

Facebook Inc. announced Monday that it has acquired Tel-Aviv-based facial-recognition technology company Face.com. No financial details were disclosed but sources believe that the acquisition has been made for about $100 million.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg - Photo: Courtesy

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg - Photo: Courtesy

Face.com, founded in 2007, has developed technology used for facial recognition on photos loaded onto websites and through mobile aplications. The company has released two apps used on Facebook called Photo Finder and Photo Tagger.

In a brief statement, Facebook said the company’s technology “has helped to provide the best photo experience” for people sharing photos over the social netwirk.

Continue Reading »

Turkey tourism is down by 6%

 North American, European tourists decide to waive Turkish destinations following steep fall in number of Israeli tourists to visit Euro-Asian country

By Danny Sadeh

 

The current economic and political turmoil in Europe has taken its toll on the Turkish tourism industry which suffered a significant decline in the number of tourists visiting the country, according to data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat).

Tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2012 dropped by 6%, compared to the previous year.

Anatalia, Turkey Photo: Ahiya Raved

Anatalia, Turkey - Photo: Ahiya Raved

The steep drop in tourism chiefly derives from a decline in the number of tourists visiting Turkey from North America and Western Europe – regions which used to compose the majority of the Turkish tourism clientele. Continue Reading »

Author of The Color Purple refuses to authorize Hebrew version because ‘Israel is guilty of apartheid’

Alice Walker says Israeli policies were ‘worse’ than the segregation she suffered as an American youth and said South Africans had told her it was worse than Apartheid.

By JTA

 

 

Alice Walker, author of “The Color Purple,” refused to authorize a Hebrew translation of her prize-winning work, citing what she called Israel’s “apartheid state.”

U.S. human rights activist and author Alice Walker.

U.S. human rights activist and author Alice Walker speaks during a news conference about an international flotilla to blockaded Gaza, in Athens, Monday, June 27, 2011. - Photo by AP

In a June 9 letter to Yediot Books, Walker said she would not allow the publication of the book into Hebrew because “Israel is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people, both inside Israel and also in the Occupied Territories.” Continue Reading »

Third Gaza Rocket Attack Strikes Sderot

A third rocket attack launched at southern Israel from Gaza Monday evening exploded in the town of Sderot at about 10:00 p.m.

By Chana Ya’ar

 

 

A third rocket attack launched at southern Israel from Gaza Monday evening exploded in the town of Sderot. The short-range Qassam rocket landed in an open area of the town, about 15 seconds after the Color Red incoming missile alert system was activated.

No one was physically injured, although a number of residents who suffer from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) had trauma symptoms re-triggered by the attack. No property damage was reported, authorities said. Continue Reading »

Google chairman Eric Schmidt: Israel is a ‘tech miracle’

 Speaking at a Tel Aviv conference, Schmidt praises Israel’s engineers and development centers and discusses the role of technology in the region’s political upheaval.

 

 

Google chairman Eric Schmidt said on Monday that the company’s development centers in Israel are among the company’s most efficient and that Google is constantly expanding them.

Eric Schmidt in Tel Aviv

Eric Schmidt in Tel Aviv - Photo by David Bachar

Speaking at a Tel Aviv conference called “Big Tent,” Schmidt said that the quality of Israel’s engineers is very high, not least due to the country’s universities and the training acquired in the army. He also praised local salespeople as among the best in the world, saying they continue to contribute to the company’s profits. Continue Reading »

Ivory Coast President: “Strong historic links with Israel”

PM Netanyahu meets with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara. “Links between us are strengthening quickly”

By Yoni Kempinski

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met this afternoon (Monday) with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara. Ivory Coast Foreign Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan and Ministers Yossi Peled and Limor Livnat also attended the meeting.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ivory Coast President Ouattara noted the close state of bilateral cooperation. They discussed the terrorist threats facing both countries, as well as cooperation in the fields of health, agriculture, science and technology.

 

Ivory Coast President Ouattara expressed agreement that Israel should repatriate Ivory Coast nationals who arrived here without permits. Continue Reading »

IAF strike on Gaza thwarts attempted rocket launch

IDF strikes in Gaza after earlier attack killed 2 Islamic Jihad operatives; Palestinians claim two more killed in 2nd strike.

By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST.COM STAFF

 

 

The Israel Air Force struck targets in the Gaza Strip for a second time on Monday evening after an earlier attack killed two Islamic Jihad operatives.

 

Smoke rises after an IAF strike in Gaza [file] - Photo: REUTERS

Smoke rises after an IAF strike in Gaza (file) - Photo: REUTERS

Palestinian sources claimed that the IAF strike killed two additional Palestinians in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, bringing the total number of dead killed in air strikes on Monday to four. The IDF Spokesman’s Office stated that the airstrike targeted terrorists in the midst of firing a rocket at Israeli civilians.

Continue Reading »

IAF targets Gaza terrorists; rocket hits south

 Two Islamic Jihad operatives killed in strike in northern Strip; IDF says operation was in response to recent sniper fire. Later, rocket fired from Strip lands in Negev, but no one hurt

By Elior Levy & Yoav Zitun

 

 

The Israel Air Force struck targets in northern Gaza Strip Monday. Palestinian sources said two Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed in the attack.

According to Palestinian reports, the two were targeted while riding a motorcycle near northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.

IDF hits Gaza terrorists - (Archives)  - Photo: Reuters

IDF hits Gaza terrorists - (Archives) - Photo: Reuters

The IDF confirmed targeting a sniper cell, saying that the operation was unrelated to Monday’s terror attack on the Israel-Egypt border, and came in response to recent sniper fire. Continue Reading »

Paris School Under Fire for Blatantly Anti-Israel Exam Question

French Jews outraged after a university in Paris posed a question on an exam as to whether IDF strikes can be classified as “genocide.”

By Rachel Hirshfeld

 

 

An umbrella organization of French Jewry, CRIF, responded with “indignance” after an exam from the Bichat Hospital Faculty of Medicine at Paris’s Diderot University included a question on whether IDF strikes in Gaza can be classified as genocide, Agence France Presse reported.

students taking exam

students taking exam - Reuters

According to the CRIF and corroborated by a report by the National Bureau of Vigilance against Anti-Semitism, Professor Christophe Oberlin set the students of humane medicine the question, using the example of the deaths of 22 members of the same family in a “classic bombing” during the Gaza conflict of 2008-2009. Continue Reading »

How Iran orchestrated bombings in India, Thailand and Georgia

The Guardian reveals evidence linking a Feb. 13 car bombing in Delhi, attempted car bombing in Tbilisi the same day and massive explosion in Bangkok house the following day to each other, and to Iran.

Dan Lavie and Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

British newspaper The Guardian revealed on Sunday new evidence pointing to a correlation between three attacks — in India, Thailand and Georgia — earlier this year. The three attacks are believed to have been perpetrated by Iran. The new details confirm that all the individuals involved in the planning of the attacks had reached their respective destinations at approximately the same time.

Continue Reading »