Syrian rebels tried to kill Assad’s top aides, Israeli officials confirm

Information shows that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, and several other senior officials were indeed poisoned, just as the Free Syrian Army claims.

Israel has reliable information showing that despite Syria’s official denials, an attempt was made to assassinate several top regime officials four days ago, senior Israeli officials said on Thursday.

The information shows that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, and several other senior officials were indeed poisoned, just as the Free Syrian Army claims. But prompt medical treatment saved their lives.

Syria's President Bashar Assad (R) meets Iran's Minister of Information and Communication.

Syria's President Bashar Assad (R) meets Iran's Minister of Information and Communication Reza Taqipour, in Damascus May 24, 2012.

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IDF Rehearses Crossing River under Fire

Engineering reconnaissance unit to use new infantry bridge to ford stream rapidly while under enemy fire.

The Yael reconnaissance unit of Yahalom, the elite Engineering Corps Unit for Special Assignments, rehearsed crossing of a small waterway while under fire from a highly trained enemy, in a unique drill performed this month. The IDF Website‘s Florit Shoichet reported that the drill took place on the Jordan River, near Machanayim.

Crossing the Jordan

Crossing the Jordan - IDF Spokesman's Unit

Several bridges were displayed for top commanders, including a new infantry bridge. Yael forces also demonstrated the use of rubber dinghies and ropes for transferring ground troops acros the water. Continue Reading »

US Senate dramatically redefines definition of Palestinian ‘refugees’

 The UN says there are 5 million Palestinian refugees. The US Senate says that’s more than 160 times too high

 

Nearly everyone agrees that around 650,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes between June 1946 and May 1948. But when it comes to counting the number of Palestinian refugees alive today, the math gets fuzzy.

US Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced an amendment to redefine how the US defines Palestinian refugees (photo credit: Courtesy Sen. Mark Kirk's office)US Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced an amendment to redefine how the US defines Palestinian refugees
Photo: Courtesy Sen. Mark Kirk’s office
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – the main body tasked with providing assistance to Palestinian refugees – there are more than 5 million refugees at present.
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Madonna fans revel in her arrival in Israel

Facebook overflows with Israeli fan pages for the queen of pop as she arrives in Israel

After dialing Avihay Asseraf’s cell phone number, a “funtone” version of Madonna’s “Give Me All Your Love” greets the waiting caller.

“People don’t appreciate the meaning that someone like Madonna is doing her opening night here. It’s the premiere of a tour,” he told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday over the phone. “It’s a piece of history.”

Madonna 521 – Photo: Reuters

Earlier that day, American pop icon Madonna landed in Israel, where she is launching her 2012 world MDNA Tour in Israel, kicking off at Ramat Aviv Stadium on Thursday, May 31 – rescheduled from May 29.

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Gay Palestinian man petitions for asylum

Nablus resident living with Israeli partner for over decade says he would be killed if deported back to Palestinian Authority

 

A homosexual Palestinian man petitioned the High Court of Justice Thursday against Interior Minister Eli Yishai and the public committee reviewing humanitarian cases at the Interior Ministry following their decision to reject his appeal for legal residency status in Israel.

According to the petitioner, his request was denied despite indication of special humanitarian circumstances and therefore violates the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law. In his petition, the man also requested that the court issue an edict preventing authorities from deporting him until the court rules on his matter. Continue Reading »

Poll: Majority of Germans think Israel is ‘aggressive’

Poll in weekly Stern magazine finds that Germans have become more critical of Israel over past three years.

Germans have become markedly more critical of Israel over the past three years, with 59 percent describing it as aggressive, according to a survey for the weekly magazine Stern released on Wednesday.

German flag in Berlin May 23, 2012 (Reuters)

German flag flies in front of the Reichstag in Berlin - Photo by Reuters

The survey was conducted shortly before President Joachim Gauck visits Israel and the Palestinian territories May 28-31.

A similar Stern survey in 2009 found 49 percent considered Israel aggressive.

The survey, conducted by Forsa pollsters, found 70 percent of Germans agree with the statement that Israel pursues its interests without consideration for other nations. Continue Reading »

Intel Opens Computational Intelligence Center in Israel

Collaborative project brings together experts from Haifa Technion and Hebrew University, with initial $15M 5-year budget.

 

Citing Israel’s “tremendous intellectual talent,” Intel has opened a center for Computational Intelligence (CI) research in Israel, with the collaboration of the Haifa Technion and Hebrew University. “It was only natural that when we started to think about where we’d might locate a new research institute that we’d want to look at Israel,” Justin Rattner, Intel’s Chief Technology Officer, told Arutz Sheva.

The purpose of the Intel Collaborative Research Institute for Computational Intelligence is broadly described as the study of future interaction between people and computers. Continue Reading »

Israeli companies win UN bids to reconstruct Gaza, angering Palestinians

Palestinian Contractors Union forbids members to collaborate with Israelis

 

A number of Israeli companies have recently won UN tenders for reconstruction projects in the Gaza Strip, enraging Palestinian contractors who claim they were outbid by the country that destroyed their infrastructure.

More than three years after Israel inflicted widespread damage on the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead, an offensive aimed at curtailing relentless Hamas rocket fire into Israel, two Israeli companies won bids issued by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to construct water plants in Gaza, London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Thursday.

Osama Kahil, deputy head of the Palestinian Contractors Union, told the daily that a number of Israeli companies have contacted contractors in Gaza offering them half of the bids’ revenue to execute the projects. Continue Reading »

‘Ticking bomb’ land to be cleared for agriculture

INMAA launches first de-mining project in a multi-year plan to clear minefields for agricultural use.

About one percent of Israel’s land contains live minefields, and in a country as small and crowded as Israel, that one percent is important; especially if the land poses an unnecessary threat to its citizens.

A minefield on the Golan Heights - Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski

A minefield on the Golan Heights - Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski

The Israeli National Mine Action Authority (INMAA) was established in 2011 after the Knesset passed the Land-Mine Clearance Law. Today in Israel, there are more than 130,000 dunam of minefield and/or mine affected territories that are no longer considered essential to national security.

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‘Israel offered $6M to Marmara raid victims’

Turkish lawyer says Jerusalem has offered $6 million settlement to victims of 2010 raid on Gaza-bound Turkish aid flotilla

 

A Turkish lawyer said on Thursday that Israel had offered to pay $6 million to victims of Israel’s storming of a Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla to settle lawsuits against the Israeli military.

Rain on the Marmara (Acrhves) Photo: AP

Rain on the Marmara (Archives) Photo: AP

However, a senior Israeli official who declined to be named said that Israel, having indicated last year that it was prepared to indemnify victims without accepting blame, had not renewed its offer.

Turkey and Israel fell out badly in 2010 when Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara to enforce a naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip. Continue Reading »

Israeli researchers score success in lung cancer treatment

The researchers find that introduction of BKT140 leads to the death of cancerous lung tumor cells and a reduction in the size of the growths.

Israeli researchers have identified a material that could help remedy lung cancer. In tests conducted by researchers at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Kerem on cell samples and laboratory mice, the material shrank tumors by about 50 percent, and when it was used in conjunction with radiation therapy and chemotherapy, the pace of cancerous cell growth was reduced by about 90 percent.

Researchers Ori Wald , left, and Oz Shapira in their lab on Wednesday.

Researchers Amnon Peled, left, and Oz Shapira in their lab – Photo by Shiran Granot

The study was conducted by Dr. Continue Reading »

UK Press Commission Rules: Tel Aviv is Capital of Israel

The British Press Complaints Commission ruled that UK media has the right to refer to Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital.

The British Press Complaints Commission ruled that UK media has the right to refer to Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital.

The highly controversial ruling comes in response to a photo posted by The Guardian nearly a month ago portraying passengers on Jerusalem’s light rail observing a minute of silence in commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day.

Soldiers at Memorial Day ceremony in Jerusalem

Soldiers at Memorial Day ceremony in Jerusalem - Reuters

The caption, which originally referred to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, prompted a correction that read, “The caption on a photograph featuring passengers on a tram in Jerusalem observing a two-minute silence for Yom HaShoah, a day of remembrance for the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust, wrongly referred to the city as the Israeli capital. Continue Reading »

India disturbed by Israeli pressure to join ranks against Iran

 

Delegation to visit New Delhi in June to explain Jerusalem’s stance, push for cut to Iranian oil imports

Israel is stepping up its pressure on India to join its crusade against the Iranian nuclear program, a policy that the New Delhi government is finding hard to accept, The Telegraph India wrote on Thursday.

In June, an Israeli delegation will travel to India to further stress Jerusalem’s assessment of Iran’s nuclear intentions and the importance it sees for India to accept Israel’s stance.

However, Indian officials are uncomfortable with Israel’s determined, and very public, diplomatic assault on Iran. As one of its biggest customers, India is dependent on Iran for its oil supply and is also sensitive about its own local Muslim population. Continue Reading »

Israel’s Technion improves microscope resolution 10-fold

“Breakthrough” uses computational method to improve resolution of microscopes and imaging systems.

 

 

Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has registered a patent for a new technique that improves tenfold the performance of any type of sophisticated microscope and imaging system without making hardware changes.
Scientist at work (illustrative) - Photo: Marretao22/Wikimedia Commons
Scientist at work (illustrative) – Photo: Marretao22/Wikimedia Commons

The discovery, which has just been published in the Nature Materials journal, has aroused great interest in the scientific world and industry, being described as a “breakthrough with the potential to change” these fields.

Their innovative method substantially improves the resolution – the ability to distinguish between details – of images seen through microscopes.

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Shin Bet exposes Hebron terror cells

Internal security service says recent arrest of several Palestinian terrorists thwarted attack on Kiryat Arba; indictments filed

The Shin Bet internal security service cleared for publication on Wednesday that over the past few weeks it has exposed, in cooperation with the IDF, a number of terror cells in the Hebron area, Ynet reported.

One of the cells, which is affiliated with Hamas, was involved in a bombing attack, while another planned to kidnap Israelis in Kiryat Arba.

Explosive device used by terrorists

Explosive device used by terrorists

According to the Shin Bet’s announcement, as art of its preparation to kidnap Israelis the Hamas terror cell examined the IDF’s alertness by hurling explosive devices at the fence surrounding Kiryat Arba. Continue Reading »