Belgian health minister irked by Israel deputy minister’s refusal to shake hands

Laurette Onkelinx posts ‘My hands are clean!” on her official Facebook page, adding only an Iranian refused to shake hands with her before.

Belgium’s health minister said she was “profoundly troubled” by the behavior of her Israeli counterpart, Yaakov Litzman, after the haredi Orthodox minister refused to shake her hand at a conference.

 

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, May 18, 2012.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman - Photo by Ilan Assayag

Litzman, Israel’s deputy minister for health, belongs to the haredi Torah Judaism party and considers it forbidden to touch members of the opposite sex.

“My hands are clean!” read a text that appeared on the official Facebook site of the Belgian health minister Laurette Onkelinx. Continue Reading »

PA TV Encourages Violence Against ‘Enemy’ Christians and Jews

New video shows that PA is continuing to air programs that encourage children to hate Jews and Christians.

A new video exposed by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research institute shows that the Palestinian Authority is continuing to air television programs which teach children to hate Jews and Christians.

In the latest incident, a young girl was asked to recite a poem during a PA TV children’s program. This poem, according to the host of the show, teaches children “responsibility and belonging.”

Mahmoud Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas - Reuters

The messages of “responsibility and belonging” in the poem include insulting Christians and Jews, referring to them as “the enemies of destiny” and encouraging violence against them. Continue Reading »

Military Expert: More IDF Multi-Front Operations Likely

An Israeli military expert says the likelihood is growing that Israel will need to launch more multi-front operations.

 

Israel Air Force Headquarters Chief Brigadier General Hagai Topolansky told a national security conference Tuesday the Jewish State is likely to extend its operations beyond its borders as well.

IAF UAV

IAF UAV - courtesy of IDF

“In the 80s and 90s we operated to deal with situations in places as far away as Iraq,” Topolansky told the audience at the Fisher Institute in Herzliya.

“In the past decade, we went as far away as Iran,” he added. “I hope [our operations] won’t have to be extended any farther [than that].” Continue Reading »

Electric car network gets first test in Israel

Better Place: To wean the world from oil and eliminate the biggest hurdles to environmentally friendly electric cars

 

ROSH HAAYIN, Israel –  Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi has begun rolling out the world’s first nationwide electric car network. Now, will the drivers come?

After more than $400 million in outlays and months behind schedule, dozens of electric cars have hit the road in Israel, the test site Agassi chose for his Better Place venture. Four stations where the cars can get a new dose of juice when their batteries run out are operating, and the plan is to ramp that number up within months.

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Israeli gives up on Everest summit to help Turkish climber

Ben Yehuda, 24, was 300 meters from peak; would have been youngest Israeli to complete ascent

 

Mount Everest (photo credit: AP/Binod Joshi)
Mount Everest (photo credit: AP/Binod Joshi)
An Israeli mountaineer abandoned his dream to reach the summit of Mount Everest just 300 meters from the peak in order to save an injured Turkish climber.

Twenty-four-year-old Nadav Ben Yehuda would have become the youngest Israeli to summit the world’s highest mountain, but he aborted his ascent to assist the stranded climber, Israel Radio reported on Tuesday.

Nadav Ben Yehuda (via Facebook)Nadav Ben Yehuda (via Facebook)

The two climbers were then evacuated by helicopter to Kathmandu. Ben Yehuda was said to be suffering from frostbite in the course of the rescue, and there were fears that he might lose one or more of his fingers. Continue Reading »

IDF Officer, Soldier Wounded by Terrorist Fire

Gaza terrorists ambushed an IDF unit working near the Gaza security fence, wounding two; both evacuated to hospital

An IDF officer and soldier on Wednesday were wounded in a live fire incident near the Gaza security fence.

The two were rushed to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. IDF force returned fire at the location they believed the gunman had fired from.

An IDF official told Arutz Sheva that attacks on soldiers near the fence by Gaza’s assorted terror gangs are “routine” and typically focus on “quantity over quality.”

Placing explosives, sniping, firing mortars, and trying to move antitank weapons into place to fire are “regular” tactics, the official said. Continue Reading »

Turkey indicts Israeli commanders over ship raid

Turkey prosecutor prepares indictment to seek life sentences for 4 former Israeli commanders, including Ashkenazi, over flotilla.

 

ANKARA – A Turkish prosecutor has prepared an indictment seeking life sentences for four former Israeli military commanders over their alleged involvement in the 2010 killing of nine Turks on a Gaza-bound aid ship, Turkish newspaper Sabah reported on Wednesday.

Israeli commandos raid Mavi Marmara - Photo: REUTERS

Israeli commandos raid Mavi Marmara – Photo: REUTERS

Relations between the regional powers deteriorated sharply after Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara aid vessel in May 2010 to enforce a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists on board the ship.

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US Senate mulls unprecedented aid to Israel

Legislators aim to further expand security aid so as to improve Israel’s capabilities vis-à-vis Iran, Defense News weekly reports

 

כלול בחבילה המשופרת. מטוס הקרב F35 (צילום: AFP)

F-35 Joint Strike Fighters included in deal - Photo: AFP

WASHINGTON – The US Senate is currently reviewing the US-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 which passed the House of Representatives earlier this month.

The bill proposes shared satellite intelligence, aerial refueling tankers, specialized munitions and surplus drawdown gear from Iraq.

Iron Dome Photo: Yariv Katz, Yedioth Ahronoth

Iron Dome - Photo: Yariv Katz, Yedioth Ahronoth

A Senate aide said the bill has already amassed nearly 50 co-sponsors and is expected to pass “by a lopsided margin or even unanimous vote” once it reaches the Senate floor, the Defense News weekly reported. Continue Reading »

Israeli archaeologists find earliest evidence of Bethlehem’s existence in Jerusalem dig

Ancient clay seal, dating to the First Temple period, bears the name Bethlehem in ancient Hebrew script; artifact located by researchers sifting soil removed from Jerusalem’s City of David.

A piece of clay was found during archaeological excavations at the City of David, in Jerusalem, bearing the name of the city of Bethlehem in ancient Hebrew script. The piece of clay dates back to the First Temple period (1006 – 586 BCE), making it the first tangible evidence of existence of the city of Bethlehem in ancient times.

The artifact, called a “bulla,” is a piece of clay typically used as an official seal on a document or object. Continue Reading »

EU Statement Suggests Arabs Can Throw Stones at Protests

A statement issued by the European Union seems to suggest it supports PA Arabs’ rights to throw stones during non-violent protests.

A statement issued by the European Union on Tuesday seemed to suggest it supports Palestinian Authority Arabs’ rights to throw stones during non-violent protests.

The statement, released on Tuesday by the spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, criticized Israel for convicting PA Arab Bassem Tamimi of dispatching stone-throwers and protesting illegally.

Catherine Ashton

Catherine Ashton - Reuters

An Israeli court convicted Tamimi on Sunday, according to an AFP report. The 45-year-old was charged with soliciting stone-throwing based on evidence that he directed such incidents from the roof-tops. Continue Reading »

Fantastic voyage to fight colon cancer

 

GE is investing in an Israeli-designed imaging capsule that can help detect colorectal cancer as it travels through the intestines.

Only a few years ago it would have belonged to the realm of science fiction: A tiny capsule that travels through the intestines, snapping 360-degree X-ray images and continuously transmitting information to a wrist-worn data receiver reporting on the prevalence of polyps, the precursors of colorectal cancer.

Thanks to the ingenuity of Israel’s Check-Cap, all you’ll have to do is swallow a tiny capsule containing a miniaturized X-ray source and several imaging sensors. No colonoscopy, no hospital visit.

The Check-Cap capsule as it looks passing through the colon.The Check-Cap capsule as it looks passing through the colon.
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Khartoum points to Israel after car blast in E. Sudan

Foreign Ministry declines to comment on “generic allegations” that Israel behind explosion in Sudan’s east, in area used as an arms smuggling route to Gaza Strip via neighboring Egypt.

KHARTOUM – One person was killed when a car exploded in the eastern Sudanese city of Port Sudan on Tuesday in what the government said resembled a blast last year that it blamed on an Israeli missile strike.

An Israeli government spokesman declined to comment on the explosion in Sudan’s east, which analysts say is used as an arms smuggling route to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip via neighboring Egypt.

Yigal Palmor, spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, told Reuters: “I’m not going to respond to generic allegations.”

Continue Reading »

Red Hot Chili Peppers urged to boycott Israel

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been targeted by anti-Israel campaigners who want the band to cancel a planned gig in Tel Aviv.

 

The band is due to perform in the country in September, a decade after they cancelled a gig because of concerns about terrorist attacks.

Red Hot Chili Peppers live

Red Hot Chili Peppers

The group Boycott From Within is calling for the rock band to pull out of the gig, which is part of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ world tour, because of the political situation.

“High profile performances, such as your scheduled gig, have served the government’s agenda of whitewashing its war crimes and creating an image of Israel as a “modern state”, where celebrities come to perform and see the sights,” wrote the BDS campaigners in a letter to the California-based band. Continue Reading »

US Congress promoting visa exemption for Israelis

Californian Democrat Sherman introduces bill allowing Israelis to enter US as temporary visitors for tourism or business for up to 90 days without a visa. ‘Israel is our closest friend and democratic ally in the Middle East,’ he says

 

US Congressman Brad Sherman (Democrat, California), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the Visa Waiver for Israel Act, a bill allowing Israel’s entrance into the US Visa Waiver Program.

תור לקבלת אשרת כניסה בשגרירות ארה"ב בתל אביב (צילום: מיכאל קרמר)

Line of visa at US Embassy in Tel Aviv - Photo: Michael Kremer

The Visa Waiver Program allows nationals from certain countries to enter the US as temporary visitors for tourism or business for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa from a US consulate abroad. Continue Reading »

Olympic Committee defends stance against moment of silence for Israel’s ‘Munich 11’

The IOC  defends its stance against a moment of silence at the London Games for Israel’s 11 athletes & coaches murdered by Palestinian terrorists

The International Olympic Committee on Monday defended its stance against a moment of silence at the London Games for Israel’s 11 athletes and coaches killed by terrorists in 1972, a response that follows an Israeli official’s vow to pressure the organizing committee to change its position.

 

A memorial service is held during the 1972 Munich Olympics for the Israeli athletes and coaches killed by Palestinian terrorists.
A memorial service is held during the 1972 Munich Olympics for the Israeli athletes and coaches killed by Palestinian terrorists.

“The IOC has paid tribute to the memory of the athletes who tragically died in Munich in 1972 on several occasions and will continue to do so.

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