Israeli firm to fortify Jewish schools in Australia

Al-Sorag to install protection mechanisms in Jewish educational institutions; project to cost $500,000

 

Israeli protection solution company Al-Sorag was chosen to fortify Jewish educational institutions across Australia. Protection process will include installation of 4500 square meters of different protection solutions in kindergartens and Jewish schools, at a cost of half a million dollars.

Jewish center in Sidney Photo: Erez Paz

Jewish center in Sidney - Photo: Erez Paz

The extensive fortification project is expected to be completed in the coming months and will respond to a wide range of threats.

The comprehensive protection will include installation of protective coatings on panes, anchoring systems and cable protection systems for doors, as well as installation of transparent bars. Continue Reading »

Ultra-Orthodox, Arabs refuse to join equal draft law committee

The new law will replace the interim Tal Law, which grants draft deferrals to the ultra-Orthodox.

There were no official ultra-Orthodox or Arab representatives present on Monday at the first meeting of the committee tasked with crafting a law governing the draft.

The new law will replace the interim Tal Law, which grants draft deferrals to the ultra-Orthodox. The High Court of Justice has found that law to be unconstitutional and ruled that it cannot be extended once it expires July 31.

Monday’s meeting was a “historic moment as well as an opportunity to change the agenda in the State of Israel,” said Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz. Continue Reading »

Egypt Confirms Christians’ Fears, Sentences 12 to Life in Jail

Egypt has confirmed Christians’ fear of Islamic rule and has sentenced 12 to life in jail while acquitting eight Muslims.

Egypt has confirmed Christians’ fear of Islamic rule and has sentenced 12 to life in jail for their part in warding off Muslim mobs last year. The court acquitted eight Muslims.

Rally for Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate

Rally for Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate - Reuters

The Christians were found guilty and sentenced for killing two Muslims and for causing a disturbance in the April 2011 riots south of Cairo when a Muslim bus driver, angered by a speed bump in a Christian neighborhood, began to fight with security guards. Continue Reading »

Landau: Natural gas for cars can free us from oil

Energy and water minister says Israeli natural gas discoveries open window to fight “addiction to black gold.”

Rather than continuing to heavily pollute the air and fund Arab governments by using fuel oil, more Israelis will soon be able to turn to natural gas to power their automobiles, the Energy and Water Ministry said on Monday.

Tamar holds 240 billion cu.m. of gas - Photo: Courtesy

Tamar holds 240 billion cu.m. of gas - Photo: Courtesy

“Citizens of the Western world, and we among them, suffer from an addiction to black gold, which pollutes the environments, and some of whose revenues stimulate Islamic terrorism,” Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau said.

Continue Reading »

Egyptians to Ynet: Peace treaty will be upheld

Day before historic presidential elections kick off, citizens revel in newfound freedoms, but fear Muslim Brotherhood victory

 

“The peace treaty with Israel will be upheld regardless of whether the next president will be an Islamist or a remnant of the Mubarak regime,” a 20-year-old Egyptian literature student told Ynet late Monday, a little more than 24 hours before Egypt‘s first post-Mubarak presidential election is due to kick off.

'Good chance.' Moussa Photo: AFP

'Good chance.' Moussa - Photo: AFP

“Everyone is pleased that we are finally electing our president, with no restrictions,” said Mahmoud, from the Qalyubia district near Cairo.

He said that despite the enthusiasm, Egyptians are “worried about the possibility of irregularities or that a remnant of the Mubarak regime will win the election.” Continue Reading »

U.S. Senate unanimously approves tougher sanctions on Iran

Sanctions are meant to strip Tehran of revenue by shutting down financial deals with Iran’s powerful state oil and tanker enterprises.

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved on Monday a package of new economic sanctions on Iran’s oil sector just days ahead of a meeting in Baghdad between major world powers and Tehran.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Iran's Fuel Manufacturing Plant

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Iran's Fuel Manufacturing Plant, a new facility producing uranium fuel for a planned heavy-water nuclear reactor, outside Isfahan, Iran. - Photo by AP

The West suspects Iran is working to build a nuclear bomb and the sanctions are meant to strip Tehran of revenue by shutting down financial deals with Iran’s powerful state oil and tanker enterprises. Continue Reading »

Google Donates NY Office Space to Israel’s Technion Institute

Google is planning to provide office space to the new applied science program of Cornell University and Technion Institute of Technology.

Google is planning to provide 22,000 square feet of its New York City headquarters to the new applied science graduate school of Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Mayor Bloomberg at Google press conference

Mayor Bloomberg at Google press conference - Reuters

Google CEO Larry Page and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the partnership at a news conference on Monday at the company’s headquarters in the heart of Manhattan’s high-tech zone.

Officials at Google estimated the market value of the space, which will be provided to the joint venture between Cornell and Technion, at between $10 million and $12 million. Continue Reading »

Israel Strikes Oil Off Tel Aviv Coast

Israel has struck oil again, this time off the Tel Aviv coast. Developers maintain the find includes 100 million barrels of oil, worth $10 billion.

 Pictured left – Oil tankers in New Jersey — coming soon to Israel? (Reuters)

Pictured left – Oil tankers in New Jersey — coming soon to Israel? - Photo: Reuters

Modiin Energy and Adira Energy discovered an estimated 128 million barrels of oil and 1.8 trillion cubic feet of gas in their Gabriella and Yitzhak licenses, in shallow water less than 15 miles northwest of Tel Aviv.

Officials called the find “significant” and added, “Surveys conducted in recent months found oil in the target strata. The potential oil reservoir is 128 million barrels of oil, and the contingent reserves are an additional 120 million barrels.” Continue Reading »

Knesset passes controversial settlement bill

Law offers 35% tax break on donations to NGOs that support settlement on both sides of the Green Line.

 

The Knesset on Monday evening approved a law that offers a 35-percent tax break on donations to NGOs that encourage settlement anywhere in the country, including in Judea and Samaria.

The legislation passed a final reading in the plenum by 33 to 13, after a brief debate.

Palestinian laborer in Kedar - Photo: Ammar Awad/Reuters

Palestinian laborer in Kedar - Photo: Ammar Awad/Reuters

Its opponents say the bill was designed to direct tax breaks to those who support West Bank settlements.

One of the measure’s sponsors, coalition chairman Ze’ev Elkin (Likud), previously argued that the bill was conceived to help the Negev and the Galilee, but the language was then expanded so that it was applicable to all Israeli communities.

Continue Reading »

Khaled Abu Toameh: ‘How Much Is Mahmoud Abbas Worth?’

Abbas is saying that Rashid stole hundreds of millions of dollars, while Rashid is accusing the president of embezzling “only” $100 million.

 

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has just discovered what every Palestinian child knows — that hundreds of millions of dollars had been embezzled during the era of Yasser Arafat.

The “discovery”, however, was not the result of a thorough and long investigation ordered by Palestinian leaders in Ramallah with the hope of restoring public funds.

Instead, it came after one of Arafat’s most trusted aides, Mohammed Rashid, threatened to expose corruption scandals in the Palestinian Authority. Continue Reading »

Ancient Gold Jewelry Collection Discovered at Megiddo

Archaeologists have discovered a collection of ancient jewelry hidden in a vessel at Tel Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel.

Ancient gold earring found at Megiddo

Ancient gold earring found at Megiddo - Photo courtesy of TAU

Dated from about 1100 BCE, one of the pieces is a gold earring decorated with molded ibexes – wild goats – and considered “without parallel.”

According to Tel Aviv University’s Professor Israel Finkelstein, the vessel was discovered in 2010 but remained uncleaned while awaiting a molecular analysis of its contents. When the team was finally able to wash out the dirt, pieces of jewelry, including a ring, earrings and beads tumbled from the vessel, Finkelstein said. Continue Reading »

Minister: Israel taking steps to deport infiltrators

Neeman says hoping to return migrants to home countries, 3rd-party countries; MKs slam gov’t, court policy in c’tee meeting.

Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman on Monday said that Israel is taking steps to deport infiltrators from Israel, adding that all branches of government are working to eliminate the “scourge” from the country.

Eritrean migrants, Sinai

Eritrean migrants, Sinai - Photo: Asmaa Waguih/Reuters

Speaking at a law conference in Eilat, Neeman said that Israel is employing a multi-pronged strategy, which includes “building of a fence along the Egyptian border, which is in its final stages… the deportation of migrants… and the establishment of facilities to house them until they can be dealt with.”

Continue Reading »

Chinese execs to study at Tel Aviv University

Executives to take business course as part of cooperation agreement with Nanjing

 

Some 1,000 senior Chinese executives and entrepreneurs have enrolled in the LAHAV Executive Education program at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Management, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported.

Tel Aviv University Photo: Shaul Golan

Tel Aviv University - Photo: Shaul Golan

On Monday the university is scheduled to host a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and China. During the event, a cooperation agreement is expected to be signed between the university and the city of Nanjing.

According to the agreement, each year, for the next five years, Nanjing will send 1,000 senior executives and entrepreneurs to take a course titled “Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Israeli model.” Continue Reading »

IDF Hosting NATO’s Surgeon-Generals

For first time, IDF Medical Corps hosting senior medical officers from NATO member countries.

As part of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Committee of the Medical Chief of Military Medical Services (COMEDS), the IDF Medical Corps is hosting Surgeon Generals and senior medical officers from NATO member countries from Monday until Friday this week.

IDF rescuers in Haiti after January 2010 Quake disaster

IDF rescuers in Haiti after January 2010 Quake disaster - Photo: IDF

The IDF Website reports that COMEDS is chaired by Brig. Gen. Dr. Rob Van Der Meer from the Netherlands. COMEDS promotes international cooperation between NATO member countries and their partners in the fields of military medicine, disaster medicine and humanitarian medicine. Continue Reading »

Turkey investigates bird for being Israeli spy

Alleged spy bird damned for having a big nostril.

 

An increasing paranoia of Israeli zoological militancy conspiracy theories has turned a small bird with a larger than normal nostril and Israeli foot band into the latest suspected Mossad spy.

“Tell me. If it’s a spy would they put that it’s from Israel? Are they that stupid?” Ohad Hatzofe, an avian ecologist for Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority (NPA), told The Media Line.

Swifts bird at Western Wall - Photo: Marc Israel Sellem

Swifts bird at Western Wall - Photo: Marc Israel Sellem

A farmer in Gaziantep province in southeastern Turkey last week turned the dead Merops Apiaster, commonly known as the European Bee-Eater, to police after he noticed its band read “Tel Aviv University, Israel,” with serial number C43917. Continue Reading »