Saturday, November 09, 2019
Education? Not on BDS’s Watch!
The Palestinian Solidarity Committee at Harvard University, a student organization that favors the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, has set its sights on Israel Trek.
Harvard’s Hillel sponsors Israel Trek, a student-led, student-organized spring break trip to Israel and the West Bank. Past participants speak of how the trip challenged their preconceived notions about Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One writes of his visit to Ramallah, where, at Fatah headquarters, his group heard “from a number of high-ranking [PLO] officials who discussed with us their views on the conflict, the state of affairs in Palestinian communities, and the prospects for peace going forward.” They had already met “members of the Knesset, a former Supreme Court justice, a prominent investigative journalist, and the spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
As this witness saw it, “our organizers truly strove to provide the broadest range of perspectives that they could” so that students could form their own judgments. Not that the student leaders weren’t Zionists. They evidently calculated that Israel’s reputation would benefit from the exchange of ideas.
Students who attend Israel Trek don’t necessarily emerge allies of Israel. Two participants wrote of their experience that they “had even more questions than we had before departing,” about, among other things, what a democracy is. On the question, “are you pro-Israel or pro-Palestine,” the students demur because they now think it “fails to acknowledge the deep nuances that complicate a conflict involving real people, each with their own experiences, politics, and pain.”
Those of us who are pro-Israel may find this a little too wishy-washy. We may find the students’ views of Fatah’s objectives naïve. But we can hardly, if we are also in favor of liberal education, object to a trip that dissolves a student’s sense of “Manichaean clarity.” Even a student who had done his best to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by discussing it with friends and consuming news and opinion found this education no substitute for first-hand experience. He had, it turned out, “relied too heavily on external, and often biased outlets, both in favor and against Israel.”
MEMRI: Former Jordanian Health Minister Dr. Zaid Hamzeh: We Arabs Supported Hitler During WWII Because He Hated The Jews
Former Jordanian Health Minister Dr. Zaid Hamzeh said in an October 9, 2019 interview on A One TV (Jordan) that nations oftentimes only progress after having suffered for centuries and that future Arab generations must suffer before progressing. In addition, he said that he had supported Adolf Hitler during World War II like other Arabs, and recalled that in fourth grade his school had participated in demonstrations and chanted "Long live Abu Ali," which he said had been a reference to Hitler. Dr. Hamzeh said that the Arabs supported Hitler because he hated the Jews, although he added the Arabs have a general tendency to admire dictators.UNESCO book program puts antisemitic material on display
"Was That Really The Reason, Or Was It Because We Arabs, By Nature... Love Dictators"
Interviewer: "Was that really the reason, or was it because we Arabs, by nature – and I don't have time to give a historical review... We love dictators."
Zaid Hamzeh: "No."
Interviewer: "Really?"
Zaid Hamzeh: "Nobody loves dictators, except for people who have been led astray, and I don't want to use..."
Interviewer: "We love people who kill and slaughter. We consider this to be a sign of manliness."
Zaid Hamzeh: "Unfortunately, many people do, but we shouldn't generalize."
Interviewer: "Right, not everybody..."
Zaid Hamzeh: "But with regard to dictators, you are right. We laud the dictator and wish he would come back. We want him to come riding in on a white horse and to liberate the land, while the people here are in a slumber or watching from the sideline."
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf were among the books featured at a book fair in Sharjah, UAE sponsored by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Simon Wiesenthal Centre exposed the book fair on Thursday and the Centre’s Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, wrote a letter to UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, condemning the book fair.
“Sadly, the name of UNESCO is abused as appearing to be complicit in validating for young Arab readers, the bigoted stereotypes of Jews - as expounded by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. This is particularly damning at a time of reconciliation between Gulf States and Israel, now facing common enemies,” Samuels wrote in a letter to Azoulay.
In the letter, Samuels added, “the organizers are known to carefully vet all titles on display for Islamophobia, but leave Jew-hatred in pride of place!”
Sharjah was declared UNESCO’s 2019 “World Book Capital of the Year,” as part of an initiative that was launched in 1996 “that seeks to encourage and promote publishing activities at the local and global levels by nominating for a one-year period the best city program aimed at promoting books,” according to the Sharjah World Book Capital website.
In July 2019, UNESCO published a blog post entitled “Addressing contemporary antisemitism: A global issue?”, in which the organization acknowledges that “antisemitism did not begin or end with the Holocaust.” It also stated that “antisemitic bigotry” was “no longer restricted to extremist circles,” in the modern world.
Shabbat: Reclaiming Jewish identity from anti-Semitism
One year after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting shook world Jewry to its core, we are continuously flooded with disturbing reminders that, unbelievably, anti-Semitism is back on the agenda and threatens our way of life more seriously than we could have ever imagined in the modern era.What American Jews Can Do to Help Keep the Zionist Dream Alive
The latest wake-up call occurred when a neo-Nazi gunman came to kill Jews at a synagogue in Germany on Yom Kippur. By now, the attack in Halle is all too familiar. Violent anti-Semitic incidents rose 13% worldwide last year, according to Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center. The synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh; Poway, California; and Halle have between them claimed 14 lives. A wave of anti-Semitic assaults has also conjured images that the Jewish community in Brooklyn, NY, believed were decades in the past.
Nor is this trend confined to the United States. In Germany, government officials have warned Jews against wearing kippot for their own safety. A recent report by France’s National Human Rights Advisory Committee found that anti-Semitic acts in France have increased more than 70% in a year. And in the United Kingdom, the Community Security Trust recorded 1,652 anti-Semitic incidents in 2018, including 123 involving violence.
The hatred comes from east and west, Left and Right. How should we respond?
Certainly, there are practical measures – security measures, political activism and awareness campaigns – that must, and have, been taken to protect Jewish life and limb. But we must also remember that rising anti-Semitism is a threat to the Jewish soul, not just the Jewish body.
The reestablishment of a sovereign Israel after two millennia could never have happened without the initiative and leadership of men and women who stepped out of the crowd to change history. In particular, one thinks of the vision and courage displayed by Theodor Herzl and by the Zionist pioneers who turned his vision of a mass return of the Jews to their homeland into magnificent reality.Camera: Cicadas and Antisemitism
As a country surrounded by hostile neighbors, Israel has had to develop its own defenses, and it has done a brilliant job of it. The country's economy is world-class - ripe with globally significant innovation and entrepreneurship. And Israel's diverse population miraculously speaks the same language as did its ancient forebears: the first society in history to be reincarnated both nationally and linguistically.
These days, many are worried that bipartisan American support for Israel is collapsing. American presidential candidates are threatening to withhold American aid, in language better aimed at a recalcitrant puppet than at a strong, trusted, and unfailingly staunch ally of the U.S.
A latter-day version of anti-Semitism, directed at the Jewish state and in practice at all Jews, has resurfaced in Europe and has even raised its head in America, to the point of thoroughly infecting advanced sectors of American opinion and, lately, penetrating American electoral politics itself.
The rising generations must be educated to confront the poison of anti-Jewish animus lest it spread to engulf them. It is up to everyone who cares about Israel to respond with frankness, vigor, and pride to anti-Semitism wherever, whenever, and by whomever it is promoted.
Miracles like Israel are not self-sustaining. They need continuous human support and unhesitating human action. "If you will it, it is no dream," Herzl said. It's for us now to keep the dream alive.
Cicadas (Magicicada septendecim) are insects with a very particular life cycle, which in some ways can be compared to the reemergence of antisemitism in human history. It can serve as a useful analogy or metaphor.Jeremy Corbyn's dirty dozen: The 12 would-be Labour MPs who have ALL been mired in controversy in just 24 hours - from calling a Jewish councillor a 'Shylock' to threatening to 'put a gun to Theresa May's head'
Every 17 years, cicadas emerge massively and simultaneously in the northeastern United States and Canada. The goal is to “create” an infrequent superabundance of food that far exceeds the needs of their predators. That is, these locust-like insects overwhelm the predator’s appetite. They sacrifice some of their fellow creatures so that many others can survive, mate, and continue the species over time.
This strategy, explained biologist Stephen Jay Gould, is known by the name of “predator satiety.” For it to be effective, the species’ sudden emergence must occur at the same time and only for a very short period of time.
Plus, their sudden emergence must happen after long periods of inactivity.
The brilliant idea behind “predator satiety” is that the predator, which has life cycles shorter than that of the cicada, cannot precisely predict or remember the appearance of the insects and thereby adjust its own life cycle to that of this particular food source.
So, it could be said that cicadas’ method of survival seeks the “oblivion” of the appearance of its species.
Homo sapiens use a similar method. But not as a survival strategy; on the contrary, humans use it as an aggression strategy. The sudden emergence of group hostility allows individuals within the group to elude personal responsibility. Mass aggression lets individuals indulge their atavistic urges to harass and intimidate. And so, for a brief and unpredictable time, this overwhelming burst of group hostility makes it possible for the individual to get away with unthinkable crimes.
And getting away with unthinkable crimes is the story of antisemitism. As in the case of “predator satiety,” antisemitism involves concealment or quasi-lethargic permanence for periods of time that are variable.
Labour was embroiled in an extraordinary crisis yesterday after a string of its election candidates found themselves caught in controversy.
In the space of 24 hours, three have been forced to quit while nine others came under pressure to step down after controversial remarks they had made in the past were exposed.
The row is highly embarrassing for leader Jeremy Corbyn at the end of the first week of the election campaign.
In total, a dozen Labour candidates have faced controversy in the past seven days.
In a day of disaster for the party, one candidate was forced to quit after allegedly referring to a Jewish councillor as Shylock.
Another came under pressure to stand down after sharing misogynistic posts about female politicians.
A third has been accused of defending her adviser who wrote about a 'Jewish final solution' by suggesting that 'the context somewhat excuses the remarks'.
Yesterday, Liz Truss, minister for women and equalities, said the revelations were a 'shocking indictment' of Mr Corbyn's leadership.
She added: 'Some of the views held by these official Labour candidates are completely unacceptable. They are not fit to serve in Parliament. Why will he not show some leadership, take action and tell them to stand down?
In 1994, the Guardian advised the IRA's Gerry Adams that hanging about with Jeremy Corbyn was bad for his image.— Corbyn in The Times (@TimesCorbyn) November 8, 2019
'if he is canny about the image he wants to project in Britain he wont accept too many invitations from Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn.'#NeverCorbyn #CorbynIRA pic.twitter.com/BtS6RmtgyI
What if you could go back to the 1930s & make a difference? In 2019, Jews are faced with new challenges & none is more pressing than the upcoming election in the UK. I ask my followers to please make even a small contribution to this urgent cause.https://t.co/zIhWHqRCJW— The American Zionist (@americanzionism) November 8, 2019
Jeremy Corbyn tells Andrew Neil & millions of viewers, "I never met the IRA." Iain Dale proves he did! Corbyn lied!#GE2019 #GeneralElection2019 pic.twitter.com/QpnIZ8wpOv— BrexitTory (@_BrexitTory) November 8, 2019
Johnny Lydon of the Sex Pistols last night told @jeremyCorbyn “I AM JEW” !! pic.twitter.com/BjlyCdyCD0— Eye On Antisemitism (@AntisemitismEye) November 8, 2019
Israel’s Trump Heights receives 1st inhabitants
A boarding school for underprivileged youths in Israel was inaugurated in Trump Heights in the Golan.Liberman to support Arab-backed coalition if Netanyahu won’t drop haredim
The opening Thursday of the boarding school, which is designed to prepare several hundred teenagers from troubled homes for a meaningful service in the Israel Defense Forces, marks the first arrival of people to the settlement that was declared as established there in June and named after President Donald Trump.
The United States recognized the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war, as part of Israel through a presidential proclamation signed by Trump on March 25. The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to name a town for him in the Golan as a sign of appreciation and gratitude for this move, Netanyahu has said. Its naming for Trump has caused controversy in Israel.
About 20 families are scheduled to move to Trump Heights in the summer of 2020, the news site Srugim reported, including both observant Jewish families and secular new residents.
The boarding school headed by Uriel Eldad will belong to the network of Mechinat Shachar, an institution that specializes in preparing high school graduates for excelling in the army.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman indicated that he would facilitate the establishment of a minority coalition supported by the Joint List if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not give up on his 55-seat bloc of religious and right-wing parties.Gate closes at ‘Isle of Peace’ park as border lands to return to Jordan
"If [Blue and White leader Benny] Gantz accepts [President Revuven] Rivlin's plan and Netanyahu is not willing to give up his 55-bloc, we'll have to draw conclusions and support a minority government led by Gantz," Liberman said in an interview on Channel 12.
"We'll support [Prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu if he is willing to break up the 55-bloc and Gantz does not accept Rivlin's plan," Liberman clarified.
Liberman concluded that "The most important thing is that we don't have another election."
Israeli soldiers closed the gate to a peace park along the Jordanian border for what was likely the final time under Israel’s control, as two sites leased by the country as part of the peace treaty were set to return to Jordan.Top Israeli negotiator denies progress on talks for prisoner swap with Hamas
Hundreds of visitors took “farewell tours” on Saturday at Naharayim in the Jordan Valley, which along with Tzofar in the southern Arava region was to be closed off to Israelis on Sunday.
Following the last guided tour of the day, Israel Defense Forces troops shuttered the gate to Naharayim around 4:30 p.m., marking its effective return to Jordan.
“This is not a happy day for anyone, this is a sad day. It is a day that we’re sorry has come,” Idan Greenbaum, head of the regional council, where Naharayim is located, said before the gate was closed.
The 1994 peace agreement allowed Israel to retain use of the enclaves for 25 years, with the understanding that the lease would be renewed as a matter of routine. However, in October last year, Jordan’s King Abdullah said his country had notified Israel that it wants to take the sites back.
Israel’s chief negotiator for the release of Israelis held by Hamas said on Saturday that the Palestinian terror group refuses to adopt a realistic stance that would allow for real progress in talks for a possible prisoner swap.
“Unfortunately, and despite real efforts on our part, Hamas is refusing to take a realistic position that would be conducive to real progress on the matter,” said Yaron Blum, a Shin Bet veteran, who was appointed in 2017 as Israel’s chief negotiator for prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action, in a comment to the Kan public broadcast radio.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and has vowed to Israel’s destruction, is believed to be holding the remains of Israeli soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, whose bodies were captured by the terror group when they were killed in the Strip during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge. The terror group also holds captive three Israeli citizens — Avraham Abera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed and Juma Ibrahim Abu Ghanima — who are all said to have entered the Gaza Strip of their own accord in the period 2014-2015.
Blum’s comment came in response to a report earlier Saturday that an Israeli delegation, including senior officials, was in Cairo in recent days for talks with Hamas mediated by Egyptian officials and that progress has been made.
According to a report on Saturday in the Arabic version of the UK publication the Independent Arabia citing an unnamed source, “there has been progress in recent days between the two sides.”
This year, 25,000+ Gazans entered Israel to receive or to accompany someone receiving medical treatment in both Israeli & Palestinian hospitals.— Jonathan Conricus (@LTCJonathan) November 9, 2019
Not only is your attempt to co-opt cancer treatment to spew Israel hatred morally incorrect, it’s also factually incorrect. https://t.co/zVVr9jMt5J
Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Calls for Protesters’ Demands to Be Met
Lebanon’s grand mufti, the top cleric for Sunni Muslims, called on Saturday for the formation of a new emergency government of technical experts and for those in power to meet protesters’ demands.Iranian beauty queen wins political asylum in the Philippines after spending three weeks holed up in Manila airport fighting her case against Tehran where she was wanted for defying the strict regime
The country is in political and economic turmoil after three weeks of nationwide protests that prompted Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to resign last week.
“The time has come to meet the people’s demands and the national free will that transcends sects, political parties, and regions,” Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian said in a televised address on the occasion of the prophet Mohammed’s birthday.
“The time has come and is opportune, after this national wake-up call, for the reform process to begin and for those in power to form an emergency government made up of competent people, without delay,” Derian said.
It is time “to immediately proceed with carrying out the reform package prepared by Prime Minister Hariri to solve the country’s problems,” he added.
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, Lebanon’s top Christian religious authority, has also called for a change in government to include qualified technocrats.
An Iranian beauty queen sought by Tehran on criminal charges has been granted political asylum in the Philippines, ending a three-week standoff at Manila airport.Regional upheavals leave Iran’s ‘Shi’ite Crescent’ on shaky ground
Bahareh Zare Bahari, based in the Philippines since 2014, was denied entry into the Southeast Asian nation on October 17 when she returned from Dubai, with Philippine authorities citing an Iranian warrant for her arrest.
Claiming Tehran wanted to punish her for opposition to Iran's theocratic regime, Bahari then sought refugee status, holed up in a room at Manila's international airport and using social media to rally support from the international community - including a plea to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
'They will kill me', Bahari told the Telegraph last month, referring to Iranian authorities.
Philippine Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete said that Bahari had been granted political asylum, adding that she was detained because Iran had asked Interpol for help in arresting and returning her on assault and battery charges.
'She will be getting out of the airport and coming into Philippine territory,' Perete said, but declined to discuss the grounds on which she was granted asylum, citing confidentiality rules in the United Nations refugee convention.
Geopolitical earthquakes caused by civil unrest are risking fractures in the foundations of the “Shi’ite Crescent,” a contiguous land bridge Iran has carved out across Iraq and Syria and into Lebanon by investing tens of billions of dollars of political and military capital.Muqtedar Khan Spins Islamism as Liberal Reform
With its ability to project dominance throughout the Middle East already significantly hampered by US economic sanctions, mass protests partially fueled by anger over Iranian interventionism in at least two of those countries have thrown a wrench in the Islamic Republic’s expansionism.
In Lebanon, where religion-based enmity sparked a civil war from 1975 to 1990, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets, demanding an end to the decades-long corrupt power structure that reserves the presidency for a Maronite Christian, the premiership for a Sunni Muslim and the position of parliament speaker for a Shi’ite. While the turmoil forced the resignation of prime minister Saad al-Hariri, many Sunnis are directing their ire primarily at Hezbollah, Iran’s terror proxy, which is an integral, if not the most dominant, component of the system targeted by the unrest.
While rampant cronyism and mismanagement in Beirut is perhaps the primary reason for the decimation of the economy, Hezbollah is viewed as making matters worse through its involvement in the Syrian civil war and the resulting influx of some 1 million refugees into Lebanon. These individuals have few prospects and are widely considered a further burden on inadequate civil services and a crumbling infrastructure.
Any weakening of Hezbollah’s status would, by extension, diminish Iran’s manipulation of internal Lebanese policy.
Khan's modern references to "American political Islam today" as a "force for good" remind that the devil is in the details. He casually cited Muslims working for Democratic presidential primary candidate Senator Bernie Sanders. Khan failed to mention such individuals as Linda Sarsour, the radical, anti-Semitic Muslim-American political activist, or anti-Semitic comedian and law professor Amer Zahr, both of whom recently became Sanders campaign surrogates.
Anti-Israel, pro-Islamist opinions over Khan's career prove that this remark was not off-the-cuff. A bitter critic of Israel, he refused to participate in a 2007 University of Delaware panel with Campus Watch Fellow Asaf Romirowsky, a fluent Arabic speaker who has lectured throughout the U.S. and Israel, where he spent nineteen years. But because the Israeli-American had performed Israeli military service, Khan outrageously objected to "being on the same panel with an Israeli soldier who was stationed in West Bank" with an "occupying force."
Following Army Major Nadal Hasan's 2009 Fort Hood massacre, Khan wrote
[Hasan] was in an army that was at war with his co-religionists and he had difficulty dealing with that. He was frequently taunted and harassed for being a Muslim by his own colleagues. After years in the military and after years of caring for soldiers as a doctor, he did not feel as if he belonged and perhaps that was the key to why he could turn on his own.
The next year Khan excused Palestinian terrorism against Israelis:
How can we ask [the Palestinians] to forgive the Jews for what they have done? You cannot. There must be justice first.
His long record of bigotry and Islamist apologias reveals Khan's professed liberalism as little more than a ruse, a cynical pretense of chastising extremists while simultaneously excusing their beliefs. This strategy works: Khan's State Department grants alone total over $1 million. That federal bureaucrats in the administrative state and Khan's colleagues in the corrupt Middle East studies establishment would support such a charlatan isn't surprising, as both are long overdue for thoroughgoing reform. But Khan's saccharine rhetoric shouldn't fool the taxpaying public and his students.
As part of a class marketing assigning at a University in Mexico City, a student dressed up as #Hitler in order to sell the most burgers. He ended up winning, posing with a very please instructor.— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) November 8, 2019
We have no words for this one. pic.twitter.com/FBE1SZHeWR
Historic Middle Street Synagogue in Brighton vandalised with red paint splashed across its doors
The historic Middle Street Synagogue in Brighton has reportedly been vandalised with red paint splashed on its famous front doors.About 75 headstones toppled at Jewish cemetery in Nebraska
The incident was revealed by journalist and author, Lyn Julius, on Facebook. Ms Julius is scheduled to speak at the synagogue on Sunday.
The synagogue is a popular tourist attraction. The Grade II* listed building has what is regarded as Brighton’s second most important interior after the Royal Pavilion. Opened in 1875 and designed by local architect Thomas Lainson, it is one of the last remaining “cathedral synagogues” from the Golden Age of High Victorian synagogue architecture.
In May this year, Labour Party member and activist, Amanda Bishop, called for fellow activists to “march” on her local synagogue in Brighton.
Ms Bishop wrote in the Brighton and Hove Labour Party Facebook forum that: “We can’t allow this to go on. We need to march about this on the Synagogue in Hove, all of us members in Brighton.” Her call for direct action against the synagogue was in response to the suspension of Alexandrina Braithwaite, from the Brighton and Hove Labour branch, for sharing allegedly antisemitic posts on social media, which Ms Bishop felt was “bulls***”.
Police say about 75 headstones have been toppled and more than $50,000 in damage caused at a Jewish cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska.
The Omaha World-Herald reported the vandalism was carried out at the Temple Israel Cemetery in northeastern Omaha.
The incident was reported to police Tuesday by the cemetery’s executive director, who said the damage was done between October 31 and Tuesday morning.
The headstones had been pushed off their bases, and many were broken. Forensic investigators from the police department went to the cemetery to take photos and document the damage.
Local authorities offered a reward of up to $1,000 for any information leading to an arrest.
WATCH: We hear about violent antisemitism in NYC, but the problem is worse, because the Jewish community is being terrorized with non-stop harassment by sick individuals!— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) November 8, 2019
Jews are being chased in their own neighborhoods?!
WE. ARE. IN. A. STATE. OF. EMERGENCY!
h/t @shmiranyc pic.twitter.com/Tj0PA2mUVg
Avi Abelow: Interview with the Biggest Supporter of Israel in Germany
Cyprus signs $9 billion gas extraction deal with Israel’s Delek, other firms
Cyprus announced Thursday it had signed its first natural gas exploitation deal worth $9.3 billion with a consortium comprised of industry giant Shell, US-based Noble and Israel’s Delek.Israeli Team Wins Gold Medal for Producing Bee-Free Honey
“Noble Energy, Shell and Delek now have in their hands the first exploitation license granted by the Republic of Cyprus so they can commercialize the deposit,” said Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis, shortly after the agreement was signed.
The 25-year license is for the Aphrodite gas field, the first to be discovered off Cyprus, by Texas-based Noble Energy, in 2011. It is estimated to contain over four trillion cubic feet (over 113 billion cubic meters) of gas.
The signing of the deal comes after the cabinet approved revisions to a production sharing agreement, made at the companies’ request due to a significant fall in hydrocarbon prices since mid-2014.
The re-working of the production contract means Nicosia is set to receive an average yearly income of $520 million over an 18-year period.
A team of Technion researchers was awarded a gold medal at the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) in Boston for producing bee-free honey.In Italy, a good Samaritan restores a Jewish cemetery abandoned for centuries
The team, including 12 members from six Technion faculties, developed a sustainable “BeeFree” honey using engineered bacteria, which processes a nectar-like solution using secreted enzymes that mimic the honey bee’s stomach environment.
The development’s significance is magnified by the unexplained decline of the bee populations in many parts of the world.
This is the sixth medal the Technion has won since joining the competition in 2012.
iGEM Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to education and competition, the advancement of synthetic biology, and the development of an open community and collaboration. The foundation was created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Launched in 2004, its competition focuses on synthetic biology. Student teams are given a kit of biological parts and work over the summer to build and test biological systems in living cells, ranging from bacteria to mammalian cells.
Just beyond the wooden door in a wall of brick and stone is a small, tranquil garden. In the midst of its greenery, sprinkled here and there with flowers, lay the tombstones dedicated in memory of the Jews who once lived in the little town of Ostiano.
In this village of just under 3,000 people, in a hardly-known corner of Northern Italy’s Po Valley, the ancient Jewish cemetery sat abandoned until the 1980s.
In 1987, 59-year-old Giuseppe Minera, a retired Catholic artisan and carpenter who lives in the commune of Pralboino just a few kilometers away, decided to tidy it up and asked for permission from the nearby Jewish community of Mantua, which owns the property.
“I remember that the grass was very high — it looked like a jungle,” the custodian tells The Times of Israel. “I cleaned and fixed the cemetery at my expense. I sacrificed part of my time without ever asking for anything in return. I cut the grass, I uprooted the brambles, I put the fallen and broken tombstones back on their feet, and I repainted the engraved letters that had become illegible.”
The best time to work was during the summer, Minera says, when he “carved out some time in the evening after work or on Sunday.”
In the small 19th-century cemetery there are about 40 tombstones, the oldest dating back to 1812, the most recent to 1943. The site has been looted or desecrated several times since the end of World War II. Some gravestones have been stolen; others moved.
