Monday, June 10, 2013
Sykes-Picot and Israel
The political order artificially constructed in the Middle East by the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement is disintegrating. As the Syrian civil war rages, the borders drawn nearly a century ago are becoming blurred.Dore Gold: The Arab World Fears the ‘Safavid’
Syria is gradually splintering into three different entities: one region along the coast is loyal to the Alawite regime of President Bashar Assad; another yet-to- be-determined swath of territory might fall under the control of Sunni opposition forces; and a Kurdish enclave with ties to northern Iran and Kurdish groups in Turkey is also emerging. Perhaps this is the inevitable demise of a state populated by a Sunni majority that is ruled by an Alawite minority.
In an interview on Al-Jazeera this past May, the commander of the Free Syrian Army, Brig. Gen. Salim Idris, explained that the diversion of Hezbollah forces from Lebanon to Syria to take part in the civil war was part of a “Safavid” plan for the Middle East region.Caroline Glick Speaks at the 2013 Jerusalem Post Conference
This past January, an article in the influential Lebanese daily As-Safir accused Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of receiving assistance from his “Safavid allies.” After the powerful Sunni Muslim leader, Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi, condemned Iran for its actions in Syria, the Muslim Scholars Association of Lebanon warned that the Sunni Arabs were facing “the spreading Safawi project.”
Golda Meir: Israel would not withdraw to 1967 lines
Anyone who creates illusions among the Arabs that it is possible to impose an Arab- Israeli solution from the outside is pushing off peace, then-prime minister Golda Meir told German chancellor Willy Brandt 40 years ago, in words that Israeli leaders continue to say to European counterparts today.'Occupation'? Not Necessarily
The comment was contained in one of the 28 documents that the Israel State Archives released on Sunday to mark 40 years since Brandt’s historic visit to Israel, the first ever by a German chancellor. The visit took place from June 7-11, 1973, some five months before the Yom Kippur War.
Israel has a very good case regarding its sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and should not accept its classification as “occupier,” say two participants in a conference on the subject.Gaining national sovereignty
Prof. Jeremy A. Rabkin of George Mason University and Prof. Avi Bell of the University of San Diego and Bar Ilan University weighed in on the matter.
Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law hosted the conference on “International Law and Israel,” the first in a series of annual conferences aimed at exploring the growing gap between international law as it is often applied to Israel vs. how it is understood in the rest of the world.
Our achievements can largely be traced back to those six days in June. Those miraculous days, largely unprecedented in the annals of military warfare, not only gave us our ancient lands, but our long-term future.German cop orders rabbi to erase pics of attackers
Our victory and the liberated territories are eternally bound with our modern achievements and endurance. While the War of Independence in 1948 gave us a state, and the Suez Crisis in 1956 gave us independence, the 1967 war gave us sovereignty, and no state can consider its abjuration.
These were some of the best days of my life, and the most essential for our nation.
A German police officer and security personnel ordered a rabbi to delete photographs of the suspects who engaged in an alleged violent anti-Semitic attack on him in a shopping center last week in Offenbach, a city near Frankfurt.Australia offers large reward for 1982 bombers of Israeli consulate
New details have since emerged, including that the youths shouted “Viva Palestine” during the attack on Rabbi Mendel Gurewitz.
Police in Australia say they now have four primary suspects in the 1982 bombings of the Israeli Consulate and the Hakoah Club, and offered a $100,000 reward to help flush them out.Dutch school to commemorate Holocaust despite vandalism concerns
Detective Chief Superintendent Wayne Gordon, the commander of the terrorism investigation squad, told reporters Thursday in Sydney that he hoped the money would entice the public or the alleged perpetrators to come forward.
A Christian school in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood has resumed a plan to unveil a plaque in memory of Holocaust victims, despite concerns of anti-Semitic vandalism.Rambam Hospital: Saving Patients, Uniting People
The board of the Paul Kruger School in The Hague said last week that it would move ahead with the plan, which was shelved in recent years because of what school officials said were “concerns that youths would destroy the monument.”
David Ben-Yair added, "Here in our country and in the world, we need to understand the power we have to save people, all people. Donate. Help. We got another chance. Give it to others."Photo brings desperate hope for a Holocaust miracle
David Ben-Yair’s message runs true. Rambam has a history of providing medical care to diverse populations. Last fall, during Operation Cast Lead, Rambam, the second largest transplant center in Israel, took care of four seriously ill Gazan children who were awaiting kidney transplants despite Israel being subjected to continuous rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Picking up her mail about a year ago, 88-year-old Rose Goteiner stopped in her tracks upon seeing the photo on a newsletter cover.Middle East Gay Pride and LGBT Safety Exist Only in Israel
Posing shortly after the Holocaust ended, 21 people were standing before a truck marked “American Joint Distribution Committee” — the relief organization later known as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. There were young children and teenagers, plus a few adults.
In the middle of the front row was a girl wearing a light-colored dress, hands at her sides and staring into the camera.
Goteiner believes it is her sister, Ruth Konigstein. And now Goteiner is hoping against hope that Ruth is still alive and that the sisters might miraculously reunite in their twilight years.
Sexual minorities are as unwelcome in the Middle East as are religious minorities. Just as the Muslim-majority countries of the Middle East are generally hostile to Christians, Jews, Bahá’ís, Zoroastrians, and other religious minorities, they are even less welcoming of non-heterosexuals. Except in Israel. And yet it is Israel — absurdly enough — that is consistently singled out for excoriation by human rights groups, college campus activists, and other ostensibly well-meaning individuals.English, Israeli players give red card to racism
At the training grounds in Netanya, girls from a program promoting women’s soccer and empowerment in Ra’anana took the pitch alongside boys from Bnei Sakhnin’s youth department; Jewish and Arab players from neighborhood leagues played with members of Tel Sheva’s local Bedouin team; and players from both national teams ran with the kids on the field.The woman turning wave technology into electricity
It was a twist of fate that not only introduced Inna Braverman to a passion for green energy, but reconnected her to Ukraine, where she spent the first four years of her life.CallApp is like global caller ID on speed
Braverman, 27, is the co-founder and marketing director of Eco Wave Power (EWP), an Israel-based company whose innovation in wave technology for the production of electricity has catapulted it to the top tier in the field worldwide.
And it is Braverman’s key role in the endeavor that led to her nomination as “Young Sustainability Executive of the Year” in the 2013 Business Green Leaders Awards, to be held in London on July 3.
Mi ze? (“Who is this?”) asked Oded Volovitz, the CEO of CallApp, when ISRAEL21c cold-called him recently.Google reportedly acquiring Waze app for $1.3 billion
The tech tastemaker site TechCrunch touts CallApp as a disruptive technology, and if Volovitz has his way, his company will become the Wikipedia of phone calls.
After dating at least three of the biggest tech companies in the world, it appeared Sunday night that Waze was finally getting the ring — one worth $1.3 billion, according to a report in the Israeli business newspaper Globes.Israeli men - Old spice
That’s the sum Google has reportedly agreed to pay for Waze, the Ra’anana-based crowdsourced driving and navigation app with 50 million users around the world. The figure is $300 million higher than Facebook reportedly offered to pay for the firm earlier this year.
