Sunday, March 09, 2014
Scarlett Johansson: I believe in SodaStream
Johansson stirred a vehement debate in January when she accepted the role of spokeswoman for SodaStream, which makes home carbonation machines and operates a plant in Ma’ale Adumim, a large West Bank settlement near Jerusalem.Mordechai Kedar: Time to put an end to the fantasy of a Palestinian people
“I’m not an expert on the history of this conflict, and I’ve never professed to be,” Johansson told the British newspaper the Telegraph in an interview published Friday.
“But it is a company that I believe in, that I think has the ability to make a huge difference, environmentally. [CEO] Daniel Birnbaum has said many times that this factory is one he inherited, and that he doesn’t want to fire people – the majority of those people being Palestinian,” she said.
Despite the benefits of this ambiguous situation, Israel should adopt a clearer policy: Since the PLO has not abandoned its plan to destroy Israel, it must end the dream of establishing a state under the rule of this organization. The Hamas movement began the process in Gaza, and Israel must continue it in Judea and Samaria in order to establish seven city-states and to leave the rural areas under Israeli control.Hevron Children Tackle Left-Wing Extremists - With Sweets
The seven city-states will free most of the Arab population in Judea and Samaria from Israeli control and Israel can offer citizenship to residents of the rural space. These city-states based on local clans will be real entities and not the fantasies of some Palestinian intellectuals and tired Israeli souls regarding the existence of a single united Palestinian people in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria.
Chief among those groups is Breaking the Silence, a far-left NGO funded by foreign donors (some 45% of its funding comes directly from the European Union), which encourages ex-soldiers to speak out against the IDF to international audiences. Much of the group's activities center on Hevron, where it conducts regular tours and demonstrations, alleging war crimes by both IDF soldiers and local Jewish residents - allegations based almost entirely on hearsay and which have been emphatically rejected as "slander" by residents and the military alike.
Recently, the organization helped bring some 200 people to the holy city to demand the opening of King David Street - also known as Shuhada Street - which was closed to Arab locals after being used as a launchpad for numerous terrorist atrocities against Jewish residents.
But on Friday, as another Breaking the Silence group entered the city's Jewish neighborhood, they were greeted by an unexpected sight: dozens of Jewish children handing out sweets in honor of the upcoming Jewish festival of Purim.
Has “Israeli Apartheid Week” already peaked?
I’d like to re-pose the age-old question: “If Israeli Apartheid Week happens on campus and no one notices, does it make a sound?”Zahra Billoo of CAIR admits BDS fail
Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) officially took place on campuses across the U.S. over the course of February 24-March 2, although the exact boundaries of the “week” varied somewhat.
When we set out to monitor events at Legal Insurrection, we expected an avalanche. But it never showed up. There were events, but none seemed to have much energy or attendance.
For all their rhetoric (the chortles of "BDS is unstoppable!" "BDS is on a Roll!" ), American proponents of BDS know that they are losing the battle.Lieberman employs new strategy to tackle EU
From Zahra Billoo , Executive Director for the San Francisco Bay Area Council for American Islamic relations (CAIR);
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament Elmar Brok turned to Israeli Ambassador to the European Union David Walzer last week, and asked for a special European Parliament delegation to examine the prison conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.Do Palestinians Really Want a State of Their Own?
Lieberman instructed the ambassador to respond to the request by saying that only if an Israeli delegation will be allowed to visit their prisoners, then the Europeans would be permitted to visit Israeli ones.
The Palestinians have all the leverage, a former top State Department specialist on the Mideast peace process recently told me over red wine in Tel Aviv. "I'm not sure they'll ever sign on the dotted line." In that moment of candor -- lubricated no doubt by the Golan Heights cabernet -- the ex-bureaucrat admitted something U.S. President Barack Obama's administration would never concede publicly: The Palestinians are under little to no pressure to sign a final peace agreement with Israel. The consensus among right-thinking people, of course, is that self-determination is the incentive par excellence for Palestinian leaders to strike a deal. That was the view Obama articulated on Feb. 27, four days before he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he told journalist Jeffrey Goldberg that more than anything else, the Palestinians seek "the dignity of a state." Secretary of State John Kerry repeated the "dignity" talking point on March 3 at the pro-Israel policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).Netanyahu says any peace deal with Palestinians at least a year away
In an Israel Radio interview broadcast on Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated that he regarded guidelines that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is drafting for a future deal as an "American document of American positions".U.S.: No Need for PA to Recognize Israel
Such a definition could give Netanyahu leeway to register reservations that could discourage staunch supporters of Jewish settlement in occupied land where Palestinians want to make their state from bolting his coalition.
"I think (the Kerry document) ... is a possible path toward moving the talks forward. It will take us at least a year to exhaust these negotiations but I can't say that the Palestinians will accept this document, and I also have not seen it yet," he said.
The United States believes there is no need for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to recognize Israel as a Jewish state as part of a peace agreement, State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Saturday.Erekat: Israel to release 30 prisoners on March 29
Psaki, who spoke to the PA-based Arabic-language Al-Quds newspaper, said, “The American position is clear, Israel is a Jewish state. However, we do not see a need that both sides recognize this position as part of the final agreement.”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been adamant on the PA recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, explaining that the Arabs’ refusal to recognize Israel stands at the heart of the conflict. (h/t Jewess)
On Sunday, Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin called on the government not to release any more Palestinian prisoners unless the Palestinian leadership agrees to continue negotiations beyond April, which it has so far been reluctant to do.
Erekat told Israel’s Army Radio on Sunday that he had advised PA President Mahmoud Abbas to quit the US-brokered peace talks. Abbas, however, was waiting until the final release of the terrorists from Israeli prison.
Fatah Central Committee Member Abbas Zaki: We Have Not Ruled Out the Military Options
Expert Says Iran 'Should Worry' after Weapons Ship Interception
Brigadier-General (reserve) Shlomo Brom, a researcher in the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), told Arutz Sheva Saturday that the capture of the Klos C arms ship is a model of operational excellence for Israeli intelligence.Gantz: Every rocket has an address
"This is a dramatic and impressive event,” he stated. “Iran should be very worried. Once again, it has turned out that the Israeli intelligence reaches everywhere. It will certainly make things more difficult for Iran in the future.”
Gantz arrived in the Red Sea port city of Eilat Saturday evening and met with the navy soldiers who conducted the operation and led the ship to Israel.‘Rows of Iranian rockets’ said found on seized ship
Regarding the ship's cargo, Gantz noted that such arms still pose a threat for Israel. "Each and every rocket here is a security challenge for Israel and its citizens. Every rocket and every bullet we found has an address."
Praising the army for successfully completing the operation, Gantz said: "This mission involved many long term maneuvers by the IDF. It demanded each and every one of you give everything you have over a long period at sea, and the result is before you now."
Israeli troops in Eilat unloaded Sunday morning some 150 containers, suspected of holding illicit Iranian arms, from a ship seized several days earlier in the Red Sea.Netanyahu calls on EU's Ashton to question Iran on arms ship during Tehran visit
Israeli officials plan on inspecting the containers taken off the Klos-C over the next several days, and are expected to uncover more munitions like the medium-range missiles the army says it already found in an initial search.
As Israel began unloading the crates of ordnance on the Klos-C now docked in Eilat, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton began a landmark visit to Teheran, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wondered out loud Sunday whether Ashton would raise the issue with her hosts.Iran's attempt to evade Iron Dome failed
"I would like to ask her if she asked here hosts in Tehran about the arms shipment to terrorist organizations, and if not, why not?" Netanyahu said at Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting.
"No one has the right to ignore the true murderous activities of the regime in Tehran, and I think that it is fitting for the international community to deal with the true polices of Iran, not its propaganda," he said.
The takeover of the Klos-C ship exposed and foiled a strategic Iranian move which, had it been successful, would have been worthy of the definition "tiebreaker." The move was aimed at creating a situation in which, during an active conflict, the IDF missile and rocket interception system would be neutralized or would at least become inefficient.IDF Soldiers Return Home After Stopping Iranian Weapons Shipment
First of all, because according to foreign reports the Iron Dome system is incapable – or finds it difficult – to intercept heavy and long-range rockets like the Syrian-made M-302 that were captured. These medium-range rockets of up to 250 kilometers (155 miles) with a warhead weighing over 140 kilograms (310 pounds) are supposed to be intercepted by another system, Magic Wand (also called David's Sling), which is still being developed in the United States and Israel.
Hezbollah families: Our sons are cannon fodder for Assad
Families of Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon are growing increasingly angry that their sons are being sent to fight and die for Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Saudi Arabian newspaper Al Watan reported over the weekend.İHH appeals to ICC to become plaintiff in case against Israel
While this groundswell of anger first erupted several months ago, it has recently grown stronger due to the large number of casualties Hezbollah has sustained during battles in the northern suburbs of Damascus. Hundreds of Lebanese youths recruited by the Shiite organization and sent to fight Sunni jihadist rebels alongside the Syrian army have returned in coffins, sparking a new wave of dissent.
The Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) announced on Friday that it has appealed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to be part of a lawsuit opened in 2013 into Israel's 2010 raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza.300: Rise of an Israeli director
“The IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation with its committee in Hague, Netherlands requested to be added to the lawsuit filed in the International Criminal Court on Thursday,” the announcement on Friday read.
The gory, amputation-packed sequel to the cult popcorn thriller “300” — “300: Rise of an Empire” – roared into US theaters on Friday, marking both a new low in syrupy blood spurts as well the blockbuster debut for Israeli director Noam Murro.A hands-free way to communicate and play
The Jerusalem-born Murro, whose resume is packed with US commercial work but very light on feature films, has taken the chariot reins from “300” director Zack Synder, who is all but a god to the Comic-Con set. It’s been eight years since “300” wowed thrill-loving, carnage-hungry audiences, and for its legion of devoted fans, Murro’s $100 million 3-D epic followup could not have come too soon.
Oded Ben Dov from the Israeli company Sesame Enable developed a way to use face movements to control video games. Four years ago, he did a demo on national Israeli TV, and caught the eye of Giora Livne, a quadriplegic family man now in his 50s.Israeli EyeMusic helps blind ‘hear’ colors and shapes
Livne immediately placed an assisted call to Ben Dov, asking him if the same technology could help people with disabilities to use the phone. The duo ended up cofounding Sesame Enable to provide a hands-free way to communicate, do business and play.
“Open Sesame” comes to mind when one wants to open closed doors. Sesame Enable is meant to conjure something similar, but for people with disabilities.
What does a triangle sound like? What noise do you think the color purple makes? Israelis scientists have made the seemingly impossible possible by helping the blind ‘hear’ colors and shapes normally perceived visually.Israeli Army Sees Rise in Christian Arab Recruits
Using sensory substitution devices (SSDs), Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have shown that through the use of SSDs the blind and visually impaired can receive environmental visual information and interact with objects in ways otherwise unimaginable. SSDs are non-invasive sensory aids that provide visual information to the blind via their existing senses.
For example, using a visual-to-auditory SSD in a clinical or everyday setting, users wear a miniature camera connected to a small computer (or smart phone) and stereo headphones. The images are converted into “soundscapes,” using a predictable algorithm, allowing the user to listen to and then interpret the visual information coming from the camera.
The priest said Christians have learned from the examples of other non-Jews who advanced in Israeli society by serving in the military: the Druze and Bedouin, Arabic-speaking residents of Israel who have never identified as Palestinian. In 2012, along with two other Orthodox priests, Naddaf established the “Israeli-Christian Recruitment Forum” to encourage army enlistment. The forum has its own flag—a sword in the shape of a cross behind the Israel’s own Star of David standard—but the two other priests are gone. “Unfortunately they withdrew because of the threats,” says Naddaf, who has received so many threats to his own life that Israel’s internal security service rates him at level four on a scale of one to six, he says.
Which bring us to another driver of the nascent movement: The dire situation facing Christian populations from Iraq to Egypt to Syria. “We are caught between the hammer and anvil,” says Ezak Hallak, a Nazareth lawyer for the Forum, quoting a Hebrew expression. “In our hearts, we support Israel, the Jews. I think the Christians in the Middle East are getting slaughtered because we are not speaking what is in our hearts. Stand up for yourself. There is no other way to face the craziness of the radical Arabs. No other way in the world.”
