The Third Intifada is About the Post-Two-State Future
The two-state solution is, effectively, dead. It was mortally wounded long before today’s terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, which marks a third intifada. The final straw came with the Gaza war this past summer, when Hamas rockets and tunnels showed why it would be insane to let Palestinians to rule more than a portion of the West Bank. The Obama administration’s addiction to pressuring Israel has also destabilized diplomacy.Sweden’s Gaza refugee contradiction
But the attack on the synagogue in Har Nof sends a different message: namely, that Jews and Arabs may not be able to live together easily even in the same country. There are areas of coexistence–in Haifa, for example, where locals joke that they get along because Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed never came there. There are also Arabs who serve with distinction in the Israeli military, and at the highest levels of the Israeli government.
Yet that could be more difficult in future. David Brinn of the Jerusalem Post wrote candidly today: “When two of the regular staffers entered my office in the afternoon to empty the trash bin and replace it with a new nylon bag, I found myself for the first time tensing up and watching their every move out of the corner of my eye.” His feelings are, no doubt, shared by many well-meaning Jewish Israelis–and reciprocated by Arab Israelis, too.
Now that Sweden has assessed that Palestine meets the criteria of a state, is it prepared to address this longstanding Palestinian refugee narrative, along with UNRWA’s role in perpetuating it? The way to do so would be to issue a clear statement that Palestinians living in Palestine (the West Bank and Gaza) would no longer be recognized as “refugees.”Spanish Parliament Recognizes 'Palestine' After Jerusalem Terror Attack
If the Swedes fail to take this simple and logical move, the implication would be that their recognition of Palestine is intended not to promote peaceful co-existence between Israel and Palestine, but rather to perpetuate dangerous and irredentist policies that have long characterized the Palestinian narrative, not to mention the refugee agency that purports to speak in its name.
The lower house of the Spanish parliament, the Congress of Deputies, passed a resolution Tuesday to recognize a Palestinian state. The vote came in the wake of a gruesome Palestinian terror attack Tuesday morning that targeted Jews praying at a synagogue in West Jerusalem, which drew widespread international condemnation.Israel decries Spanish vote on recognizing Palestine
Reuters reports that the resolution received the support of all political parties. The support for Palestinian statehood follows similar resolutions in the UK, Sweden, and Ireland, and is conditional on a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
It is merely symbolic–but on a day of terror, is a potent symbol indeed.
“The declaration of the Spanish parliament only distances the chance of reaching an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, because it encourages the Palestinians to become more extreme in their positions,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.
“It would have been better if the Spanish parliament had instead chosen to do the right thing by condemning the abominable slaughter carried out by inflamed Palestinians in a synagogue in Jerusalem.”
Late on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu accused the international community of ignoring the bloodshed and seeking instead to reward the Palestinians, in a thinly veiled reference to the vote.
“Unfortunately, there are some who are trying even now to give the Palestinians a prize… of a Palestinian state, which doesn’t even recognize the Jewish state,” he said.
“We won’t put up with this.”
Status Quo? 'Jews Prayed on the Temple Mount for Centuries'
In first of a series on the Temple Mount, Arutz Sheva explores the origins of the hotly-contested 'status quo' at Judaism's holiest site.There is No 'Status Quo' on the Temple Mount
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other Cabinet ministers have repeatedly stated of late that there will be no change in the status quo. They have made this clear to Jordan’s King Abdullah, the European Union's new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and others.
However, this "status quo" under which Jews do not pray on the Temple Mount actually came into effect only relatively recently. As recently noted by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed in BeSheva, Rabbi Goren, who blew a shofar at the site upon its liberation during the Six Day War in 1967, wrote in his work "The Temple Mount" that "Jewish prayer at the Western Wall began only in the 16th century; prior to that, Jews prayed for centuries on the Temple Mount."
Rabbi Goren, a Temple Mount expert, notes that, based on the renowned Radbaz – the 16th century Rabbi David Ben Shlomo Ibn Zimra, whose rulings form the basis of much of accepted Halakhah – and others, "it is clear that after the Amoraim and Geonim [i.e., after the year 1038], the general custom followed the opinion that there was no reason to forbid entry to the Holy Site in its destruction, as the Meiri writes… This is true even when there was no Red Heifer for purification… This practice cannot be attributed to lack of knowledge; it is not reasonable to assume that Jews prayed for centuries at the site of the Holy Temple without anyone mentioning that this involves a grave prohibition, punishable by karet."
"In retrospect," Shragai sums up, echoing the sentiments of many Jews around the country and the world, "the concession Dayan made in the name of the Jewish People was indeed immense, colossal, almost inconceivable. The Jewish State entrusted its holiest place to a competing religion – the Muslim religion, for which the place is only the third in holiness, and gave up the right to pray there."Status Quo? The Dome of the Rock was Built for Jews
At that time, Jewish protest against the regulations was minimal, for the Jewish public was excited at the prospect of being able to pray at the Western Wall – a supporting wall of the Temple Mount. In addition, virtually all rabbis ruled in accordance with long-standing tradition - and long-standing ignorance of the exact locations of the Halakhically-forbidden areas on the Mount - that entry to the Temple Mount was forbidden.
Today, over 40 years later, the above "status quo" is no longer in effect. For one thing, religious Jews now clamor to be allowed in – as the boundaries of the permitted locations have become well-known. In addition, they fear the loss of Israeli sovereignty there, and are convinced that their frequent visits to the site will prevent this.
In any event, latest research regarding the construction of the Dome of the Rock – the magnificent structure that stands atop the site of the Holy of Holies – shows that it was originally built not for Muslims at all. Rather, it was built for the Jewish People!Iranian Military Commander: Millions of Troops Are Ready to Help Palestinians
We herewith present the sources for this novel concept. The late Rabbi Shlomo Goren, a Temple Mount expert and Chief Rabbi of the IDF and later of Israel, wrote in his classic work "The Temple Mount" (Ha'Idra Rabba Publications, Jerusalem, 2005, 2nd ed., p. 327) as follows:
"The Al-Aksa Mosque [at the southern end of the Mount, opposite the Dome of the Rock – HF] was built as a Muslim house of prayer outside the boundaries of the original Temple Mount, and therefore it points southward towards Mecca. And at the request of the Jews, Omar built the Dome of the Rock sanctuary to serve as a house of prayer for the Jews. This was after the Jews showed him the site where the Holy Temple had stood – and it does not point to Mecca."
Rabbi Goren clearly delineates between the two buildings: One is in the direction of the holy Muslim city of Mecca, and is to serve as a mosque – while the other was built without regard to Mecca, and only at the guidance and request of the Jews.
In response to growing tensions, Iran is flexing its muscles and threatening to send “millions” of soldiers into Palestinian territories to fight Israel.World Silent as Gazans Suffer Egyptian Expulsion
Commander of Iran’s Basij force, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said millions of Iranians are ready to be sent to the Gaza Strip in order to assist the Palestinians in their fight against Israel, Porsa News reported. The commander also argued that the demands and terms raised by the United States in the nuclear talks are exaggerated, and that Washington sponsors ISIS.
In a press conference in Tehran, Naqdi said:
“Millions of Basijis (volunteer forces) in Iran are ready to be dispatched to Syria and Gaza Strip and they have come to us (for registration)… (in order to get) the necessary training and skills… we also try to implement the same plan in the West Bank, God willing.”
10 civilians killed by mortar fired at homes near Gaza-Egypt border
Talya, a 29-year-old Palestinian Arab living in Cairo, told the paper she came to visit Gaza with her three-year-old daughter and mother for a short family visit, but has been left stranded after Egypt closed the Rafah border crossing.
"Rafah has turned into a ghost town," said Talya, who has family on both the Egyptian and formerly Gazan side of Rafah.
"Most of my friends' houses are being destroyed now by the army. I know a lot of people in Sinai, and I have memories there," Talya said. "It breaks my heart to see what's happening there."
In sharp contrast to the international condemnation showered upon Israel during the operation in Gaza, Egypt's expulsion has gone by practically without any criticism.
Robert Turner, head of UNRWA operations in Gaza, made do with a light statement on Monday, saying "Gaza residents will feel that this adds a psychological burden and will only make things more difficult for them." UNRWA's facilities were lethally used against IDF forces in Hamas's recent terror war.
Ten civilians were killed overnight during fighting between the Egyptian army and Islamist militants in Sinai, near Egypt's border with Gaza, where the military has launched a crackdown in recent weeks, security and medical sources said on Wednesday.UCLA students pass Israel divestment resolution
At least three of the casualties were children and three were women, the medical sources said. The victims were killed in their home by two mortar shells fired by militants during a night-time curfew, security sources said.
The sources said earlier it was possible the victims had been killed in mistaken army air strikes on militants in the area, but later ruled that out. The army spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
The student government passed the divestment resolution by a vote of 8 to 2, with two abstentions, on Tuesday night.Reckless Sponsorship of Anti-Israelism
The passing vote came nine months after the student government rejected a similar resolution by a vote of 7-5, amid threats to student representatives and accusations that the campus Jewish community was not consulted on the resolution.
Brought by Students for Justice in Palestine, the resolution called for divestment from Caterpillar, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Cemex and Cement Roadstone Holdings — companies that divestment backers said were used by the Israeli military to violate Palestinian human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
I never imagined that a day would come when some of the world’s leading corporations would fund calls for Israel’s destruction, let alone at one of the world’s most prestigious universities. But that is exactly what happened last week at Harvard.Zim shipping suspends services at California port
My invitation to “Harvard Arab Weekend” promised to provide a “mosaic of perspectives and insights on the most pressing issues in the Arab world.” Many of the panels appeared worthy of the conference’s corporate support from McKinsey & Co, The Boston Consulting Group, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bank Audi, Strategy&, and the energy giant Shell. And yet featured prominently on the conference agenda was a panel devoted to the destruction of Israel: “The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement: Accomplishments, Tactics and Lessons.”
The panel’s moderator, Ahmed Alkhateeb, began by noting that a primary goal of the BDS movement is “promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties” in what is today Israel. As President Barack Obama pointed out in 2008, this goal stands in opposition to a “two state solution” and “would extinguish Israel as a Jewish State.” And in an op-ed published in Al Akhbar newspaper, Cal State professor As’ad AbuKhalil, an outspoken advocate of the BDS movement, affirmed that “the real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel.” This is the “unambiguous goal…[and] there should not be an equivocation on the subject.”
Israel’s largest cargo shipping company suspended its operations at a California port.A Good Day for the BDS
Zim Integrated Shipping Services, the 10th largest global container shipping company in the world, has temporarily cut off its shipping services to the Port of Long Beach, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles reported.
The company has not offered a reason for the suspension, although the decision comes after months of picketing this summer against Zim vessels by anti-Israel protesters along the West Coast of the United States.
A Zim employee in Long Beach told the Jewish Journal that the suspension is “not a long-term thing.”
The BDS are not as stupid as they look. This morning’s Woolworths “Shareholder Meeting” was a smart move and it should be acknowledged as such. The meeting was publicized as being a Woolworths Shareholder Update, and many mainstream News Reporters, thinking that it was one called for by Woolworths themselves, decided to attend this event. What the meeting turned out to be, was a standard BDS Racist Jewish Hate Event, complete with the exiled and sad Jew or two in residence to “prove” just the opposite. It was clever and it got them the attention that they sought. It consisted of a panel of the BDS, s Jewish Mascot, a so called Shareholder and the impressive COSATU.Honest Reporting: CBS Anchorwoman: Synagogue Attack Took Place at “Contested Religious Site”
Of course anyone can be a shareholder of a public company, so they didn’t lie. But no one could accuse them of gross honesty.
And it worked. Media, in love with the conflict, poured into the room and once captive, had little choice but to listen to the BDS weave its narrative into its agenda. How proud they must be. I can see them celebrating their victory as we speak over their freshly carved pig’s head because this is a game to them. They are frustrated activists and for them there is nothing better than a cause to keep them pumped up and happy. And if you can disseminate anti Semitism along the way, all the better.
To add to the many media gaffes that took place following Tuesday’s horrific terror attack comes this from the CBS This Morning news show. Introducing a report from Jerusalem, anchorwoman Nora O’Donnell says the following:Honest Reporting: Why We Are Not in a Cycle of Violence
"The two Palestinian attackers died in a shootout with police. It happened at a contested religious site in Jerusalem."
There is, of course, nothing “contested” about the Har Nof synagogue where the terror attack took place. Nor is there anything “contested” about Har Nof itself, a Jewish neighborhood in the western side of Jerusalem.
The cycle of violence narrative obscures the reality of the situation and limits the power of the international community to intervene to calm tensions. It also negates the possibility that an attack like the one on the Har Nof synagogue is a case of unprovoked violence. If the violence is unprovoked, it can’t be part of a cycle.Yasser Arafat: an open letter to the Guardian
Therefore, everything Israel does is called an act of violence, even if it’s self-defense, retaliation for unprovoked violence, or even a call for freedom to pray at Jewish holy sites
The three page paean to Arafat delivers a master of understatement when it posits that Arafat’s reputation was tarnished somewhat as critics of Arafat claimed that he was associated with violence. The reality was Arafat led the PLO from the 1970s when it was committing violence against Israel on a regular basis. One of the most shocking moments happened when Israeli athletes were killed in cold blood by members of Black September, a group with links to Fatah. The PLO as the article states wasn’t a revolutionary movement during the 1970s and 80s , but a terrorist organisation, whose armed faction, The Al Asqa Martyrs Brigade, helped bring us the suicide bomber in the second intifada.Economist Says Jews Wanting to Pray at Temple Mount Are ‘Militants’
This piece is part of a trend by the Guardian to ignore any criticism of Palestinian leaders and place all the fault on Israel. This article that presents Israel as the devil incarnate and Arafat as an angel from heaven is no exception. It is time the Guardian stuck to the facts. Glorifying leaders who were violent leaders whilst demonising Israel doesn’t help Israelis, Palestinians or the peace process. It is time the Guardian realised that.
In a great example of the media’s use of language to blur moral differences within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Economist expanded the common understanding of the word “militant” – a word favored by those who fear that “terrorist” is too judgmental a term for those committing violence for political ends – to include Jews wanting to peacefully pray at Judaism’s holiest site.BBC amplification of Hizballah propaganda
An article published on November 17 titled ‘The trouble at the Mount‘ included the following passage:
THE Temple Mount in Jerusalem is one of the world’s most explosive bits of real-estate. It has started to rumble again in recent weeks, with demands by Jewish militants to extend prayer rights, riots by Palestinians and the killing of several Israelis in knife or car-ramming attacks.
Listeners were told by Bowen that Hizballah is one of the “friends of Iran” with no proper information provided on the topic of Iran’s role in the organisation’s founding, the material support it provides or the agenda it dictates.BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast’s massive Middle East mangle
Hizballah is of course designated as a terrorist organization in its entirety by Bahrain, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands and the US and in part by Australia, the EU, New Zealand and the UK.
The interview was also promoted on the BBC News website under the title “Hezbollah minister blames foreign ‘intervention’ for Syrian suffering” with no mention made of the fact that Husain’s interviewee is a member of a terrorist organization in that version’s synopsis and the Iranian connection erased altogether.
Mishal Husain’s deferential and decidedly uninformative ‘interview’ with Hizballah’s Muhammad Fneish on November 13th was apparently the inspiration for an item on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Breakfast programme on the same day.Update on Alan Henning and the Hamas-supporting Islamic 'charity' who conned him into going to Syria
“Now, the Lebanese militant group Hizballah has told the BBC that the fight against Islamic State has given it a common purpose with Western powers. In an interview with the BBC one of its leaders blamed IS for killing more Muslims than its longtime enemy Israel.”
Of course the implication that until ISIS came along Israel held some sort of record for killing Muslims is grossly inaccurate and misleading, but Burden made no attempt to clarify that fact to listeners – or to inform them of Hizballah’s terrorist designation – before introducing her interviewee; former British Ambassador to Libya, Sir Richard Dalton.
I posted the article below (about the terrorist links of the "charity" which Henning was 'delivering aid' for several weeks ago). Now Andrew Gilligan reports in the Telegraph that Majid Freeman, a "charity worker" from Leicester, who was speaker at the memorial service for Alan Henning, is an open supporter of violent Jihadists (including Al Qaeda) and even sympathises with the ISIS animals who beheaded his 'friend'.Teen tortured, buried alive by girlfriend's family in Turkey
Freeman...has posted on social media apparently justifying Isil, promoting al-Qaeda and expressing sympathy for Syrian jihadist “martyrs”. Freeman was with Mr Henning when he was abducted in Syria last year.
Majid Freeman's support for violence and jihad are far-reaching and include the following call for violence against Jews in Israel:
On Facebook last week, he said that the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, which was briefly closed by the Israelis at the time, “will be conquered by jihad, not by peace… none will enter it except those who believe in removing the door, not those who search for its key”.
What is becoming very clear is that - contrary to the lie that the British media is determined to spin - the views of Freeman are not unusual among British Muslims but are in fact completely mainstream.
A teenager has been tortured and buried alive by his lover’s family, in a new “honor killing” incident in a western province of Turkey, according to a confession given to police by the father and brother involved.Protest Against Anti-Semitism in Turkey
The father and brother of the victim’s lover were detained in the Denizli province on Nov. 16, after they confessed to torturing and burying their daughter/sibling’s lover for reasons of “honor.”
Onur Sandal, 16, who was a qualified electrician and plumber, was found buried in a forest by Denizli forest officials after Sandal’s family reported their son missing on Nov. 13. Sandal’s body appeared to have been wounded by cutlery prior to its burial.
Police detained A.T., the 18-year-old brother of Sandal’s lover, upon watching footage from a surveillance camera that showed A.T. beating up Sandal and placing him in a car. The brother’s three friends, 17-year-old S.Ö. and 18-year-olds H.H.B. and M.T., who were present in the car, and the brother’s father, 46-year-old A.T., have also been detained.
Turkey was once one of the most religiously tolerant majority Muslim societies in its attitude toward Jews. The reason wasn’t so much tolerant political culture, but rather a belief that the Jews were a tranquil, loyal minority. After all, Turkish school books taught that while Greeks, Armenians, and Arabs all rose up against the Ottomans, the Jews did not. Hence, Turkey boasted along with Iran either the second or third largest Jewish community in the Middle East after Israel itself.Indonesia's female police recruits subjected to virginity tests
In recent years, of course, this has changed. Just as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his consolidation of control over state media to fan the flames of anti-Americanism, so too has he used it to stoke anti-Semitism far beyond the Islamist circles in which he grew and from which he emerged. Jews are now contemplating the end of their millennia-long presence in Anatolia.
Young female police recruits in Indonesia start their careers with what's called the "two-finger test" to assess if they are virgins.UAE stalling on visa requests forces Israeli windsurfers to pull out of event
Indonesia's new women officers are required to be single and virginal, but the digital penetration test the police medical officers use as part of their physical examination leaves them feeling traumatised and humiliated, according to interviews conducted recently by Human Rights Watch.
In 2010, the then-head of police personnel, Brigadier General Sigit Sudarmanto, announced that the invasive testing procedure would stop. But still the National Police job recruitment website confirms that: "In addition to the medical and physical tests, women who want to be policewomen must also undergo virginity tests".
Eight female police applicants in six Indonesian cities who endured the "two finger" test as late as this year have told researchers from the human rights body of the pain and humiliation involved.
Israeli windsurfers Shahar Zubari and Ma’ayan Davidovich will not be able to compete in the World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi next week after local authorities in the United Arab Emirates stalled in granting them visas.Babi Yar memorial in Kiev defaced with swastikas
Only the world’s elite windsurfers will take part in the event, with just 20 men and women to participate in each of the RS:X fleets.
The names of both Israelis appear on the official entry list, but they will not be able to compete after the organizers of the event failed to secure visas for Zubari and Davidovich.
“We did everything we could to take part in the competition,” said Israel Sailing Association chairman Gili Amir. “Monday was the last day in which we could have sent the equipment to Abu Dhabi and since we still hadn’t received visas and had no other alternative to send the equipment at a later date we decided to pull out of the event.”
It is the second time that the monument has been vandalized in two months.Orthodox Man Beaten and Called ‘Dirty Bloody Jew’ in Brooklyn
The graffiti was found Monday during a tour at the site for schoolchildren, The Jerusalem Post reported.
A swastika was painted on the monument, located at the site where Nazi troops murdered more than 33,000 in September 1941.
In a separate incident, anti-Semitic graffiti was spray-painted on the walls of a Jewish school in Kharkov, Ukraine.
An Orthodox Jewish man was beaten and subjected to anti-Semitic insults in Brooklyn on Tuesday.PreOccupied Territory:Mel Gibson Struggling To Find Good Accountant (satire)
The victim, 53, was waiting for a train in the Williamsburg neighborhood when one of three suspects approached him and tried to steal something from his pocket. When the victim turned around and caught the thief, he was called a “dirty bloody Jew,” according to police, the New York Daily News reported.
The suspect attacker then spit at the victim, grabbed his umbrella, and used it to hit the victim on the head before fleeing the scene. The victim pursued his attacker, but was then assaulted by a second suspect from behind, who called him a a “f***ing Jew” and kicked him several times. A bystander who tried to intervene was also attacked before the suspects fled onto a train.
The cumulative tension with Jews and the Jewish community has proved a financial challenge as well, as antipathy for Gibson has cut him off from access to good accountants. Lacking a such a professional, he has been forced to rely on second- or third-tier accountants recommended by friends and associates, many of whom are ill-equipped to handle Gibson’s complicated finances, which include a divorce settlement and child support payments.The Givati family: 3 brothers, 1 mission
Signs of Gibson’s impending problems with finding a good accountant began to emerge in the 1990’s. In a 1995 interview with Playboy, he espoused a conspiracy theory involving influential Americans being groomed for positions in a “new world order,” and that President Clinton was merely a puppet. Conspiracy theories in general verge toward the antisemitic, but few observers at the time knew enough to predict Gibson’s impending accounting crisis. Gibson subsequently denied accepting those conspiracy theories, though he did star in a suspense film by that name.
The drunk-driving incident in 2006 ruined Gibson’s marriage and negatively colored a subsequent relationship that soured in dramatically public fashion and also involved law enforcement, but the Hollywood veteran has managed to avoid further significant controversy in the last several years, fueling speculation that he is due for an incident.
It all began with the eldest brother Kobi, 25, who came to Israel out of a desire to "fulfill his purpose as a Jew." Kobi joined the IDF in November 2009 and volunteered to join the Givati Brigade's reconnaissance unit. He was released two years ago and is currently in his second year of studies at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Agriculture.For Israel, China’s a trading partner, India a strategic one
Middle brother Ariel, 23, followed his brother and in November 2011 enlisted in the Givati Brigade, where he served as a medic. Ariel completed his military service one day before Oren's enlistment.
Oren, 19, said on Tuesday that "the excitement is intense and the enlistment is accompanied by a great sense of duty."
The brothers' parents still reside in the United States and are proud of their sons. Another brother, who is now 14 years old, already has plans to follow in Kobi, Ariel and Oren's footsteps. Their parents, meanwhile, are considering a move to Israel themselves after the youngest graduates from high school.
Despite its burgeoning trade and economic ties with China, Israel doesn't look at Beijing as a strategic partner the way it does at India, its number one buyer of arms, according to top Israeli government sources.‘Official’ Singapore discovers Israel, with TAU fund investment
As the NDA government under PM Narendra Modi commits itself to taking ties with Israel to an altogether new level, China and Iran remain the proverbial elephants in the room in bilateral relations between the two countries. Israeli officials, though, said here that there was no question of Israel's relations with China diluting the strategic content of its ties with India.
With an annual trade volume of over $10 billion, China is Israel's largest trading partner in Asia. Beijing is also on the verge of knocking over the US as the top funder of joint ventures in Israel involving foreign companies, including Israel's famed hi-tech startup companies. India's annual trade with Israel is still around $5 billion but officials here said this could double with the signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) which is being negotiated.
Israeli sources here said there was no move by Israel to revive arms trade with China. Israel's main political and defence ally, the US, too imposes strict restrictions on supply of arms or any defence technology to China or any other country by Israel. In the case of military cooperation with India, though, according to Israeli defence officials, Israel's agreements with the US are not a constraint.
The investment will go into Ramot’s Momentum Fund, which invests in companies in advanced technologies in areas like cell therapy, sensor technology, nanotechnology, cleantech, and life sciences. Temasek and Indian car manufacturer Tata are the two largest investors in the $23.5 million fund, which takes promising research conducted at Tel Aviv University and converts it into commercial products or technology, earning back investments from the sale or licensing of intellectual property.
The move represents the first official investment by Singapore in Israel, but Temasek is not the first Singaporean entity to discover Israel. Last year, Singtel, the Singapore-based Asian telecommunications giant, opened a research and development center in Israel – its only such center outside Singapore and China – the result of the company’s acquisition of digital marketing company Amobee.