Friday, April 03, 2015
David Draiman: Why We Must All Stand Against Antisemitism, Now More Than Ever
As frontman for Disturbed, David Draiman has captivated millions of fans worldwide. Draiman’s versatile voice fuels a salvo of anthems for the Grammy Award-nominated multi-platinum selling Chicago quartet. As a proud Jew, David is using his voice to fight against the Jew-haters and Israel haters of the world.Who Are the Principal Violators of International Law?
I would however like you to try an experiment. Type the word anti-Semitism into your search engine, and see what comes up.
The results will shock you.
The number of anti-Semitic incidents and attacks that have been perpetuated over the past year worldwide is staggering. They are at levels I have not seen in my lifetime, and they are not only directed at “The State of Israel”, or “The Israeli Government”, or even “Israeli’s” in general. They are directed at Jews, all Jews, all over the globe, whether they are of Israeli descent or whether they support the State of Israel or not.
The horrific events of the last Gaza war have enabled sleeping anti-Semites all over the world, who have been relatively subdued for some time, to reveal themselves. Thanks to freedom of speech, we now know who many of them are (all they needed was an open door and an excuse to continue spewing their baseless hatred). I would never take away their right to expose themselves. I like it when people take their masks off. At least I know who is a threat and who isn’t.
So why then did I take such strong issue with the prospective new “Daily Show” host, Trevor Noah’s history of “Jew jokes”?
Things like, “Almost bumped a Jewish kid crossing the road. He didn’t look before crossing, but I would have felt so bad in my German car!” or, “Muslims don’t hate Jews, Jews hate Muslims”, or “Behind every successful Rap Billionaire is a double as rich Jewish man” or, “South Africans know how to recycle just like Israel knows how to be peaceful”.
Surely these aren’t the worst anti-Semitic slurs/jokes that I have ever heard, why take such offense?
Because I am tired of seeing the “tastemakers” of the world continue to perpetuate the anti-Semitic stereotypes and notions expressed in the “jokes” above. I’m tired of today’s youth thinking that it is “en vogue” to hate on the Jewish people. I’m tired of seeing people frightened, hiding their heritage for fear of anti-Semitic persecution.
In failing to adhere to international law, the United Nations has, as its principle violator, primarily itself.MEMRI: 'Al-Sharq Al-Awsat' Article: Palestinian Authority's Accession To International Criminal Court Will Harm It, As Well As Hamas, Turkey And Qatar
The real dispute is not about a "Palestinian State." It is about who has the right to the entire area. This is also the reason the Palestinians will never sign an "end of conflict" agreement.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to depict a world without Israel. This is to be done in stages, a "salami" tactic, by which any land acquired is to be used as a forward base from which to take the rest. The Phased Plan was never rescinded.
Hamas, with whom the PA is now aligned in a "Unity Government," takes the Phased Plan a bit farther. Hamas, in its Charter, advocates not only displacing Israel, but killing all the Jews worldwide as well, or genocide. This too has never been rescinded.
And now the PA and Hamas are to be rewarded for aggression? Such a move flies in the face of the UN's own international agreements -- signed by all parties under international law. They state that the Israel-Palestine dispute is to be resolved only by face-to-face negotiations.
On April 1, 2015, four months after it joined the Rome Statute, the Palestinian Authority (PA) officially became a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. The practical consequence of this move is that the PA can now bring charges against Israelis for alleged war crimes. PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the court has already launched a preliminary investigation regarding the settlements and regarding war crimes perpetrated during the 2014 Gaza conflict.
The PLO called the PA's accession to the ICC "historic," and PA Foreign Minister Riyadh Al-Maliki said that "Palestine seeks justice, not revenge."
In an article published in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in November 2014, before the PA submitted a formal request to join the ICC, Lebanese journalist Huda Al-Husseini warned about the potential consequences of this move for the Palestinians themselves, as well as for Qatar and Turkey, due to their ties with the Hamas movement and its leadership. Al-Husseini wrote that accession to the ICC could result in a series of charges against Palestinian figures, and also expose Qatar and Turkey to grave accusations of funding terror and even of committing crimes against humanity.
'The Quran is a Zionist book'
Egyptian nuclear scientist Noha Hashad was jailed and tortured for championing Israel's cause • "Police officers took me to a Jewish cemetery, poured gasoline on me, and threatened me by placing a match close to my ear," she says from new home in Haifa.Fury as Leftist Jewish Org Describes Samaria Jews as 'A Plague'
Hashad immediately began conducting research on Jerusalem via the Internet. "It's the city at the focal point of the conflict," she said. "I stumbled upon an article from the BBC, and under the headline 'Jerusalem -- God's City,' there was a quote from the Quran about the Temple and King Solomon. That ignited me. I know the Quran as well as any sheikh, and I specialized in Islamic thought while studying in Saudi Arabia. I know Arabic as well as anyone. Nobody can outshine me in an argument. I read the Quran again, from front to back, and it felt as if cold water was poured down my body.
"Until then, I had read the Quran hundreds of times and I never gave it a second thought," she said. "I discovered that the Quran mentions Jewish rights to the land of Israel in a clear manner. Later on, during my interrogations, I was accused of the horrible crime of supporting Zionism. If being a Zionist means to say that the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, then the Quran is a Zionist book. Every day since then, I catalogue more and more information from Islamic holy scripture.
"The information is spread out across a number of passages. I pieced together a puzzle. In the Quran, it is written that the land of Israel belongs to 'the nation of Moses.' Who are 'the people of Moses' if not Israel? This also appears in books that offer commentary about the Quran. The sheikhs know this, but they prefer to nurture the incorrect narrative in order to deny this right to the Jews and to take over land.
A far-left American Jewish organization has drawn angry condemnation in both Israel and from withing the US Jewish community, over a campaign in which it brands Jews living in Judea and Samaria as "a plague."On the Syrian Golan, unlike in Yemen, an Iranian offensive fails
Americans for Peace Now (APN) is the sister organization of the Israel-based Peace Now, a mainly foreign-funded NGO which advocates for the ethnic-cleansing of Jewish communities in Judea-Samaria, also known as "the West Bank."
In a post on its official Facebook page, APN evokes the Passover story of the 10 plagues God visited on the Egyptians for enslaving the Jewish people - but whereas the Biblical account sees the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians to save the Israelites from oppression, the Peace Now version recasts the Jews themselves as a plague for living on land which leftist groups want Israel to cede to the Palestinian Authority.
The post includes two images illustrating the growth of the haredi Jewish town of Modiin Illit in Samaria (Shomron), located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Underneath the pictures is a call for supporters to "Spill some wine for continued settlement building - Overcome Israel's #ModernDayPlagues", a reference to the practice of spilling a small portion of wine from one of the four cups drunk during the Passover "Seder" meal as the 10 plagues are recounted.
The operation began with a blast. Hezbollah media and those affiliated with the Syrian regime described the military offensive that began in January as “the mother of all operations.” Reports spoke of around 3,000 soldiers, including Bashar Assad’s forces and Hezbollah fighters (they didn’t talk about the Iranian advisors taking part) working to clear the Syrian Golan Heights of opposition forces. The goal was also to secure the route from Dara’a, capital of the Huran area and nerve center of opposition activities, to Damascus.If a Palestinian Minister Falls and No One Is Around to Hear It…
The same month Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Al-Qods force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, toured the theater in order to run the operation from up close. Soleimani was even documented taking pictures with the fighters. The Hezbollah-affiliated al-Midian channel described the operation’s impressive military achievements, and said that at any moment, the Syrian regime along with its support forces would succeed in wiping out the central opposition stronghold in the country today, with the exception of the Islamic State.
But in reality, the achievements are minimal. After three months of fighting, the Hezbollah operation can be called a failure. Many in Israel describe it as exactly that.
Big news stories are a dime a dozen these days. Between the Iran nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the war in Yemen, it’s an ideal environment for making an important announcement and barely making any headlines.Hamas Official Calls to Overthrow Abbas
Perhaps that’s what Mohammed Mustafa, the powerful deputy prime minister and economy minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA), was hoping for when he unexpectedly resigned yesterday morning at a regular meeting of the cabinet. A longtime confidant of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Mustafa was once rumored to be the frontrunner for prime minister after the exodus of celebrated reformer Salaam Fayyad in 2013. But you wouldn’t have known it, given the lack of reaction to yesterday’s news.
Mustafa’s exit is a sign of great change on the horizon. He has been a key Abbas ally since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007. He helped Abbas consolidate dozens of organizations within the Palestinian Authority for fear of losing them to Hamas — or for fear of having international sanctions rain down once Hamas, a designated terrorist group, gained a foothold in PA institutions.
Any lingering "honeymoon period" between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) has ended, more than one year after the "unity government" was announced, with the two rivals re-launching a war of words.Hamas attempting to split loyalty between regional rivals Iran, Saudi Arabia
Mahmoud al-Zahar, a member of Hamas's political bureau, said in an interview to Al-Aqsa news agency Friday that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas did not conduct any elections in the PA, and ergo has lost the legitimacy to rule.
Zahar advocated a Hamas takeover of the PA as the only "real solution" against the "occupation."
He added that the PA's location entails the potential for an "armed struggle," i.e. rocket fire from Gaza.
Zahar also claimed that Israel sent representatives to Gaza in an attempt to sign a cease-fire agreement, citing many of the same claims revealed in an expose last month. Among them: demands for a seaport and airport.
Hamas is attempting to divide its loyalty between the rival regional powers, Iran and Saudi Arabia.Growing up as a Jew in Paris.
Hamas sides with Iran against the US on negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, but sides with Saudi Arabia against Iran on the Shi’ite Houthi attempts to take over Yemen.
“An agreement [on Iran’s nuclear program] would be in Hamas’s favor, since Hamas [already] has strong ties with Iran, and this agreement would improve its relationship with Americans,” Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip told The Media Line.
Yet when it comes to the situation in Yemen, Hamas has declared publicly that they support the Saudi-led coalition, which is Sunni, against the Shi'ite Houthi rebel militias which have tried to take over the country.
We finally headed to Australia and things have been much better since. Very rarely I have had arguments here. There is some anti-Israel propaganda but it hasn’t reached the level of France yet. In general I feel that people are more open about Jewish people and about Israel.Paris supermarket hostages sue media over live coverage
I still feel I was pretty lucky during my childhood. Today I hear there are almost no Jewish children in public schools, even in the centre of Paris. It has become very difficult to teach about the Shoah even though it is part of the curriculum. Jews cannot walk in Paris wearing a kippah for fear of being attacked. During the last Gaza operation in July 2014, mobs took the streets of Paris screaming ‘Kill Jews’, burned Jewish shops and attacked a synagogue terrorising those locked inside.
This year there was “Charlie Hebdo” and “Hyper Casher”. The Jews are leaving France in numbers. I don’t see what can improve this situation. Israel is constantly slandered in the media and people dare to say that the Jews, because of Israel, are responsible for what is happening to them. They say the real victims are the Muslims and they should be protected. The government has deployed the army in front of all the Jewish schools, and it is the Jews not the Muslims who are leaving the country because they fear for their lives. I have never seen a crazy mob on the streets of Paris calling to kill the Muslims – but I have seen violent Muslims calling to kill the Jews.
People in Australia believe that multiculturalism and tolerance is what makes Australia such a great place. I agree to an extent, you just have to make sure that you don’t tolerate the intolerants. It’s what France has been doing for too many years and has probably reached a point where the situation there is irreversible.
Six people who hid in a supermarket refrigerator during January’s Islamist attacks in Paris have sued French media for broadcasting their location live during the siege.Joining the Blood Libeling Freak Show
Images broadcast from the scene on January 9, when gunman Amedy Coulibaly stormed into the Hyper Casher Jewish supermarket, killing four and taking others hostage, “lacked the most basic precautions” and endangered those still alive inside, said a lawyer representing the group, Patrick Klugman.
Klugman singled out French 24-hour news channel BFMTV, which revealed live on air that the group — including a three-year-old child and a one-month-old baby — was hiding from Coulibaly in the cold room, where they were taken by one of the supermarket’s employees.
“The working methods of media in real time in this type of situation were tantamount to goading someone to commit a crime,” Klugman told AFP Thursday, roundly criticizing coverage by other outlets of security forces movements during the standoff.
As Jews all over the world prepare for Pesach, Israel Apartheid Week is touring the campuses of the world with its freak show of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli hatred and bigotry.Jewish Group Calls Out Moroccan Culture Minister for Failing to Act Against Anti-Jewish Hatred at Casablanca Book Fair
Now in its 11th year, just like its twin sibling the BDS movement, it performs on select campuses in Europe, the US, South America and apparently even Japan.
The performers include everyone willing to slander the Jewish state; especially those Jews who have chosen to become the sticks with which to beat other Jews. One of them is Yonatan Shapira, the ex-IDF pilot, who proudly considers himself an “ex-Jew”. Part of his current career is to conduct tours of Yad Vashem for European tourists, telling them that what the Nazis did to the Jews is no different from what the IDF is “doing” to Palestinians.
While Israeli Apartheid Week is hardly a large factor on campuses, it feeds into an already heavily anti-Semitic atmosphere and with the efforts of its twin, the BDS movement, this creates a dangerous environment for Jews.
Major Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) on Wednesday criticized Moroccan Culture Minister Mohammed Amine Sbihi for failing to make good on his promise to stop all displays of anti-Jewish hate at the 2015 Casablanca Book Fair.Virginia State Bar now hero of anti-Israel movement
SWC’s Director of International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, wrote a letter reminding the minister of their telephone discussion following the latter’s meeting with the Moroccan Ambassador to France.
“Mr. Minister, you pledged that measures would be taken to vet all stands for displays of racism or fomenting hate and violence, as these violate Muslim values and the principles of the Moroccan monarchy and Constitution,” he wrote to Sbihi. But, Samuels said, “no such steps were taken. On the contrary, two weeks after the conversation, the Minister wrote that the volumes named in the Wiesenthal Centre report were ‘not antisemitic, but anti-Israel.’”
Of course, no wording from VSB since then has looked anything like Bernstein’s proposed apology. To the contrary, Martingayle says he will not apologize.Dutch cyber expert who said ISIS was part of Zionist plan keeping job
Why is a correction and apology so critical? Why have various Jewish groups, like the American Jewish Committee, the Greater D.C. Jewish Community Relations Council, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Richmond, called for a correction and apology?
Why have the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, and today The Lawfare Project, also called for corrective action?
Because we understand the nature of the anti-Israel boycott movement. The boycott movement is not about non-discrimination, it’s about using any tool, including false allegations and lawfare, to break down Israel’s relations with the world.
A Dutch civil servant who said ISIS was “part of a plan by Zionists” may keep her job, the country’s justice minister determined.Christopher Pyne asks al-Taqwa principal to explain himself after Islamic State comments
Minister Ard van der Steur made his decision public on Wednesday in a letter sent to the parliament about the conduct of Yasmina Haifi, a former project leader at the ministry’s National Cyber Security Center.
In the letter, van der Steur wrote that Haifi received a “suspended dismissal” and will be transferred from her former post. She will no longer be employed at the Dutch counterterrorism unit under which her former department operated, but will work elsewhere within the ministry.
Van der Steur wrote the letter to answer queries by rightist lawmakers who demanded action against Haifi.
In August, Haifi was suspended for writing on Twitter, “ISIS has nothing to do with Islam. It’s part of a plan by Zionists who are deliberately trying to blacken Islam’s name.” ISIS, or Islamic State, is a Sunni Muslim terrorist group.
Australia - Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne has asked the principal of al-Taqwa College to explain why he told students that Islamic State was a Western plot.Rochdale Labour councillor's son among nine Britons arrested trying to reach Syria
The move comes as a former teacher at the school said principal Omar Hallak also told students that Israel did not exist and Jews were horrible people.
Mr Pyne condemned the principal's controversial statements on Wednesday and said he would write to al-Taqwa, which is the largest Islamic School in Victoria, seeking an explanation.
Mr Pyne will also write to Victorian Education Minister James Merlino to ask what action the Education Department is taking.
"The comments of the al-Taqwa College principal are wrong and damaging," he said.
Ajit Somers taught at the school in 2001 and said Mr Hallak had "shockingly" anti-Semitic views.
He said the principal came into his class and set an assignment in which students had to research a country of their choice. When the principal discovered one student had chosen Israel, he became furious, Mr Somers said.
"He said there is no such thing as Israel and how dare you say Israel. He said Jews are horrible people."
One of nine Britons arrested trying to get into rebel-held Syria is the son of a Labour councillor from Rochdale [location of a massive Muslim run sex trafficking ring].Report: Iran Using Civilian Airliners to Transfer Weapons to Houthi Rebels in Yemen
The group - all members of the same family, including four children - will be deported back to the UK where counter-terrorism police and social services are waiting to question them after they were seized at a Turkish border post.
Police in Manchester said it was “obviously concerning” that adults were taking children aged as young as one into the war-torn country.
In a statement, Rochdale councillor Shakil Ahmed said he was "shocked, worried and extremely upset" to find out his son, 22-year-old Waheed Ahmed, was one of those held by Turkish authorities.
Mr Ahmed added that he thought his son was on a work placement in Birmingham.
Iran has been operating a major scam in order to help Houthi rebels in Yemen, without prejudicing the discussions with the West over its nuclear program, Israel’s Channel 2 revealed on Wednesday.Ankara: 'No One in Turkey is Anti-Semitic'
In order to bypass US sanctions on Iranian airlines sending arms to Syria and elsewhere through the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, reports indicate that the Iranians are using front companies to hide the fact that IRGC Air Force planes are carrying weapons to their proxies.
In one example, an Iranian Air Force plane was painted with the logo and identification number of a new civilian cargo company called “Pooyah.” This company officially worked through the Red Crescent in order to carry out humanitarian missions, but in reality it was used to transfer weapons to Houthi fighters in Yemen, according to the report. A similar strategy was employed using the cargo planes of Iran’s “Maan Air” and “Yas Air.”
Allegations that Ankara is anti-Semitic are unfounded, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç claimed Thursday - saying instead that the many instances of hate speech or riots against Jews or Israel are "reactions" to the Israeli government.Le Pens at odds as Jean-Marie stands by gas chambers remark
"No one in Turkey is anti-Semitic," Arınç stated in a Channel 2 interview. "Most of the Turkish people strongly react against the Israeli government."
He added that if Jerusalem wants to improve its relationship with Anakara, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must declare intent for peace with Palestinian Arabs and remove import, export, and travel restrictions on Hamas-controlled Gaza.
"We hope that there would be more positive statements from Netanyahu over the Palestine issue, Gaza issue and the resolution in Middle East," he added. "We wait to see an Israeli government's strong will to end grievances between Palestine [sic] and Israel."
French politician Marine Le Pen distanced herself from her father, the founder of the party she now heads, after Jean-Marie Le Pen defended his description of the Nazi gas chambers as “just a detail of WWII.”Fifth-Most Wanted Nazi Criminal Dies a Free Man
Jean-Marie Le Pen, 86, the longtime leader of the National Front, on Thursday told French TV that he does not regret the statement he made in 1987.
“I continue to uphold the view because I think it is the truth and it should not shock anyone,” he told BFM. “They have exploited this affair against me, implying this is about anti-Semitism. But I defy anyone to quote me on anything anti-Semitic I have said in my political career.”
Marine Le Pen told Europe1 radio on Thursday that she “profoundly disagrees” with her father. She also criticized her father for his repeated attempts to draw attention to himself and the party.
One of the most-wanted Nazis in the world, Soren Kam, has died at the age of 93 without having been punished for a murder conviction, The Independent reported on Thursday, citing German media.California museum to face lawsuit over Nazi-looted art
Kam, a Danish former volunteer officer died on March 23, just a little more than a fortnight after his wife passed away, according to the German newspaper Allgauer Zeitung.
He was the fifth-most wanted war criminal by Jewish rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center, which seeks to bring former Nazis to justice and educate about the Holocaust.
Kam had been a volunteer officer in the Schalburg Corps, a SS-Viking division, and was one of three men who killed Danish anti-Nazi newspaper editor Carl Henrik Clemmensen in 1943.
A Danish court convicted him in absentia of the murder after the war. Another man was executed for the same crime.
A Los Angeles federal judge on Thursday denied the Norton Simon Museum's bid to dismiss a lawsuit by a woman seeking the return of prized 16th century paintings of Adam and Eve that had been looted by the Nazis during World War Two.JPost Ediotrial: JPost Editorial: Going green
US District Judge John Walter rejected the argument by the Pasadena, California-based museum that Marei von Saher was several decades too late in trying to recover the life-sized panels by German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder, which the museum acquired in 1971.
"Stolen property remains stolen property, no matter how many years have transpired from the date of the theft," Walter wrote. "Plaintiff, whose family suffered terrible atrocities at the hands of the Nazis, will now have an opportunity to pursue the merits of her claims."
Going green ‘From Zion will go out the law of green energy,” announced Yuli Edelstein at a ceremony on Sunday, inaugurating the Knesset’s solar rooftop. “What is happening before our very eyes is indeed exciting, a true revolution.”Solar power for Burundi has Israeli ties
When the solar rooftop becomes fully operational later this year, it is expected to reduce the Knesset electricity bill by one-third. Taking up over 4,000 square meters of roof space, it is the largest parliamentary solar field in the world, according to the Foreign Ministry.
The Green Knesset initiative was launched last year as a consensus initiative supported by the Likud’s Edelstein as well as Knesset members from Bayit Yehudi, Meretz, and Hadash. It initially comprised 13 approved projects devoted to saving energy and water.
In Burundi, an African country where only four percent of the population has residential access to electricity, a 7.5-megawatt solar PV field will soon produce enough electricity for 60,000 households in the Gitega region.Wanted: Israeli tech to keep money safe, says top China exec
This is the latest solar-energy project of Gigawatt Global, an American-owned Dutch solar and social development company headed by Israel’s “Kaptain Sunshine,” Yosef Abramowitz.
In February, ISRAEL21c reported on Gigawatt Global’s new solar field on the premises of the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda. This initiative has won the company a 2015 Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
Gigawatt Global, which has an R&D facility in Jerusalem, partnered with Power Africa and Power Africa’s Beyond the Grid sub-initiative in obtaining grants for the Burundi solar project intended to increase the country’s generation capacity by 15 percent.
Investments in Israeli start-ups have made money for huge Chinese firms like conglomerate Ping An, and now China is looking to Israel for ways to protect that money, said Daniel Tu, Group Chief Innovation Officer for Ping An Insurance.ALEH Negev Shows No Limit to What the Disabled Can Do
“Many of our divisions are moving to mobile to better serve our customers, who want it for the convenience but don’t want to compromise on safety,” he said. “Israel is a natural place to find the technology that provides both.”
Tu is in charge of finding that tech for Ping An, which has operations not only in China and Hong Kong but in some 150 other countries as well. Worth nearly $500 billion, the company has annual revenues of $65 billion, as well as over 800,000 employees.
If Tu was searching for start-ups in the financial technology security sector, he was in the right place – the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, where he spoke at the Fintech Forward conference, sponsored by Matrix’s new 8300 Accelerator Program, which specializes in security and fintech start-ups. Prominent on the agenda was a discussion on how to keep digital money safe, with Israeli start-ups presenting their solutions to over 500 investors and business executives from Israel and abroad.
Just yesterday, a delegation of American Congressional staffers visited the rehabilitative village of ALEH Negev – Nahalat Eran in Israel’s Negev. The delegation is the 12th in a series promoted by the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act, an American law that promotes fact-finding missions for members of Congressional offices to develop their acumen and advising abilities.Israeli app pushes iPad closer to medical-device territory
“Visits to the village are an important element in its vision,” says Stav Herling-Gosher, who runs public and international relations for ALEH. “To break down the walls around the populations with special needs, smashing stereotypes and changing the perception that the person is limited in Israeli society - a mission we’ve chosen to call ‘Tikkun Olam.’"
The center itself is well-connected. It was founded by Major General (Res.) Doron Almog to serve his son Eran, who has since passed away (and lending his name to the institution). The institute now has 230 patients and 230 caregivers. There is also a large outpatient program and clinic that operates for the good of the local community.
Herling-Gosher sees the visit as evidence of how significant the organization’s work has become.
An app by Israeli health-tech firm Voyant, to help doctors plan hip replacement on mobile devices, was granted FDA approval this week as a Class II medical device (requiring regulatory controls to provide reasonable assurance of the device’s safety and effectiveness).Israel approves natural gas exports to Jordan
With this app, doctors can import images from secure hospital networks, insert digital implant images to determine the best surgery techniques for each case, visualize an operation, and use the resulting data for review or consultation.
In a statement, Marc Mackey, general manager of orthopedics at German firm BrainLab, which acquired Voyant in 2001, said that Voyant’s TraumaCad platform, in use on desktops for over a decade, is very popular among surgeons, and “with the mobile version of TraumaCad, digital templating can now be accessed from any web browser or iPad, enabling surgeons to be more productive while also providing access to data for better inventory management.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu together with Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom authorized Thursday the sale of natural gas from Israel’s Tamar gas field to private clients in Jordan.Soldiers to Crunch on 80 Tons of Matzo at Seder Tables
Under the terms of the $500-million deal, the Tamar natural gas reservoir partnership will sell 1.87 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Jordanian companies Arab Potash and its affiliate Jordan Bromine over the next 15 years.
Shalom called the deal a “historic and significant agreement in Israel’s foreign relations” and asserted that the cooperation between the two countries would open the door to additional agreements with other regional countries.
“Despite the difficulties in recent months, this initial deal will solidify Israel’s status as an international energy supplier,” Shalom said in a statement.
The IDF has brought in 80 tons of matzo, 39 tons of meat and 11,000 bottles of grape juice to make sure soldiers will be able to eat well at the Seders they will hold on bases throughout the country.Israel Daily Picture: WW100: Were Jewish Soldiers in the British Army Permitted to Celebrate Passover in Jerusalem in 1918?
Army kitchens also are stocked with 9,500 bottles of carbonated drinks and 7.5 tons of Passover cookies.
The IDF tries to make sure that as many soldiers as possible can go home for the first day of Passover, but thousands of others are needed to defend the country.
Seders are held at bases, but some soldiers must be on guard duty or patrol at the time of the Seder, and the IDF is delivering 5,000 meals for them.
Individual Jewish soldiers served in the ranks of the armies of Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand and were involved in the 1917 battles in locations such as Be'er Sheva and Rishon LeZion. Another large group of Jews served in the British army's Jewish Legion, commanded by Col. John Henry Patterson and involved in combat after arriving in Palestine in 1918. According to Patterson's memoirs, 2,000 soldiers were under his command.Israel Daily Picture: Why Was a Ton of Matza Delivered to the US Army's 77th Division in France during World War I?
Patterson bitterly complained that his soldiers were forbidden from celebrating Passover in Jerusalem in 1918 and 1919, yet the pictures below show Jewish soldiers in Jerusalem on the holiday. How can the contradiction be explained?
The Jewish tradition of eating matza (unleavened bread) on Passover is so profound that the armed services of several countries provide Passover supplies to their soldiers even at the front. That's the practice in Israel, for sure, but the archives of several libraries provide pictures of Jewish soldiers observing Passover in the British and American armies during World War I, almost 100 years ago.
But when we saw the picture above of perhaps a ton of matza sent to American forces in France we wondered why so much was required.
The 77th Division and the "Lost Battalion"
The 77th Division was made up of draftees from the New York City area, one of the first draftee units deployed in combat in World War I. They assumed the name "Metropolitan Division" or the "Statue of Liberty Division." Many of the men had lived a tough hardscrabble life on the streets of New York, perhaps a factor in their surviving a hard-fought battle in the Argonne Forest in October 1918 where the Division's "Lost Battalion" was surrounded by German troops and held out for a week without food and water. In a 2001 film about the "Lost Battalion," the men were described as Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Polish "gangsters."
Of the battalion's 550 men, almost 200 were killed and 150 were captured or missing.
A Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Lee J. Levinger, served in France during World War I and wrote that the 77th Division had "thousands" of Jewish soldiers -- for whom the matza in the picture was intended.
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