'The EU just undermined its own arguments against Israel'
In marked contrast to its decision to label Jewish "settlement" goods, the European Union (EU) on Monday announced it will fight a decision by its own courts to stop trade in the Moroccan occupied Western Sahara.Adam Sandler: “I’m very pro-Israel”
To make sense of the state of affairs, Arutz Sheva spoke with Professor Eugene Kontorovich, a renowned legal expert at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and head of the International Law Department at the Kohelet Policy Forum.
The law professor explained how the EU has tried to justify its double-standards regarding Western Sahara, a region Morocco has occupied since 1976 when it was handed to its troops by Spain as it ended its colony there. The area is under a territorial dispute, with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) that holds a government-in-exile in Algeria claiming rights to rule.
"The EU's defense of their discriminatory labeling rules - which for example they do not require for Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara - has been based on a remarkable claim that Western Sahara is not actually occupied, but rather a 'special case,'" he said.
That status quo was ruptured last Thursday, when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided to strike down a 2012 trade agreement between the EU and Morocco in Western Sahara, ruling in favor of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front that fights for independence in the region.
"The ECJ rejected this view, saying Western Sahara is occupied," emphasized Kontorovich.
On today’s Howard Stern Show, the funny filmmaker went off on the Pink Floyd front man who is the most famous, and most wizened, supporter of BDS, the movement that seeks to Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel.IsraellyCool: Australian Delegation To Israel Infuriates PA With Stance Against Their Terror-Support
“I’m disgusted they single out Israel,” Sandler told Stern, who himself has ranted against Waters on his Sirius satellite radio show many times.
Stern then probed—as only Stern can—into Sandler’s Jewish identity. The creator of “The Hanuka Song”—arguably the best contribution to the holiday songbook since “White Christmas” — was out and proud.
“I’m proud of being a Jew and that’s what I am,” Sandler said.
“I get that from my father and mother,” Sandler said. “I’m very pro-Israel and when someone says sh_t about Israel, and I know people say sh_t about Israel and they f__king won’t play there… and when you go off on Roger Waters I love that you do that. I’m disgusted that they single out Israel that [they say], ‘We can’t play Israel.’ All these f__king nice Israeli people are getting a ‘f__k you’ from Roger Waters.”
An Australian delegation led by Chris Pyne, Australian Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, has visited Israel to launch a new “landing pad” initiative that will help Australian start-ups get a foot in the door to the Israeli tech industry.Swedish MP Kent Ekeroth uses PMW documentation to refute Foreign Minister defense of PA
As part of this trip, the delegation went to Ramallah – and well and truly pissed off their PA hosts by standing firmly against terrorism and the PA’s support of it!
An Australian-led delegation to the West Bank featuring Minister Christopher Pyne, former speaker Bronwyn Bishop, Labor MP Tim Watts and Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson has been criticised by a minister in the Palestinian Authority, who said the group had “false information” and were “not well educated”.
Mr Pyne, the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, led the delegation — which also included British MPs — to Ramallah on Sunday.
All the delegates were visiting Jerusalem for two days as part of an annual Australia-UK-Israel leadership dialogue to discuss the challenges facing Israel and how attendees can best support the Jewish state.
Mr Wilson said the group “quizzed” the Palestinian Prime Minister and Education Minister about a range of topics.
Palestinian Education Minister Dr Sabri Saidam described the meeting as “very explosive and very challenging” and said the group had asked “rude and blunt” questions.
“The delegation had false information and twisted facts,” Dr Saidam told the ABC.
“So it was clear the delegation was not well educated.
“Obviously the delegation was under impressions, wrong impressions accumulated after the visit to Israel.
“Coming blindfolded to realities, bypassing the pain of Palestinians in terms of daily happenings is not going to solve the conflict.”
Dr Saidam said the group repeatedly asked questions about Palestinians naming schools and venues after people who had killed Israeli civilians.
“I said that one man’s hero is another man’s terrorist.”
When asked about Dr Saidam’s comments, Mr Pyne said he believed he was very diplomatic, but admitted that some members of the delegation were potentially “too robust”.
“I very diplomatically asked the Prime Minister and the Higher Education Minister questions which I thought would be useful for understanding the Palestinian attitudes to the peace process,” Mr Pyne told the ABC.
“Other members of the dialogue were slightly more robust and could be accused of quizzing them.
Brits Detain Israeli Soldier, and They’re Terribly, Terribly Sorry
Brits are polite people. A very civilized bunch, refined by centuries of high tea and stiff upper lips. And when they apologize, they really apologize.No Man of Peace
Last week, for example, they detained a former officer in the Israel Defense Forces, an Israeli citizen who flew into London for business. The charge was war crimes, which, according to Britain’s universal jurisdiction laws, Her Majesty’s finest are permitted to investigate should a potential suspect mosey their way.
The officer’s name, it turned out, was on a list most likely handed to unnamed British officials by unnamed pro-Palestinian activists. But the officer, it turns out, was hardly the scourge of Hamas: when IDF forces marched into battle in Gaza, he stayed behind in the homefront, overseeing his military duties there. The Brits, according to the Israeli press, apologized immediately, not for arresting an Israeli but for arresting the wrong Israeli, which is a little bit like Charles Manson apologizing to Sharon Tate’s family by saying he’d meant to get the folks next door.
It’s good to see the British Crown so vigilant in monitoring its borders. These are perilous times, and we wouldn’t want any former Israeli officers stabbing people in the Underground, beheading soldiers in the street, or setting off rucksacks full of explosives.
Right-o, chaps. Right-o.
The standing ovation given to Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint Arab List party in Israel, at the Haaretz conference yesterday is a clear demonstration of how he is seen by Western elites. The hundreds of journalist and intellectuals who packed the hall in New York see him as a leader who promotes peace and equality, the embodiment of the progressive dream for the small Jewish-Arab state. His critique of the “establishment that occupies two nations” excited the crowd, and his vision of social justice no doubt touched the hearts of the wealthy Jewish liberals in the audience. The standing ovation for Odeh was a standing ovation for a shared goal: coexistence and equality in a multi-national welfare state.FBI Chart and Documents Portray CAIR as Hamas-Related Organization
Foreign Policy has chosen Odeh, an Israeli Arab Member of the Knesset, for its list of 100 leading global thinkers for 2015. In explaining their choice, the editors note that “Middle East peace talks may be all but dead, but Ayman Odeh still dreams of resolving the world’s most intractable conflict,” adding that he “heads the Joint List, a coalition of Arab political parties that united for the first time ever to run in Israel’s March elections.” According to Foreign Policy, Odeh has “yoked diverse leaders — Islamists, secular feminists, socialists,” and his party “is now the Knesset’s third largest and the biggest Arab legislative faction in Israeli history.”
It is difficult to argue with success, but nearly every one of these sentences misrepresents the facts.
An FBI chart has surfaced depicting connections between the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the chart shows CAIR falling under the umbrella of the jihadi outfit.NYU Law School BDS Activists Mislead Peers
This FBI chart details the Hamas-related groups, which included CAIR, that were created to ultimately support the Palestinian terrorist organization. It also established Nabil Sadoun’s (former CAIR national board of directors member and vice chairman) connections to Hamas.
The IPT also obtained groundbreaking new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents that trail CAIR back to its roots as a subversive Hamas-related group.
In 2007, CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) trial, a Hamas financing case that would result in the FBI ceasing its working relationship with CAIR. The HLF trial was the largest terror-financing case in American history. In 2008, during a retrial of the HLF case, an FBI Special Agent labeled CAIR as “a front group for Hamas” during her trial testimony. In 2010, a federal judge reiterated that his court had “ample evidence” that CAIR was involved in “a conspiracy to support Hamas.” CAIR, which relies upon millions of dollars in Saudi cash, was recently listed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a terrorist organization.
A group calling itself Law Students for Justice in Palestine insists people should single out Israel for boycott, and is acting close to home by advocating that other NYU law students join them in discriminating against the Jewish state.Leftist group Breaking the Silence banned from schools
Undeterred by the broad spectrum of leaders recently linking anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism — President Obama, Pope Francis, Socialist French prime minister Manuel Vals and Conservative British prime minister David Cameron have done so, as did Martin Luther King shortly before he was killed — the NYU anti-Israel group promotes anti-Zionist policies meant to eliminate self-determination for the Jewish people, even while claiming self-determination for the Palestinians as a "guiding principle."
As is so often the case with groups seeking to convince others that Israel is uniquely deserving of opprobrium and punishment, LSJP seems to realize that if it has any hope of swaying reasonable students, it must misinform them. An honest account of a booming but beleaguered, impressive but imperfect country just wouldn't do the trick.
When not hurling inflammatory charges about "apartheid" and "Jewish supremacy," a phrase popularized by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, LSJP claims Israel is guilty of "institutionalized segregation of its indigenous Palestinian population." An examination of their indictment shows this to be all syllables and no substance.
Activist group Breaking the Silence, which solicits testimonies of IDF misdeeds, will no longer be allowed access to public schools in Israel, under instructions issued Tuesday by Education Minister Naftali Bennett.BDS supporter refuses to have his book translated into Hebrew
The decision came days after Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon banned the group from participating in IDF events because the group was "part of the attempts to delegitimize [Israel]."
Bennett made the decision after holding an emergency meeting with education professionals. He subsequently instructed the Education Ministry's director general and other officials to adjust current rules to specify that organizations that incite against IDF soldiers, like Breaking the Silence, will not be permitted to enter schools.
"Our children are sent to school to learn about mutual responsibility, not about going after IDF soldiers," Bennett said Tuesday.
"Breaking the Silence's activism has led to anti-Israel libel in the world. They have made it their mission to hurt their brothers -- the ones who defend us all. We will not have lies and incitement in our schools."
An Israeli publisher seeking to purchase the rights to a book about Hillary Clinton's presidential race was denied over the author's support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, Israel Hayom learned Tuesday.Settlement wineries see red as Israeli guidebook skips West Bank
New York-based independent publishing house Or Books had recently approach Eitan Singer, head of the Israeli Probook-Dyonon Publishing House, and suggested he bid for the translation rights to Doug Henwood's book "My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency."
Singer jumped at the chance, but a day later he received an apologetic email from Or Books Publisher John Oakes, informing him that Henwood refused to sell the rights to an Israeli publication due to his support for the BDS movement.
Singer told Israel Hayom he was taken aback by the reasoning behind the refusal, saying it was a first.
"Boycotts, silencing people, or refusing to acknowledge different opinions go against the very nature of the publishing world. Freedom of expression trumps everything," Singer said.
A new guide to Israeli wines is facing criticism over its exclusion of wineries in West Bank settlements, including anger from public officials and local vintners.Israeli Opposition MK Distributes Hebrew Anti-BDS Flyers in Ben-Gurion Airport
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely on Tuesday compared the absence of West Bank wineries from “The New Israeli Wine Guide” to a recent European Union decision to label products manufactured in Jewish settlements.
“As the State of Israel fights against boycotts of European officials, home-grown boycotters of Israeli products delegitimize the State of Israel,” Channel 2 news quoted Hotovely as saying in response to a report on the book. “Those who take such actions act as agents of the Palestinian propaganda against Israel and we must condemn and remove these elements from our midst.”
The Samaria Regional Council, which represents dozens of wineries based in the northern West Bank, said it was mulling legal action against the book’s publishers.
“This book is not worthy of serious consideration if it chooses wineries for political reasons rather than professional ones,” said council chair Yossi Dagan.
Israeli parliamentarian Yair Lapid brought his campaign against the movement to boycott Israel (BDS) to Tel Aviv’s international airport on Tuesday, distributing Hebrew flyers explaining the Israeli government’s diplomatic battle.IsraellyCool: How To Hold An Effective Jew Hate Rally
Along with other volunteers from Yesh Atid, the centrist Israeli party chaired by Lapid, the Israeli Knesset member walked around the airport and solicited Israelis to get involved in the cause, which he has also championed among Jews worldwide.
The flyers reportedly said that BDS is an antisemitic movement founded by jihadis, whose activities have been recognized as hate crimes in the US and France. The flyer also apparently attempted to debunk certain common attacks against Israel, such as the claim that Israel’s military presence in the West Bank is the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that Israel is not interested in resolving the peace process, according to the Jerusalem Post.
In June, Lapid called BDS “antisemitism in a modern disguise,” during a policy speech at the Jerusalem Post conference.
So a few weeks ago I wrote a translation guide on how to speak “Pallywood” and last night I attended a ridiculous rally that was supposedly anti Israel. It was, however, enlightening because I learned just how cultlike the idiocy really is. So lets look at how to hold a Jew hate rally.New Study of White College Students Links Prolonged Keffiyeh Use with Being a Prick (satire)
1. Get a few Jews, you don’t even need actual Jews, just some people who may or may not actually carry Jewish blood. That way if anyone says “Hey, you are saying some pretty hateful stuff about Jews,” you can say “It’s ok because I have Jewish friends like this guy.” Make sure you let the ersatz Jews talk and make sure they say “as a Jew” because everyone knows asa Jews are legit! Even better, get a Lesbian Jew who looks like a man, because then you can hit at least two verticals here.
3. Make sure that any time someone says anything logical or fact based, you immediately flip an emotional switch. For instance, if the tall Indian guy says “They throw gay people off roofs in Gaza,” you respond with “Free free Palestine, the oppression must end.” Do not try to argue facts with facts, because, seriously. Also, make sure and chant support for the intifada, because running into children with cars and stabbing old ladies in the back is the act of a brave resistance fighter.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) issued a groundbreaking and controversial report today, providing clinical proof that prolonged and extended usage of keffiyehs by college-age white people can lead them to become just total insufferable pricks. Sabrina H., a spokesperson for the NIH outlined the findings in a contentious press conference at the Institute’s Washington Headquarters.BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine fails to challenge another Galloway lie about Israel
“The study we place before you today is the result of 8 years of prolonged research on multiple college campuses across the Western World.” Sabrina explained the linkage further, as she directed the audience’s attention to a Powerpoint Graph on a large screen. “What we are seeing is the progression of a typical subject sample named ‘Blake’. Here we see Blake as he began Undergrad Studies at the University of Oregon in Eugene….. So he’s showing a baseline of moderate dickish tendencies. He is speaking incessantly of his ‘Gap Year’ experience teaching English abroad. But notice what happens when he begins incorporating the keffiyeh into his wardrobe halfway through First Semester Sophomore Year.” Sabrina then gestured to a profound spike in the Graph’s Y-Axis of Prickdom. “Now this keffiyeh is serving as what the NIH describes as a ‘gateway’ accessory. This keffiyeh opens him up to telling you at length about his change over to veganism. He’s starting to read Mondoweiss, and not for the laughs. He is now mere months away from interning on a documentary that includes the words ‘Olive Tree’, ‘Voices’, and ‘Nablus’. He may even start growing bad dreads.”
The December 14th edition of BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show included an item about British resident and former Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer who had previously appeared on a BBC Two television programme.Jeremy VineSalon.com's Sordid Journalism
The item included discussion with George Galloway and a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Col. Richard Kemp, who happened to be speaking from Jerusalem.
On two occasions during the conversation Galloway made gratuitous references to Kemp’s location:
01:44:37 – “That is a libel. It’s defamatory. It’s a deliberate smear and lie and no wonder it’s coming from Jerusalem.”
01:48:13 – “Well I really don’t think we should be putting Shaker Aamer on trial here on the radio; least of all with the prosecutor being in Jerusalem – that well-known torture centre.” [emphasis added]
Presenter Jeremy Vine made no effort to challenge that inaccurate, off-topic and deliberately defamatory statement from a man infamous for his anti-Israel agenda.
Salon.com recently published two pieces relating to Israel that reflects the deterioriated quality of journalism at the electronic magazine. The first article repeats the malicious charge that Jews carried out the "ethnic cleansing" of Arabs from Israel in 1948. The second article, ostensibly a review of the film "Trumbo," attempts to pin the label of "McCarthyism" on Jews because the University of Illinois rescinded a job offer to a professor whose unhinged diatribes against Jews revealed an emotional instability that rendered him unfit for the appointment.BBC One comes up trumps with documentary on Ethiopian Jews
Salon's debased journalism is not limited to just Israel and Jews. Noted atheist author Sam Harris recently commented after Salon "bowdlerized" an interview with the magazine that, "As long as we're talking about the regressive Left, it would be remiss of me not to point out how culpable Salon is for giving it a voice." Harris provided details of how Salon editors completely misrepresented his views while concealing their deviousness from readers.
This type of dishonesty is similarly evident in Salon's handling of Israel. On Nov. 30, 2015, Salon's Ben Norton addressed the establishment of the State of Israel in his piece, "U.N. voted to partition Palestine 68 years ago, in an unfair plan made even worse by Israel's ethnic cleansing." Sadly, but predictably, Norton draws upon the discredited revisionist history of anti-Zionist Ilan Pappé, who disdains academic objectivity. Norton accuses Israel of ethnically cleansing Arabs during the war of Israeli independence. A critique of the piece by blogger Elder of Ziyon exposes the fraudulent narrative.
To understand Norton's deceit, it is necessary to briefly recount the actual sequence of events during that period. In November 1947, the United Nations adopted a partition plan that called for two states, a Jewish one and an Arab one in the portion of the Palestine Mandate west of the Jordan River. The UN plan was satisfactory to neither side, but the Jewish leadership accepted it. The Arabs rejected the plan, choosing aggression instead. Local Arab groups initiated acts of violence against Jews. Then, in May 1948, immediately following Israel's formal declaration of independence, the surrounding Arab states invaded the fledgling Jewish state. To the chagrin of Israel's enemies, the Arabs failed to strangle the Jewish state in its infancy. Instead Israel consolidated its limited territory by the time a ceasefire was agreed upon in mid-1949.
It is always a pleasure to be able to document some good BBC reporting on an Israel-related story – especially when the subject matter has been the topic of less than satisfactory journalism in the past.Guy Bechor: Ethnic wars and interests in the Middle East
On December 13th BBC One screened a documentary titled “Saving the Forgotten Jews“.
“In the 1980s and 1990s a Manchester textiles merchant, a Mossad spy and a seasoned diplomat saved the forgotten Ethiopian Jewish community in two unprecedented and record-breaking airlifts. Flying out of Sudan and war-torn Ethiopia, they went undercover and negotiated with dictators to save the forgotten Jews in peril.”
Analysis: While everyone claims to be fighting ISIS in order to deceive the US, they are actually engaged in their own wars: The Turks are destroying the Kurds, the Russians are destroying Sunni jihadists, the Iraqi army is destroying Sunni forces, and the Iranians are glad the Sunnis are keeping busy in Syria and Iraq.'Islamic State are afraid to see women with guns' - BBC News
Once again, many countries will gather soon to "end the conflict in Syria," as it is presented by US Secretary of State John Kerry. Well, there will be no "ending." It's not a "conflict" but a global war, and there is no more "Syria."
The United States, Russia and a number of European countries are caught in illusions, and the area which was once Syria and Iraq will keep serving as the arena of a huge storm. Even worse is the fact that Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are being dragged into the center of this storm against their will, and 2016 could be a critical year for some of them.
First of all, we are talking about a Sunni-Shiite world war, which has been going on for 1,300 years now, and so the Sunni-Shiite problem must be solved before anything can be done in Syria.
In Kurdish areas of northern Syria, fighters have been battling Islamic State - or ISIS - for two years - and unlike Iraq's kurdish forces, they get no help from the west. Gabriel Gatehouse has been northern Syria to meet some of those taking on the jihadists
LA accused of overreaction after shutting schools over hoax threat
The nation’s second-largest school district shut down Tuesday after a school board member received an emailed threat that raised fears of another attack like the deadly shooting in nearby San Bernardino.Obama compares Syrian refugees to Holocaust survivors
Authorities in New York City said they received the same threat but quickly concluded that it was a hoax.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters that he was “absolutely convinced” there was no danger to schoolchildren in his city.
“There was nothing credible about the threat. It was so outlandish,” de Blasio said.
New York Police Commissioner William Bratton agreed, quipping that it looked like the sender of the threat watched a lot of the Showtime terrorism drama “Homeland.”
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday drew a comparison between Syrian refugees today and Jewish refugees during World War II, during a speech at a naturalization ceremony of 31 petitioners seeking United States Citizenship held at the National Archive in Washington DC.Putin Signs Bill Making Russia Untouchable By International Law
At the ceremony, marking the 224th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, Obama chided those who would seek to clamp down immigration, as he continued to defend his plan to resettle thousands of Syrian refugees in the US.
“In the Mexican immigrant today — we see the Catholic immigrant of a century ago. In the Syrian seeking refuge today, we should see the Jewish refugee of World War II. In these new Americans, we see our own American story,” the US president said.
Obama is seeking this week to reassure the public about his strategy for stopping the Islamic State group while also emphasizing that the United States is a welcoming country that promotes religious tolerance.
President Vladimir Putin signed a law Tuesday giving Russia the right to decide for itself whether or not international human rights court rulings should be implemented in the country.Watch: Man verbally assaults Jews on Paris train
The Russian Constitutional Court can now pronounce any ruling “non-executable” if it doesn’t comply with the Russian constitution.
The law comes after a verdict from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) last year which forced the Russian government to pay more than $2 billion to shareholders of the Yukos oil company. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Yukos’ owner, was jailed in 2003 and served 10 years for what the ECHR claimed was a politically-motivated sentence.
The ECHR received 218 complaints against Russia last year, with more than half getting ruled a violation.
Alert commuters caught startling footage of a French citizen spewing anti-Semitic epithets on a Paris train earlier this month, a French-language news site reported Tuesday.Far-right politician charged in Germany for Auschwitz tattoo
In the footage, a man in his fifties of self-described Algerian descent verbally assaulted Jews on the RED D line near Melun on December 7. The man approached eight Jews on the train and threatened them.
“You band of motherf***er bastard Jews,” the man said, before threatening them with a "fragmentation grenade."
He then claimed Israel killed 5,000 Palestinian babies. Bystanders noted the suspect may have been inebriated during the tirade.
German prosecutors say they’ve charged a far-right politician with incitement after he appeared at a swimming pool with a tattoo of what appeared to be the Auschwitz death camp on his back.New York Shoppers Outraged by Sale of Nazi Memorabilia at Manhattan Flea Market
Neuruppin prosecutors’ spokeswoman Lolita Lodenkaemper said Wednesday that Marcel Zech is accused of violating the country’s prohibition of the public display of Nazi symbols.
Another bather took a photo of the tattoo, which also carried the slogan from the Buchenwald concentration camp’s gate, “Jedem das Seine” — “to each his own” — at a pool in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, on November 21 and passed it on to authorities.
The 27-year-old member of the far-right National Democratic Party, who sits on the county council in an area outside Berlin, faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
A flea market vendor selling Nazi memorabilia in Manhattan is outraging offended shoppers, the New York Post reported on Monday.Teaching Nigerians how to farm in the desert
“It’s very bad, awful, horrible,” said Manana Guginava, 68, who explained that her family fled Romania after the Nazi invasion. “You can’t do everything for the sake of money. These people who are advertising Hitler and his signs and speeches — these people must be taken to prison.”
The vendor, who has a stand at the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market, is selling images of Adolf Hitler and clippings from his wartime magazine, Signal, as well as medals, pins, knives, rings and coins. He also has on display a massive metallic Reichsadler, also known as the Imperial Eagle emblem of the Nazi party.
Between 2016 and 2021, 100 participants per year will come to Israel from Kano, a state in northern Nigeria, to receive training in methods for successful desert farming.Sowing seeds of success on Ethiopian farms
The training stems from an agreement of cooperation signed in early December between the Galilee International Management Institute (GIMI) in Nahalal, northern Israel, and the government of Kano, the largest state in Nigeria.
The initial courses will take place at GIMI’s Study Center in Israel. The graduates will then return home to train farmers across Kano, which has a population of 15 million and is situated on the edge of the desert.
Israeli experts will go to Kano to continue training each cohort of graduates for a year in advanced methods of water management, desert agriculture and drip irrigation.
Ethiopian farmer Nuri Awel was quite skeptical about the Israeli project Fair Planet, a nonprofit that gives smallholder farmers access to cutting-edge seed technology and shows them how to get the most from these seeds with minimal changes to their traditional practices.Liberia thanks Israel for helping to wipe out its Ebola outbreak
Awel was so skeptical, in fact, that at first he was lax about following the training recommendations. But once he saw the quality of the new plants, he became an enthusiastic follower.
“His yield was fantastic and he sold his tomatoes at excellent prices,” reports Fair Planet founder Shoshan Haran. “Nuri doubled his annual income from his 1,000-square-meter plot and is using the money to fix his house and send his son to college. One year later, Nuri has tripled his plot, bought more seeds and is implementing everything we taught him.”
Liberia’s senate president Armah Zullu Jallah -- making the first visit to Israel by any head of his country’s parliament -- thanked this country for its help to wipe out the fatal disease Ebola in in Liberia.What do you want to ask an expert, politician or star?
Speaking with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein in his office on Wednesday, Jallah said that Liberia has great admiration for Israel and “can learn much from you in the fields of innovation, technology, agriculture and medical research.”
He especially thanked Israel for its help, in the form of mobile clinics, training of medical teams and and visits by Israeli medical experts, to end the severe Ebola outbreak there that killed many residents.
MK Edelstein replied: “I am proud that we did our part and helped Liberia become free of Ebola. It is a world interest to which the State of Israel is a partner. We are always ready to contribute our knowhow and skills.”
A new Israeli social Q&A platform called yes.no celebrated its beta launch by inviting users to send questions to a variety of Israeli high-tech pioneers, and by creating a very cool infographic, “The Evolution of Israeli Innovation.”Spanish Legend Enrique Iglesias Performing in Israel to Sold-Out Arena
“It’s no secret that Israel is the land of milk, honey and high-tech. In 2015, its 7,000 startups are second in number only to the US, despite its population of just over 8 million,” blogged founders Assaf Levy and Sella Rafaeli.
They established yes.no in Tel Aviv last April “to address the often one-sided and shallow nature of social networking interactions by creating a new network that trades on valuable and respectful dialogue through questions and answers.”
Their unique platform is already available in 11 languages and will grow to 30, Levy tells ISRAEL21c.
Spanish pop star Enrique Iglesias arrived in Israel to perform on Wednesday, Israeli new site nrg reported.Israel ranked 18th in the world on UN Human Development Index
Iglesias’ Israel concert is part of his world tour — called “Sex and Love” — which will include stopovers in India and Sri Lanka.
The thousands of tickets to his concert at the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv were sold out almost immediately, resulting in a decision by the tour’s organizers to bring Iglesias back to Israel next week, to perform again on December 22.
Israel has secured the No. 18 ranking on this year's Human Development Index, a United Nations tool that measures world economies. The index uses a number of parameters to rank the quality of life in various countries. This year, Israel came out ahead of Japan (ranked 20th), Belgium (21), France (22), Austria (23), Finland (24), Slovenia (25), Spain (26), and Italy (27).StandWithUs - Supporting Israel Around the World
The country that earned the top ranking for its quality of life was Norway, followed by Australia, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Ireland, the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and Singapore.
Many of the countries ranked below Israel have a per capita gross domestic product that is higher than Israel's. According to the index, for example, the per capita GDP in Israel stands at $30,600, compared to Belgium, with $41,200.
However, per capita GDP is only part of the equation. The index also examines the number of years of education; the number of infant mortalities during birth; and the number of years of education predicted for children of the next generation.
