Friday, September 08, 2017
The Jewish (and Not-So-Jewish) History of the Word "Palestine"
My previous column dealt with linguistic evidence for Israelite sailors’ having reached India from Palestine in the time of King Solomon. About it, Anson Laytner writes:Norway gets refund in Palestinian terror episode, US lawmakers hail action as precedent
In Solomon’s day there was no Palestine, so the trip would have been impossible! Seriously, though, if Mosaic’s own team misuses terminology, what about the rest of us? Perhaps it is time for you to write something on the geographical names Judah, Israel, Judaea, Palestine, etc.
Seriously, this is a subject that I have written on—and more than once during my years as a Jewish-language columnist. And yet, although I dislike having to repeat myself, perhaps Anson Laytner is right that it deserves to be written about again. Few place names these days arouse quite as much passion as does “Palestine,” nearly all of it directed against Israel. To any Jew who was old enough to read at the time the state of Israel was created, this can only seem grimly ironic, because “Palestine” was once a Jewish word, too. I can’t watch a news clip of anti-Israel demonstrators chanting “Palestine will be free/ From the river to the sea!” without remembering the blue-and-white Jewish National Fund collection box that stood in the kitchen of my parents’ New York apartment in 1947-48, when I was a boy of eight or nine. On it, across a map of the Jewish homeland, was written in flowing letters: “Fight for a Free Palestine!”
There was nothing exceptional about this. English and French “Palestine,” German Palästina, Polish Palestyna, Russian Палестина: this was the standard word in European languages, used by Jews no less than by others, for the country whose greater part was renamed Israel after 1948. It had been the standard word since the early 19th century, when it gradually replaced the term “the Holy Land” that had been in use in the Christian world in medieval and early modern times. When, in 1917, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, it proclaimed, “His Majesty’s government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” Jews, unless they were anti-Zionist, were exultant over this wording. It was the Arabs who weren’t.
It is true that in speaking or writing Jewish languages like Yiddish, Hebrew, or Ladino, 19th- and early-20th-century Jews did not generally use “Palestine.” Their own term, current since early rabbinic times, was “Erets-Yisra’el,” the Land of Israel.
It is also true that when, after putting down the Bar-Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, the Romans officially renamed their administrative province of Judea, which included much of the Land of Israel, as Syria Palaestina, their motives were anti-Jewish. Palaestina was the Pleshet of the Hebrew Bible, the land of the Plishtim or Philistines, the archenemies of the biblical Israelites. By giving the name “Palestinian Syria” to the country that had been unsuccessfully fought for by the Jewish people in two bitter rebellions, the Romans were seeking to deny the Jewish connection to it. Moreover, whereas biblical Pleshet had signified the Philistines’ stronghold of the country’s coastal plain, the name was now extended to the traditionally Israelite hill country that the Philistines had never occupied.
Members of Congress and Jewish leaders are urging the U.S. to follow in Norway’s footsteps, after Oslo secured the return of funds it gave to a Palestinian women’s center that was named in honor of a terrorist.PodCast: Author Tuvia Tenenbom: One part de Toqueville, one part Borat
Earlier this year, Palestinian Media Watch and NGO Monitor revealed that the Norwegian government helped finance a Palestinian Authority (PA)-affiliated women’s center in the town of Burqa, which had been named after Dalal Mughrabi, the leader of a notorious terrorist attack in 1978.
In response, Norwegian officials said they would demand the return of the funds and the removal of the Norwegian flag from the banner in front of the center. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry this week for the first time confirmed it has received the refund. Spokesperson Gur Solberg told JNS.org, “The logo was removed immediately and the Norwegian support of $10,000 has been returned to the Norwegian Representative Office (NRO).” The NRO is Norway’s liaison to the PA.
Palestinian Media Watch Director Itamar Marcus called Norway’s action “a major breakthrough” that may signal “the beginning of a new European attitude towards the PA. For years, PMW has been showing European leaders what the PA was doing with their money to glorify terror and the Europeans tried to excuse it. I hope this is ending now.”
Olga Deutsch, director of NGO Monitor’s Europe Desk, praised the Norwegian government for “insisting that its funds be returned, and that its monies not be used to glorify a mass-murderer.” She said the incident “can serve to increase awareness among donors” of the danger of funds intended for humanitarian purposes being used to “promote extremism and radicalization.”
‘Jihad is needed’
Norwegian political figures are applauding their government’s move, and urging it to take action in a similar case that has just come to light.
Why do climate science deniers oppose gun control and Obamacare and support Israel? • Was the Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally a surprise? • How are conditions for Muslim refugees in Europe? • Host Steve Ganot speaks with gonzo journalist Tuvia Tenenbom.
Journalist Tuvia Tenenbom has been compared some of the most provocative, humorous and observant social critics, such as Alexis de Tocqueville, Mark Twain, Michael Moore, and Sacha Baron Cohen's iconic satirical character, Borat.
In this episode of Israel Hayom Insider, Opinion Editor Steve Ganot speaks with Tenenbom about political correctness, intersectionality and hypocrisy on the Left and Right; racism and anti-Semitism in the United States; and the gonzo style of journalism that he employed in his bestselling books "I Sleep in Hitler's Room," "Catch the Jew!" and "The Lies They Tell," and that he now brings to bear on the influx of Muslim migrants to Europe in his latest book, "Hello, Refugees!"
Trump Admin Considering Demanding Israel Give Back Key U.S. Military Aid
The Trump administration is considering forcing Israel to hand back some $75 million in U.S. aid dollars that were awarded by Congress following a hotly contested effort by the Obama administration to financially limit the U.S.-Israel military alliance, according to senior Congressional sources and others familiar with the situation.The Center for Jewish History CEO and Jewish Voices for Peace
Congress allocated Israel an additional $75 million in U.S. aid last year, bringing the total package to around $38 billion, despite attempts by the Obama administration to restrict Israeli efforts to lobby Congress in favor of greater funding for several key military projects.
Lawmakers had objected to the Obama administration’s last minute Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Israel, which capped U.S. aid dollars to the Jewish state and included a provision barring Israel from requesting greater financial assistance from the U.S. Congress.
Now, the Trump administration is considering forcing Israel to hand back the extra $75 million in order to stay in line with the Obama administration’s original MOU, according to multiple sources, who told the Free Beacon that Congress is preparing for a fight with the current administration if it chooses to move forward with the plan.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is said to be spearheading the effort to request Israel give back the additional funding, arguing that Israel must stick to the letter of the former Obama administration’s MOU, despite objections by Congress, sources told the Free Beacon.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) is said to have "strongly warned the State Department" earlier this week "that such action would be unwise and invite unwanted conflict with Israel," according to one senior Congressional aide familiar with the situation.
Since revealing on these pages the viewpoints of David N. Myers, the new CEO of The Center for Jewish History, based in New York, we have been inundated with information.Unifor adopts anti-Israel BDS policy. Will Notley call them “racists”?
Not only is Mr. Myers a leader of If Not Now When, J Street & New Israel Fund, Myers is also an Academic Advisory Board Member for Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) which the Anti-Defamation League has named one of the ten most influential and active Anti-Israel organizations. Myers condemned a report issued by UC Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion about Jewish students coming under siege on campus by Anti-Israel forces, claiming rather in an open letter that the ADL was a “well-known rightwing group”, which “..has become known for accusing critics of Israel of being anti-Semitic and denouncing Palestinian rights supporters, including Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.”
The incoming head of “…the biggest repository of Jewish history in the United States is part of an organization that opposed efforts to adopt the State Department definition of anti-Semitism. Jewish Voices for Peace today feature in the media urging “young Jews not to take part in Birthright Israel trips.” He may be a great historian, but the fact that David Myers is actively involved in leadership positions with these organizations should preclude him from holding any communal Jewish leadership position.
It goes on - Myers made a December 2016 fundraising appeal for If Not Now When – a radical activist organization which according to Haaretz holds “…sit-ins in the lobbies of buildings housing Jewish groups” to protest their not loud enough condemnation of Israel’s West Bank “occupation.” Their members have been arrested while holding sit-ins at the Hillel International, AIPAC, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Federation, and they refuse to meet with those Jewish leaders as they claim there’s nothing to dialogue about.
Canada's largest private-sector union, Unifor, has adopted a boycott divestment and sanctions or BDS policy against Israel.Unifor adopts anti-Israel BDS policy. Will Notley call them “racists”?
The resolution was submitted by a union local representing Oshawa GM workers. It called on Unifor to support the BDS movement against the Jewish state until such a time when Israel implements a permanent ban on further settlement construction in the occupied territories and establishes a viable Palestinian state.
Basically the BDS movement is “a boycott Jews” movement, old fashioned anti-Semitism by a catchy new Orwellian name.
And that's why I think it's so appalling that someone like Premier Rachel Notley would freely speak at a Unifor conference last year.
Unifor’s official BDS policy wasn't adopted until just this past August but in 2015, several unions including Unifor, as part of the Canadian Labour Council, endorsed a letter criticizing Stephen Harper's federal government for standing against BDS.
The NDP are so quick to call anyone on the right a racist, especially us at the Rebel.
But I'm not supporting or a member of any organizations that boycott Jewish companies.
Can the NDP say the same?
Danish anti-Israel moralizers in huge corruption scandal
Sometimes important news items which seemingly have no relevance for Israel reveal significant Israel-related insights upon closer investigation. Danske Bank, the largest bank in Denmark, has recently admitted to having been a conduit for a giant corruption scheme by the leadership of Azerbaijan. Some of the documents covering this scandal became available to the Danish daily, Berlingske Tidende.'Physicians for Human Rights supports BDS'
According to the British Guardian, based on leaked data, Azerbaijan’s leadership used the bank to fund a secret $2.9 billion scheme to pay prominent Europeans through a network of British companies. The Guardian claims that between 2012 and 2014 more than 16,000 covert payments were transacted through the Danske Bank’s branch in Estonia. Part of this money appears to have been passed on to politicians and journalists in the framework of lobbying operations.
At that time, Azerbaijan was under attack for arresting human rights activists, journalists and conducting rigged elections. The leaders of this oil-rich country wanted to promote a positive image.
The scheme is nicknamed ‘the Azerbaijan Laundromat.’ Among those receiving payments were former members of the human rights body, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, as well as a Board Member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). It has not been proven that all recipients knew the source of the money as it was disguised via intermediaries.
Danske Bank admits that via its Estonian branch office “money laundering and other illegal practices took place.” The bank claims that it first noticed the irregular payments in 2014. The Estonian financial regulator was quoted as saying that "the systems to stop money laundering at the Danske bank branch had failed."
The "Bzalmo" organization demanded Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) fight "Physicians for Human Rights" (PHR) and remove the authorization that allows them to give donors a tax deduction under Section 46 of the Income Tax Law.IsraellyCool: Roger Waters Whines in New York Times: More Outrageous Lies
Bzalmo's mission is to end discrimination between patients and ensure freedom of information.
In a letter to Kahlon, Bzalmo CEO Shai Glick wrote, "Unfortunately, this organization [Physicians for Human Rights] aims to undermine Israel's right to exist. It is an extremist political organization which fights IDF soldiers, participated in the Goldstone Report, gave the names of army doctors to international organizations, and more. The Israel Medical Association has spoken out against this organization, and cut all contact with them."
The Goldstone Report is the name given to the 2009 UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. It accused Israel of war crimes against the residents of Gaza, and contained many other factual inaccuracies and inconsistencies. The report was retracted by author Richard Goldstone in 2011.
In his letter, Glick brought a quote from an interview with PHR founder Dr. Ruchama Marton.
"You're right," Marton told an interviewer from Siha Mekomit. "I'm speaking from a place of 30 or maybe even 50 years of fighting against the occupation. We need external aid. And that means we need BDS."
Rock’n’roll BDS-hole Roger Waters has an op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times. And as you’d expect, it is full of lies and disingenuousness.U of Wisconsin student leader apologizes for vote on anti-Israel resolution
For example, he writes
Members of Congress are currently considering a bill that threatens to silence the growing support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian freedom and human rights, known as B.D.S. This draconian bill, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, threatens individuals and businesses who actively participate in boycott campaigns in support of Palestinian rights conducted by international governmental organizations with up to 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.
By endorsing this McCarthyite bill, senators would take away Americans’ First Amendment rights in order to protect Israel from nonviolent pressure to end its 50-year-old occupation of Palestinian territory and other abuses of Palestinian rights.
This is a mischaracterization of the bill, which is an update the 1979 Export Administration Act prohibiting American corporations from cooperating with boycotts against Israel (a response to the Arab oil embargo and economic blackmailing of companies doing business with Israel). It specifically targets commercial activity and is based on current law that has been constitutionally upheld.
The head of the student government at the University of Wisconsin-Madison apologized for holding a meeting on Passover that featured a vote on an anti-Israel resolution.Antifa flyer at Berkeley calls Ben Shapiro a 'fascist' thug
In April, the Associated Students of Madison passed the resolution calling for divestment from companies operating in many countries that included an amendment specifically targeting Israel. Several Jewish student government representatives were absent from the meeting.
The student summary judgment committee had ordered the association’s chair, Katrina Morrison, to apologize at the first student government meeting after a former student government representative, Ariela Rivlin, filed a complaint over the Passover vote.
On Tuesday, Morrison said the student government should operate in an atmosphere of respect for all opinions and acknowledged Passover’s importance.
“Along with all other religious holidays, student council should always make concerted efforts to accommodate students who may want to participate in the meeting, but are unable to do so due to holiday observances,” Morrison said, according to the student newspaper, The Badger Herald.
“I’m sincerely sorry for the hurt I’ve caused to the Jewish community,” she said. “Until the end of my term, I will work every day to regain the trust of Jewish students of this university.”
In anticipation of Ben Shapiro’s impending visit, an “anti-fascist” group has papered the University of California, Berkeley’s campus in flyers accusing him of “intellectual thuggery.”WAR: Antifa-Associated 'Refuse Fascism' Announces Mass Protest Against Shapiro Event
Shapiro is scheduled to give a speech titled “Campus Thuggery” next Thursday, prompting the “Refuse Fascism” organization to respond with flyers countering that the real problem is not violence by intolerant leftists, but the existence of conservative viewpoints.
"It's always fascinating to be called a fascist by actual fascists who think speech is violence."
“No Ben Shapiro: The Problem is NOT ‘Campus Thuggery’ The Problem is Fascist Intellectual Thuggery in the service of the Trump/Pence Fascist Regime,” the flyer states, inviting readers to “a people’s speak out against white supremacy, misogyny, xenophobia, and fascism” scheduled to coincide with Shapiro’s speech.
“Shapiro is coming to campus to spread ugly fascist views dressed up in slick-talking ‘intellectual’ garb,” the flyer claims, criticizing Shapiro’s views on topics such as transgenderism, abortion, and Trayvon Martin.
“Beneath his ‘reasonable’ tone lies Shapiro’s real thuggery,” the leaflet asserts, contending that Shapiro, “along with fascists of many stripes, have targeted Berkeley because reversing Berkeley's radical history would be a major advance for the consolidation of fascism on campuses everywhere and throughout society.”
The organization argues that Shapiro does not deserve a platform on UC-Berkeley’s campus because “speech by fascists and those who intellectual defend them is not what humanity needs and will not contribute to campuses acting as centers of critical thought and debate,” adding that “fascism already has a platform—the biggest and most powerful platform in the world: the White House!”
Refuse Fascism, an organization which appears regularly with Antifa at protests, has announced they will hold a mass protest against Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro when he speaks September 14 at the University of California, Berkeley. They are circulating a flyer accusing Shapiro of being a white supremacist, a misogynist, xenophobic, and intellectually fascist.In Hani Almadhoun's Gaza Piece, Huffington Post Suspends Fact-Checking
The accusations are hilariously out of touch with reality; Shapiro was the number one target of anti-Semitism on Twitter in 2016, mostly from white supremacists; he has vehemently denounced the KKK and white supremacists time after time; he is accused of being a misogynist because he is staunchly pro-life, and thus is protecting all those little female babies the feminist-obsessed Left ignores as they champion abortion; xenophobic is ridiculous considering he has said repeatedly that he would be happy to trade ten million immigrants who would come to America and work hard to achieve the American Dream over ten million people who simply want a hand-out from the government; and intellectually fascist is ludicrous as he always says before any Q&A that he wants leftists to go to the head of the line so they can discuss their differences.
Writing in the Huffington Post, Hami Almadhoun, director of donor development for American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), bandies about demonstrably falsely statistics about the Gaza Strip. In his article yesterday ("Scenes From the Tragic and Painful Fall of Gaza"), he is off by a factor of 35 when he states:New York Times Likens Israel to North Korea
According to one report, there are 75 percent fewer trucks bringing food and other supplies into Gaza. That's 2,000 truckloads this year versus 8,000 in the same period of the previous year.
In fact, as demonstrated by the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the first six months of this year, 69,286 trucks crossed into Gaza, not including those trucks carrying fuel. June saw the fewest number of trucks crossing the first half of this year – and there were 7,226 trucks that month, or nearly four times the amount that Almadhoun claimed crossed for all of 2017.
Almadoun, a repeat contributor to the Huffington Post, is even more off target regarding the supposed decrease in the number of truck crossings this year compared to last. In the first half of 2016, 69,704 trucks crossed into Gaza. With just 418 fewer trucks this year, the decrease is 0.6 percent — not 75 percent.
Almadoun's source for his wildly inaccurate figures about the number of trucks is an interview in Al Watan, an independent media outlet in Gaza, with Maher Al-Tabaa, who Almadoun identifies as an economic source.
This is so off-base in so many ways that it’s hard to know where to start.More mainstreaming of BDS on BBC Radio 5 live
To begin with, it’s false that Israeli leaders “ignored American demands.” The Israelis have turned over much of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip to Palestinian Arab control, released Palestinian Arab prisoners and intermittently frozen or slowed new settlement construction. (They’ve also withdrawn from southern Lebanon and the Sinai Peninsula.)
It’s also not true that settlement announcements on the eve of American visits were “shows of calibrated defiance.” On the contrary, Americans visit Israel so often, and proposed settlement construction must go through so many incremental approvals, that it’s pretty much impossible to find a moment when no one is visiting. Reporting on such announcements has indicated that, far from “shows of calibrated defiance,” such announcements are essentially accidental.
Radiohead has of course played in Israel on several prior occasions and Selway pointed out that the band members did not view their decision to appear in Tel Aviv in July as “a surprising position”.PreOccupiedTerritory: Report: That’s What They WANT You To Think (satire)
In the next question Paterson asked “how weird did it feel to have Roger Waters from Pink Floyd writing editorials in Rolling Stone against Radiohead?”. In his reply to that question, Selway once again pointed out that the band does not agree with the “issue of a cultural boycott”.
Brett then closed that part of the interview, seemingly claiming that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the most contentious issue on the planet.
Brett: “And if there’s anything – you know, as history has taught us – that divides people it is that particular question. Anything on that particular subject is incredibly emotive and divisive for people.”
For years now the BBC has been mainstreaming and amplifying the BDS campaign (in this example with a bit of added ‘celebrity’ name dropping) without clarifying to audiences what that campaign aims to achieve. Two years ago the corporation even stated that it is not its job to provide such information. Clearly though, BBC audiences cannot reach informed opinions about Radiohead’s response to pressure to boycott Israel if they are not given the full information concerning that boycott campaign’s ultimate aim.
Government documents obtained by journalists today reveal that what you have concluded from the information provided to you on earlier occasions matches with what unspecified forces in government, media, and business want you to believe.A Better Place?
In what many experts are calling a challenge to established modes of thinking, a new release of records and reports by government agencies appears to cast doubt on your ability to apply a critical eye to information, in that what you tend to think about things dovetails in eerie fashion with what they want you to think. Other experts, however, warn that accepting the notion of the powers-that-be engineering your conclusions through carefully selected pieces of evidence is exactly what the powers that be want you to think is happening.
“It’s important to consider what other information might be withheld when some data are provided or cited,” cautioned commentator Gray Nofsalt. “Tendentious reporting is not the exclusive province of the ‘fake news’ purveyors; even supposedly serious, scientific bodies are susceptible to the bias that leads to selective, and therefore deceptive, documentation of information. You have to look at more than one source of information before you draw conclusions about the veracity or accuracy of that information.”
“But that’s exactly what they WANT you to think,” retorted his colleague Anna Liszt. “Whatever it is you’ve determined to be the case, you have to question whether that is, in fact the case, or whether you have been manipulated to that determination. Be vigilant.”
In 2007, long before Tesla and Elon Musk became household names, a 39-year-old Israeli tech entrepreneur by the name of Shai Agassi came out with an announcement that rattled the world: He was going to revolutionize transportation, make countries oil-free by 2020, and curb the effects of climate change. Agassi hoped to put millions and millions of drivers, all around the globe, behind the wheel of an inexpensive electric car, with virtually unlimited range. And that, he told anyone who would listen, was going to make the world a “Better Place.”New Data: Foreign Investment in Israel Rose 7 Percent in 2016
On a hot day of early summer, host Mishy Harman got into Brian and Jody Blum’s electric car and together they drove to the local Renault dealership. This seemingly uneventful errand was, in reality, deeply symbolic. It represented the end of a dream—a dream that people like Bill Clinton and Shimon Peres believed was going to usher in a new global era.
Brian Blum is a Jerusalem-based journalist whose new book Totaled: The Billion Dollar Crash of the Startup that Took on Big Auto, Big Oil and the World chronicles the demise of that dream. In this unusual Israel Story episode, he follows the promise, fall, and survival of Israel’s electric future.
Foreign investment in Israel amounted to $12.6 billion in 2016, a 7-percent increase from the previous year, according to the Foreign Investments Authority at the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry.Thousands From Around the World Attend Israel’s Biggest Tech Conference
Some 320 international companies have operations in the Jewish state, and the rate at which multinational companies are doing business in Israel has tripled during the last decade. Overseas companies account for 50 percent of research and development spending within Israel and have approximately 50,000 Israeli employees, the Foreign Investments Authority said.
The figures were unveiled at the Foreign Investment Authority’s first-ever conference for international companies this week.
In 2016, Israel’s central bank noted in its annual report that the country’s gross domestic product hit a record 1.22 trillion shekels ($337 billion). Additionally, the Israeli unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent last year.
Thousands of high-tech professionals from just-getting-started entrepreneurs to seasoned investors have descended upon Tel Aviv for the city’s annual DLD (Digital Life Design) Conference.IsraellyCool: First Place Again! Israel Recipient of Most ERC Starting Grants Per Capita
Now in its fifth year, DLD expects some 10,000 guests from around the world and has 100 events planned, from talks on the main stage (at Tel Aviv’s historic old train station) to an urban street happening with interactive exhibits lining Rothschild Boulevard.
Delegations from Google, Samsung, Amazon, and Facebook are all visiting Tel Aviv. The event will end with a closing party on the beach. Tech luminary and investor Yossi Vardi co-chairs the conference with Hubert Burda, chairman of Hubert Burda Media Holding in Germany.
This year, DLD organizers have added a new focus on food-tech and agtech(agriculture technology). Israel has more than 500 locally founded startups in food-tech alone, according to a DLD news release.
A panel discussion on these sectors scheduled for Thursday will discuss the role health and wellness plays in the food and snacks category, and the impact technology can have in supporting people to make healthier choices.
A few days ago, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the awarding of its Starting Grants to 406 early-career researchers throughout Europe.Urban Outfitters signs deal to enter Israeli market early next year
The ERC also provided statistics for these grants, including grantees by country of host institution and domain. This includes Israel, which has 28 grantees, the fifth highest number out of the 23 countries represented.
But when you crunch the per capita numbers, Israel is in first place.
This is hardly surprising, but it never hurts to remind everyone how Israel continues to thrive and contribute, despite having to spend so much money, time and effort defending our country against those trying to destroy us.
American fashion chain Urban Outfitters is set to open its first store in Israel in the spring of 2018. Israel's retail giant Fox announced Thursday that it signed a 10-year franchise deal with Urban Outfitters Inc.Anne Frank’s diary is now a comic book; animated film will follow
Fox will also sell other Urban Outfitters brands, such as Anthropologie and Free People, both in its stores and online.
Urban Outfitters is based in Philadelphia and has hundreds of stores primarily in North America and Europe, selling fashion apparel for men and women, as well as housewares and various accessories.
It also sells to other specialized retailers, resulting in its products being sold in more than 1,400 locations worldwide. The chain has become increasingly popular with Israelis who travel abroad despite its relatively high price points.
Urban Outfitters' revenue for 2016 totaled some $3.5 billion.
In a bid to preserve interest in the Holocaust by future generations, the Basel-based Anne Frank Foundation unveiled the first authorized comic book based on the teenager’s famous diary written in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam.Lithuanian FM: ‘Holocaust memory is important, but ties with Israel are the future’
The 148-page adaptation, which is to be published September 18 in France and in some 40 languages worldwide, was presented to journalists in the French capital Thursday by the graphic diary’s illustrator, David Polonsky from Israel, and its writer, the Israeli film director Ari Folman, who is working on the first full-length authorized animation film based on the comic book.
The comic book, referred to as a graphic diary by its developers, was produced in cooperation with the Anne Frank Foundation, or fonds — the organization that Anne’s father, Otto, entrusted with preserving her memory — contains colorful illustrations both of realities described in the book, including the teen’s difficult relationship with her mother and sister, and her dreams and fantasies.
One full-page drawing, based on Anne’s writing about wanting to become a journalist, shows an older Anne sitting at her desk with framed newspapers in the background, including a Life magazine cover featuring a picture of her.
Close Israeli-Lithuanian ties should not be held hostage to the dark days of the Holocaust, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told The Jerusalem Post during his two-day visit to the country this week.The Israeli Air Force tech being used to train footballers
“It is important to remember the past and to know what happened, but it is not less important to focus on the future,” he said during a conversation at the capital’s King David Hotel.
Lithuania has been a staunch diplomatic ally for Israel, particularly at the UN and the within the EU.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Linkevicius at the start of their meeting in Jerusalem on Monday, “You are a friend. Israel has had a long-standing connection with Lithuania – personal and national.”
Lithuania was one of six European Union countries that voted against UNESCO’s resolution disavowing Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem resolution.
The former Soviet bloc country has been generally opposed to Palestinian unilateral moves in the international arena. It was one of 14 countries that were against UNESCO’s 2011 decision to recognize “Palestine” as a member state of its organization. In 2012 it abstained from the UN General Assembly’s vote to upgrade the Palestinians’ status at the UN to one of a nonmember state.
Technology which originated in the Israeli Air Force could soon be coming to a Premier League training ground near you.Israel prepares to send aid to earthquake-struck Mexico
Playsight is based in the Israeli capital Tel Aviv. Its ‘SmartPitch’ records the action and uploads it immediately to the cloud, allowing coaches to show players instant replays of their contribution.
CEO and co-founder Chen Shachar unveiled football's version of the tech at the Soccerex convention in Manchester this week and explained to BusinessCloud the advantages it has for clubs.
“A lot of research has found that the sooner you show a player on video what happened, the faster and better progress they make,” he said.
“The technology was used to train Israeli fighter pilots. One of the things we brought from the Air Force was the need to provide an objective system to show what happened during practice or a game. When there is no more argument about the facts, the learning process can begin.
“While the players are drinking water and having a break, the coach can show them what happened on the pitch using a smartphone or tablet.”
A nongovernmental Israeli aid agency prepared on Friday to fly to Mexico with high-tech gear for searching for people trapped under rubble following the massive earthquake that struck the region.Israel’s Defense Ministry Unveils the Future Weapons of the IDF
Shachar Zahavi, head of iAID, the umbrella body of Israeli aid groups that is organizing the delegation, said that a 12-member team has been preparing its gear and are ready fly out to the affected area in southern Mexico.
The quake hit offshore in the Pacific about 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of the town of Tres Picos in far southern Chiapas state, the USGS said. It sparked a tsunami warning along the coast of Central America.
At least three people were killed in the southern state of Chiapas in the powerful earthquake that rocked southern Mexico overnight Thursday, Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said. There were reports of widespread damage and destruction.
The interior ministry said the quake had a magnitude of 8.4, while the US Geological Survey put it at a revised 8.1, up from 8.0 initially.
The Israeli Defense Ministry’s Administration for the Development of Weapons (ADW) unveiled on Tuesday nine new cutting-edge pieces of military technology that will be added to the IDF’s arsenal in the coming years.
The revolutionary defense technologies were co-developed with local and international defense contractors, and are expected to be game-changers in future wars with Hamas and Hezbollah.
One of the most significant pieces revealed on Tuesday was the lightweight and cost-effective Carmel armored vehicle, slated to replace Israel’s current Merkava tank. The Merkava has been in service for more than four decades.
The Carmel requires two crew members as opposed to four in the Merkava, and utilizes a battery-powered hybrid gas-electric engine.
Other notable technologies unveiled by ADW include three new unmanned aerial vehicles — one equipped with a “smart rifle” — and two unmanned undersea vehicles. The unmanned submarines will be available in large and small models, with the smaller version developed with assistance from Bar-Ilan University.
The ministry also debuted its SMASH electro-optical aiming system, which enables soldiers to lock on to targets with their firearms, avoiding unnecessary civilian casualties.
