What an Israeli Wishes Palestinians Could Understand
In Letters to a Palestinian Neighbor, Yossi Klein Halevi, an American-born Israeli who now spends much of his time fostering Jewish-Muslim dialogue, makes the case for Israel to the Palestinian people. He has even made an Arabic translation of his book available for free online. In an interview with Adam Rubenstein, he explains why peace has so far proved impossible:'BDS efforts harm the Palestinians'
The conflict [with Israel] is at the heart of Palestinian identity in a way that’s not true for [Israel’s] other neighbors. The Palestinian national movement, in all its factions, tends to see compromise [with the Jewish state] as a betrayal of justice. What we’ve just seen on the Gaza border in these last weeks is an expression of what’s wrong with Palestinian national identity. Why are Palestinians who live in Palestine demanding the “right of return” to a country that is no longer Palestine? Return to where from where? Leave Gaza—Palestine—and go to Israel? Why, for that matter, are there refugee camps in Gaza—in Palestine? Aren’t they already home? Or does the Palestinian right of return only play out literally, to the actual ancestral homes that were lost in war 70 years ago? Those homes are never going to be retrieved; in most cases they no longer even exist. No Israeli government will agree to national suicide by allowing the descendants of refugees to move to the Jewish state.
The Palestinian demand for right of return to the state of Israel is an expression of the rejection of Israel’s right to exist. . . . I believe that that rejection is the source of the conflict. If there was an indication that even part of the Palestinian people was publicly challenging the official narrative about Israel and the Jewish people—namely, that we are thieves and colonialists and liars who have invented our own history—if there was only some indication on the other side that this is now being debated in Palestinian society, that would be a moment when many of us in Israel would say, “well, maybe we really do have a partner.” In the absence of any debate within Palestinian society over Israel’s legitimacy, it’s hard to argue with the Israeli consensus that there is no partner for peace among the Palestinian leadership.
Like the authors of the study, Diker is all too familiar with the main obstacle to coexistence – violence. Dajani Daoudi's car was rigged with explosives in 2014 after he took his students to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp. Aloush refuses to have her photo featured here for fear of retaliation, and Basherat was questioned by Palestinian intelligence after participating in a conference promoting coexistence that was sponsored by the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.
The study, which has already been published in English, will soon be published in Hebrew, but releasing it in Arabic is a highly sensitive matter and Diker, as the editor, is careful when he addresses the issue. "The Arab world for 'normalization' can also be used to mean 'collaboration,' and that has a very negative connotation of helping Israel," he explained. "This is why we opted for 'shared perspectives on a new path to peace.'" Sensitivities aside, the paper will soon be issued in Arabic, as well.
JCPA President Dore Gold explained that the study is directed at the international community but also at the Arab and Jewish sectors. "We must bring about a change in awareness, not only among the Palestinian public but also in the international community, which must understand that any progress towards a solution between us and the Palestinians has to be based on cooperation and not on the approach promoted by the BDS movement.
"That's something that has to be said and it's one of the goals of our publications. Moreover, there are those in the Jewish community abroad who think that BDS is what we need now. We have to say – loud and clear – that this is the wrong approach and that the right path is cooperation. If we don't say that, we will lose the battle and that is why it is so important," he concluded.
Diplomat calls on Israelis to root for Aussies at World Cup for support at UN
A Foreign Ministry official on Friday called on Israelis to root for the Australian soccer team during this year’s World Cup, after Australia voted against a United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning Israel’s handling of violent protests on the Gaza border.After Israel wishes World Cup team luck, Saudi fans imagine playing Jewish state
Australia was one of eight countries to vote against Wednesday’s resolution, which condemned Israel for using “excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate” force during the Gaza border clashes and called for an “international protection mechanism” for Palestinian civilians.
“We have a lot of friends at the bilateral level, but when it comes to the UN arena they disappear. The Australians are not afraid to come and say Israel is right,” Gilad Cohen, Foreign Ministry deputy director general for Asia and the Pacific, told the Ynet news site.
“Once again we thank our friends in Australia that voted against another one-sided anti-Israel resolution at the General Assembly. The people of Israel deeply appreciate the true friendship between Israel and Australia,” he added.
Cohen said that while he usually roots for soccer power Brazil as his children were born there while he was stationed in the country, “this World Cup my support moved from the yellow of Brazil to the yellow of Australia.”
“I really think we need to cheer for them in the World Cup,” Cohen said.
With spirits high as their national team kicked off the World Cup in Russia Thursday, Saudi Arabian soccer fans said they would be open to the prospect of playing against Israel in the future, as Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman wished the gulf kingdom luck in the international soccer tournament.Food Poisoning, Kleptomania, and Dirty Politics: Israel’s Troubled History in the World Cup
Ahead of the first game in the three-week long competition, between hosts Russia and long shots Saudi Arabia, supporters who had traveled from the desert country to the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow said that politics should stay out of sports.
Speaking to an Israeli Hadashot TV news correspondent at the game, several fans said they would be happy to see their team play the Jewish state,
“Why not?” said one Saudi fan draped in his country’s green flag, when asked if he could ever imagine such a match taking place. “This is sport, there is no connection to politics.”
Another said that the Saudi people “wish for relations between the two countries to be good and that they could live in peace and security, and that we could be brothers. We are neighbors, after all.”
As they do every four years at the first whistle of a new World Cup, Israelis today are likely to turn to each other and, with a misty look in their eyes, ask each other the perennial question: Remember Mexico?Michael Chabon Fights Judaism, and Loses
They’re talking about the fateful games of 1970, the only time Israel ever made it into soccer’s most exalted tournament. Even those who, like me, were years away from being born still remember Mexico. I can tell you who was on the team and who scored. I remember snippets of play-by-play by heart. Many of us do, because the Mondial, as it’s known throughout much of the rest of the world, is, really, the only occasion in which the world, a notoriously abstract concept, suddenly becomes relevant and concrete. The resolutions of the United Nations Security Council have little concrete impact; the match this Saturday between Argentina and Iceland, on the other hand, does.
Unsurprisingly, Israel’s path to the tournament was dramatic and rife with political intrigues and biases galore. A decade and a half before securing its independence, in 1934, the Jewish community in Palestine already had its mind on the cup, and a team of local soccer stars was dispatched to play Egypt in the British army’s barracks in Cairo. The Jewish goalie was a Hungarian-born superstar named Willie Berger, whose brilliant career was interrupted only by his kleptomania, which led to repeated arrests and interfered with his training. The Egyptian striker was the fierce Mahmoud Mukhtar, star of the local Arsenal Cairo. For a while, the match seemed even, but then a quarrel broke out among the Jewish defenders and the game soon turned into a farce, with the Egyptians triumphing 7-1.
A few more memorable matches followed, culminating in a 1940 victory over Lebanon, leading the Lebanese manager to ask his Israeli counterpart to kindly refrain from needlessly humiliating his boys by scoring more goals once the score was already 5-1. But with the nation busy being born, soccer wasn’t much of a priority until 1948, when the newly minted independent state dispatched its national team to play its first-ever international game, against the United States. Israel lost, 3-1.
Invited to speak at Hebrew Union College’s commencement ceremony, the novelist Michael Chabon took the opportunity not only to attack Zionism—and especially the Jewish residents of Hebron—but also to advocate for intermarriage and to express his dissatisfaction with Judaism itself, which strikes him as a “giant interlocking system of distinctions and divisions.” Nothing, Chabon began and ended his speech by saying, is worse than distinctions and divisions, except perhaps “the erection of border walls and separation barriers.” In a thorough dissection of the oration, Elli Fischer writes:JFK and the US Defense of Israel
Chabon expresses discomfort with “monocultural places” with “one language, one religion,” but the application of these words to Judaism is simply astonishing. Virtually every Jewish community in history has developed its own dialect. There are five Judeo-Arabic dialects alone. There is a dizzying variety of Jewish culture and multiform expressions of Jewish religiosity. Chabon, however, has no access to this amazing, diversity because he speaks no Jewish language. . . .
Chabon writes “I ply my craft in English, that most magnificent of creoles,” as if speaking English, with all its layers and loan words, makes one multilingual all by itself. Perhaps sensing this, he adds: “my personal house of language is haunted by the dybbuk of Yiddish.” Alas, it is a small dybbuk . . . and not very frightening. . . . Consequently, even as Chabon celebrates even the most superficial cross-cultural fusion, the Judaism he describes is suburban, third-generation American Judaism, a monolingual, monocultural, monochromatic (but not necessarily monotheistic) sliver of the totality of Jewish experience.
The uproar over the US decision to move our embassy to Jerusalem was based in part on the outdated and specious Arabist argument that American support for Israel threatens our relations with the Arab world. As many of us expected, the embassy decision had no impact on our ties with the Arab states, just as the strengthening of our alliance with Israel over the last 70 years did not prevent US-Arab ties from improving. The Arabists have, however, had a deleterious impact on US-Israel relations. One example is President Kennedy’s rejection of Israel’s request for a formal alliance.Daphne Anson: A Dissenter in the Camel Corps in 1967
On May 12, 1963, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion wrote to the president asking for a mutual security agreement in which the United States would supply Israel with arms equivalent to those being acquired by Egypt and the Arab states. The context for the request was the danger at that time that King Hussein of Jordan would be deposed by Egypt, which had just signed a tripartite pact and was using Nazi German scientists to develop rockets for use against Israel.
Kennedy argued that the United States had to maintain the ability to talk to both Israel and the Arab leaders, and that a bilateral security relationship would have “a distinct contrary effect.” He was especially concerned — and this was a frequent argument made by Arabists during the Cold War — that the Arabs would respond to any US.-Israel agreement by seeking similar assurances from the Soviet Union. Kennedy was also resistant to providing Israel with additional arms for the same reason and concluded, “It is not so much Arab hostility as the hostility plus Soviet arms support which creates the threat to your security.”
Of course, several of the Arab states were already aligned with the Soviets, but Kennedy still hoped to lure Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser into the Western camp. He failed, as Eisenhower did before him.
Although Kennedy refused to sign a formal agreement to defend Israel, he gave his personal assurances that the United States was committed to “deter or halt swiftly any aggression against Israel or its neighbors.” He added, “There is no doubt in Arab minds as to how we would respond to unprovoked aggression by them.” He then repeated his contention that making “special security arrangements with Israel … would contribute little to deterrence, while in fact provoking a hostile Arab reaction which might have consequences adverse to Israel’s security.”
Not to be confused with Glasgow-born Sir John Rennie (1917-2002), Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees, 1971-77, London-born Sir John [Jack] Ogilvy Rennie (1914-81) was from 1968-71 Director of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and a Foreign Office diplomat before that.
Here, reproduced in a tweet by Dr James Vaughan, of the Department of International Relations at the University of Aberystwyth, is a rather interesting memo that Rennie addressed in 1967 to Sir Paul (later Baron) Gore-Booth (1909-84), permanent secretary at the Foreign Office from 1965-69.
It seems Dissenting Jack may have been promoted sideways after that!
In first, Spanish state adopts BDS as policy
For the first time in Spain, the parliament of one of the states that comprise the kingdom voted to endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.Brooklyn High School in Jewish community honors Hamas
The vote last month by the Parliament of the Chartered Community of Navarre in Spain’s north was passed thanks to the support of representatives of all the parties represented in parliament except the center-right Popular Party, the ACOM pro-Israel advocacy wrote in a statement Friday.
The motion passed on May 21 says the parliament of Navarre calls on the central government to “support any initiative promoted by the international BDS campaign.” It also calls on Spain to “suspend its ties with Israel “until that country ceases its policy of criminal repression of the Palestinian population.”
Navarre is one of 17 autonomous communities — states with their own parliaments, who together make up the quasi-federal Spanish state. Catalonia’s parliament last year declared independence from Spain, though Madrid declined to recognize the declaration. Navarre has a substantial Basque population and a strong separatist movement.
When I announced that anti-Semitism was alive and growing at an alarming rate in the New York Department of Education, people commented that I must have been mistaken. Boy, have recent events proven me right, unfortunately.IsraellyCool: Twisted BDS-Holes Shouting For Ringo Starr To Drop Out of Israel Tour
In an fast-growing, alarming trend in NYC public schools, students attending Brooklyn’s Midwood High School were recently subjected to lessons in which they were "used" as instruments to advocate terrorism when they were targeted for the distribution of Hamas propaganda claiming to pay tribute to the “Palestinian victims of violence in Gaza.”
According to an article from The Clarion Project, " it seems that a large numbers of Midwood students donned the Palestinian black and white chequered keffiyeh on their heads as well as scarves around their necks displaying the colors of the Palestinian flag which were boldly inscribed with the word “Palestine."
The enthusiasm for this event was so great that several teachers complained of students bursting into their classrooms disrupting lessons to obtain the scarves from others who were supplying them. This “tribute” was intended to show support for so-called “peaceful protests” occurring on the Gaza border with Israel which, according to Gaza’s Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, were actually organized as violent riots meant to infiltrate Israel and commit as many acts of murder and kidnapping as possible.
With Ringo Starr set to perform two shows here in Israel in a little over a week, the BDS-holes are (predictably) going after him in a big, bad way.
As I surmised in my last post about his tour, I doubt he is going to cave in. And there’s also this:
Ringo Starr tells @YediotAhronot that he hasn't heard anyone from BDS telling him to cancel his upcoming show in Israel. "Music isn't political - you guys just had a 70th birthday and this is a great opportunity for me, from this stage, to wish you a happy birthday." https://t.co/LtBCfMOatT
— Amy Spiro (@AmySpiro) 25 May 2018
Communist Indian Student Group Endorses BDS, Targets Hewlett Packard
The student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which claims four million members, has endorsed the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.Boycotting Israeli products not illegal, Norwegian ministry rules
In a meeting of its Central Committee on Saturday, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) voted to blacklist Hewlett-Packard “in solidarity with Palestine and to put pressure on Israel for the suffering human beings of Palestine.”
HP — which split in 2015 into the companies HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise — has been a frequent target of the BDS campaign for its work with the Israeli government and military. Most recently, the Dublin City Council agreed to support BDS and boycott the American firms in April, while a nearly identical motion was adopted by the Galway City Council on Monday.
Apoorva Gautam, the South Asia coordinator for the Palestinian BDS National Committee, said SFI’s decision could lead to revenue losses.
“Hewlett Packard companies now risk losing over 4 million potential clients in India because of their complicity in Israel’s gross violations of Palestinian human rights,” she warned.
“Given that the cheapest HP laptop in India costs about $300, this means that HP may be losing a potential student market of over $120 million,” Gautam continued. “This is enormously significant.”
Norway's Foreign Ministry this week gave the supporters of the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement an unexpected boon by declaring that boycotting Israeli goods produced in Judea and Samaria is not illegal. CAMERA Prompts Washington Post Correction on Canceled Jerusalem Soccer Match
The statement followed appeals by several municipalities and authorities in the country, including the Norwegian Agriculture and Food Ministry and the City of Trondheim, the country's third-largest metropolitan area.
Deputy Foreign Minister Audun Halvorsen said in early May that a boycott of "goods and services produced in [Israeli] settlements does not contradict Norway's international commitments."
He added that the Norwegian government does not recommend municipal boycotts because it is not "an appropriate means of resolving the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians."
Norway's right-wing government maintains close ties with Israel and Oslo's Foreign Ministry evaded the appeals for months, so as not to strain relations.
Increasing pressure, however, has forced the ministry to respond, and it recently sent a letter to the Trade and Industry Ministry saying that while boycotts of Israeli goods produced in Judea and Samaria should be avoided, they do not violate any law.
After contact from CAMERA, The Washington Post has changed inaccurate wording in a June 14, 2018 online report.Unbalanced promotion of UNRWA PR on BBC World Service radio
That article, by WorldViews columnist Ishaan Tharoor, initially claimed that the Argentina soccer team had canceled a game in Jerusalem due to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians:
“Argentina arrived in Russia on the back of a diplomatic firestorm after canceling a warmup match with Israel, apparently as an act of protest against the treatment of Palestinians [emphasis added].”
However, that was not Argentina’s reason for canceling the match, as CAMERA pointed out to Post editors and staff. And The Washington Post itself, as well as members of Argentina’s football association, have said as much.
A June 6 Post report, “Argentine soccer team cancels match in Israel amid death threats against Messi,” noted:
“Argentina’s national soccer team announced Wednesday it was canceling a friendly match against Israel’s national team amid political pressure and after facing death threats that the Argentine foreign minister said were ‘worse than ISIS.’”
That report added: “the official reason for the cancellation, given by Chichi Tapia, head of the Argentine Football Association, was that his players had faced serious threats, which forced them to cancel [emphasis added]. He said the team would try to play in Israel at another time.”
Both before and after the US administration announced on January 16th that it would be withholding part of its donation to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) the BBC produced numerous reports on that story (see some in ‘related articles’ below), many of which included promotion of the UN agency’s PR messaging.Renowned British writer, a virulent anti-Semite, being considered for sainthood
However, none of those reports provided the BBC’s funding public with background information concerning the multiple issues that have made UNRWA so controversial or any in-depth examination of the agency’s purpose, its agenda, its record or its efficiency.
On June 13th the BBC World Service radio programme ‘Newshour‘ returned to that topic with a report by BBC North America’s New York and UN reporter Nada Tawfik that made absolutely no effort to provide listeners with a balanced view of the story and was in fact little more than an exercise in free PR for UNRWA and its spin-off non-profit organisation.
Presenter James Menendez began (from 38:10 here) with context-free presentation of a biased UN GA resolution – proposed by Algeria and Turkey – that made no mention of Hamas terrorism. He continued with an equally partisan portrayal of the violent rioting and attacks on the Gaza border since March 30th, failing to inform listeners that over 80% of those killed have been linked to terror groups.
Menendez then promoted the inaccurate claim that Gaza’s chronic electricity problems are the result of “years of conflict” when in fact – as the BBC well knows – they are entirely rooted in inter-factional Palestinian rivalries.
A renowned British novelist with virulently anti-Semitic views may soon be on the path to sainthood.Alison Chabloz sentenced to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, 180 hours of unpaid community service and a social media ban
G.K. Chesterton, a journalist, author and dramatist whose works remain popular in the UK more than 80 years after his death, is the subject of an initial investigation by the Catholic church which will be published next month.
Commissioned in 2013 by the Bishop of Northampton, Peter Doyle, the report is the first step in the process of canonization.
The move is likely to prove highly controversial. Chesterton advocated Jews in public life being forced to wear distinctive clothes and littered his works with anti-Semitic tropes. He also continued to contest the innocence of Alfred Dreyfus, the French officer infamously at the center of an anti-Semitic miscarriage of justice in 1894.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the report is expected to suggest that infertile couples pray to Chesterton to ask for “miracle conceptions.” The Vatican demands evidence that those considered for sainthood must have been responsible for at least two miracles.
Chesterton, who wrote more than 80 books, several hundred poems, 200 short stories, and several plays, would become the first English saint since the 17th century. His novels include “The Napoleon of Notting Hill” and “The Man Who Was Thursday.”
He is best known for the fictional crime-solving priest, Father Brown, who features in 53 of his short stories. The BBC has recently screened the sixth season of a popular drama starring the cassock-wearing sleuth. It has become a global hit, sold by the UK’s public service broadcaster to the US, Scandinavia, Australia and Germany.
District Judge John Zani has sentenced Alison Chabloz to a 20-week prison sentence suspended for two years, 180 hours of unpaid community service, an indefinite restraining order against contacting two leaders of Campaign Against Antisemitism, as well as issuing an order banning her from social media for 12 months. She was also ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge, and costs of £600. District Judge Zani handed down the sentence this morning at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, after finding Ms Chabloz guilty on all counts of criminal offences under the Communications Act at a hearing last month.Berlin Police Investigating Verbal Assault on Man Wearing Kippah as Antisemitic Hate Crime
The case effectively delivers a landmark precedent verdict on incitement on social media and on whether the law considers Holocaust denial to be “grossly offensive” and therefore illegal when used as a means by which to hound Jews.
In sentencing her, District Judge John Zani said: “It appears to this court that no proper remorse is forthcoming from you…I don’t know whether you want to be a martyr to your cause. Only time will tell. This sentence will test your resolve. If you fail to abide by the terms of the suspended sentence you should expect to go to prison.”
Ms Chabloz, from Glossop in Derbyshire, had pleaded “not guilty” to charges relating to three self-penned songs in which she decries the supposed Jewish conspiracy to dominate the world and denies the Holocaust. However, in spite of her grossly antisemitic statements and social media posts, the court heard that Ms Chabloz had told probation officers that she had never intended to offend Jews.
The court was read an impact statement from Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, who concluded: “Today, British Jews feel more beleaguered and exposed to danger than at any time in the last seventy-plus years. Alison Chabloz has been at the forefront of those who are responsible for that state of affairs.”
Police in Berlin police are treating the latest verbal assault on a man wearing a kippah as an antisemitic hate crime, German media outlets reported on Friday.Miss Iraq Sarah Idan Cries During Visit to Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center
The 39-year-old man, who has not been named, was walking on Rudolstädter Street in the Wilmersdorf neighborhood of the German capital on Thursday afternoon. A car containing several Arab men pulled up alongside him, and one of the occupants then subjected the man to a tirade of antisemitic abuse through an open window. The car then drove off.
In March, a Berlin police report revealed that antisemitic crimes in the capital had doubled during the 2013-17 period. Police sources told the newspaper Tagesspiegel that the rise was “connected to the increased number of migrants from the Middle East living in the city.”
The following month, Germans expressed horror after a young Israeli wearing a kippah in Berlin was brutally assaulted in the Prenzlauer Berg district. The attack was captured by the victim on video that subsequently went viral online, inspiring several “kippah rallies” across Germany in solidarity with the Jewish community. The criminal trial of one of the assailants — a 19-year-old Syrian immigrant who whipped the Israeli with a belt — begins on Tuesday.
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Australian Jewish Group Slams ‘Foolish Students’ Who Dressed as Nazis, KKK Members
A leading civil rights group has denounced students of Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Australia who participated in a "politically incorrect"...
Meanwhile, police in France said on Friday that they were investigating whether a violent attack on a 15-year-old Jewish girl in Paris was motivated by antisemitism. The attack — in the Sarcelles district of Paris, where a Jewish community of 15,000 lives among one of the largest concentrations of Muslims in France — took place on June 5.
During her trip to Israel, the wonderful Sarah Idan, Miss Iraq 2017, visited the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center and met with Iraqi Jews. By all accounts (and as you will see from some of the below photos), she was very moved (to the point of crying) by the museum exhibitions, especially a seal on which was written the words “not allowed to return to Iraq” – to which she responded “I am ashamed.”US official eyes Israel's Egypt border for Mexico wall ideas
As part of the visit, Prof. Efraim Sadka spoke about how Muslim and Christian neighbors protected and saved the Jews in Baghdad during the “Farhud” – the Pogrom of 1941. Sarah was surprised to see the photo of Renee Dangoor – Baghdad Beauty Queen of 1947.
While Sarah’s visit has enraged many Iraqis, she has won a whole legion of new fans among Jews and Israelis. And I can be counted as one of them.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen inspected Israel's fenced-off border with Egypt on Tuesday for ideas for the U.S. border with Mexico, where President Donald Trump has pledged to build a wall, Israel Radio reported.Israeli Students Develop Drone App to Enhance Personal Security
Trump has said the United States needs a wall along its 3,100-kilometer (2,000-mile) southern border to prevent illegal immigrants entering from Mexico and that Mexico should pay for the project. Mexico has rejected that idea and the funding dispute has stirred U.S. domestic dissent.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angered Mexico last year by publicly backing Trump's call and pointing to the towering, sensor-rigged Egyptian border fence as a possible model. Trump, in turn, has admired Israel's barrier.
Nielsen confirmed her visit in remarks to an international homeland security conference in Jerusalem later in the day.
"Border security is national security. Our Israeli partners know that better than anyone and I was fortunate today to see the incredible work they’re doing to keep their territory and citizens safe,” she said.
A team of students from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev are developing a personal security app to enable local authorities to respond quicker to emergencies, the Hebrew news site Mako reported.Tel Aviv University to celebrate 70 years of Israeli innovation
According to Ben-Gurion University, the Air-Pal app will provide the infrastructure for operating a fleet of security drones. App users who feel threatened (walking down a dark street alone, for example) will be able to summon a drone that will transmit live video images to a person of their choosing or public safety entities.
Air-Pal was one of several projects featured in the “Students Innovating in the Public Sector 4.0” competition held at the Justice Ministry in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
The competition was organized by Ben-Gurion University and Google Israel, with the stated goal of improving online governmental services.
The 6th annual TAU Innovation Conference, sponsored by Tel Aviv University in conjunction with Israel Hayom, will take place July 16-18.Why a world premiere of precious biblical artifacts is in quiet Oklahoma
The conference, which is expected to draw some 6,000 visitors, will mark 70 years of Israeli entrepreneurship and innovation.
TAU Innovation will include several events, including "The Challenge," Israel's largest startup competition, and the Rothschild Tech Talk, which tabs pubs on Rothschild Boulevard to host discussions on several technology-related topics. The conference itself will consist of selected panels and lectures.
"Startups today have two main challenges in common: fundraising and attracting a talented workforce," said the manager of TAU Innovation, Ohad Golub.
He added: "Within the framework of the conference we will exhibit a variety of resources to help young entrepreneurs overcome the challenges they face and continue on the path of development.
A rare world premiere exhibit of ancient biblical-era artifacts was launched this week at the Armstrong Auditorium in Edmond, Oklahoma. Located in the middle of lush green fields, the massive, pillared auditorium — complete with a water sculpture at its entrance — is an unlikely forum for the first ever display of tangible proof of the biblical King Hezekiah and Prophet Isaiah.
For the first time in the world, seal impressions or bullae discovered in 2009-2010 in Jerusalem’s Old City at the Ophel excavations conducted under Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar are on show to the general public in the exhibit “Seals of Isaiah and King Hezekiah Discovered.” Other finds, such as a large cache of 2,000-year-old coins from the Jewish revolt discovered earlier this year in a cave near the Ophel, are also having their premiere.
Still more rare First Temple Period artifacts are also on display, largely taken from Tel Lachish and Tel Beersheva excavations. The weapons, ceramics and weigh stones are striking. But the explainer films, interactive programmed tablets, reproductions of key finds, including the British Museum’s Lachish relief, as well as a huge scale cross-section of Hezekiah’s tunnel in Jerusalem, all shore up the historicity of the biblical story and the 8th century BCE Assyrian siege. This narrative is clearly spelled out in the showcases throughout the attractive auditorium lobby.
The exhibit is the fruit of a 50-year partnership between a group of steadfast Christians and generations of the archaeological Mazar family. And it is impressive.
But who will see it?