Melanie Phillips: To put Israel's points, first learn about the Brits
Is the Israeli government reverting to its bad old ways by selecting the Likud politician Tzipi Hotovely as its ambassador to the United Kingdom?April 27, 2020: One to listen out for on BBC World Service radio
On a number of occasions, Israel has seemed to treat the UK with contempt by appointing as its ambassador someone with poor English and even less diplomatic prowess.
In recent years, it seemed to have got the message with the appointments of the British-born, former foreign ministry lawyer Daniel Taub and the Australian-born diplomat Mark Regev. The British Jewish community sighed in relief at their diplomatic skills and perfect English.
The ambassador who preceded Taub, Ron Prosor, was in turn a diplomatic heavyweight who had previously run Israel’s foreign ministry and afterwards became its ambassador to the UN.
In addition to the acumen and polish of these three, the crucial point was that they effaced their own political opinions. The only viewpoint with which they were associated was that of the Israeli government.
Despite her intelligence and fluent English, Hotovely — who has yet to accept this post —would be laden with divisive political baggage.
A former deputy foreign minister, she was recently appointed settlements minister and will serve as such unless she goes to London.
A religious Zionist who opposes marriage between Jews and Arabs, she rejects the idea of a Palestinian state and dismisses criticism of the Israeli “settlements”, saying: “This land is ours. All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologise for that”.
Already, she has attracted criticism on account of her “ultra right-wing” views. Whether one agrees or disagrees with those views, however, is beside the point.
Ambassadors should be viewed in person as politically neutral. They are appointed to deliver their country’s story. They should not become the story themselves.
This isn’t the only reason to be concerned about Hotovely’s appointment. Her previous attempt to put Israel’s case to a hostile British public was a train-wreck.
BBC World Service radio is currently promoting what it describes as “an epic podcast drama about the momentous events leading up to the creation of Israel – seen through the eyes of two people, one a Jew, the other an Arab”.Podcast: BBC World Service - Miriam and Youssef
The ten-part series – written by British playwright Steve Waters and titled ‘Miriam and Youssef’ – will be aired weekly commencing on April 29th, Israel’s Independence Day. A promo was released on April 22nd.
A 10-part drama about the founding of Israel. Miriam is a Jewish immigrant to Palestine, and Youssef is an Arab inhabitant driven into exile. At the heart of it all is the city of Jerusalem. (h/t Yerushalimey)Health minister: Coronavirus spike 'alarming and dramatic'
The country will be doing more to enforce the Health Ministry’s primary coronavirus regulations as the number of people infected with COVID-19 surges throughout Israel.
At the urgent request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the National Security Council, Meir Ben-Shabbat, held a meeting to formulate immediate and practical steps for tightening enforcement against the spread of coronavirus. In attendance were top officials, including the health minister and chief of police, as well as the heads of local authorities.
A decision was made to activate the police, local authority inspectors and even population and immigration inspectors – each according to his strengths – to enforce regulations in four areas: wearing masks, congregating in groups that are too large or too close together, complying with the “Purple Ribbon” standard for businesses, and enforcing isolation of patients and people who have come in contact with them.
Local authorities are expected to complete a training program by Monday to prepare their inspectors for the task. The Justice Department is working on completing legislative procedures to empower the inspectors, and the Public Security Ministry has been tasked with taking responsibility for the project.
The meeting piggybacked on remarks made earlier in the day by Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, who said that the government did not yet have intention to “go backwards” and begin reinstating closures. Rather, he said, that strict enforcement of the regulations would be instated.
Edelstein compared violating regulations to breaking traffic laws.
“Anyone who walks around without a mask is like someone who drove at 160 kilometers per hour,” he said. “In 2019, 349 people were killed in traffic accidents.”
Israel slips to third place in ranking of safest countries for coronavirus
Israel slipped to third place in a ranking of the safest countries to be in for coronavirus, according to a risk assessment conducted by the Deep Knowledge Group. In a previous study by the Hong Kong-based group, Israel was in first place.Israeli missile maker claims AI tech can predict virus patients’ deterioration
The list assessed 200 countries and regions according to 130 parameters, taking in over 11,400 data points to come up with a score for each country. The analysis took in six broad categories: quarantine efficiency, government efficiency of risk management, monitoring and detection, healthcare readiness, regional resiliency, and emergency preparedness, delving most deeply into the countries further up the list.
The organization behind the study - the Deep Knowledge Group - made headlines in April after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited the study as proof of how Israel was succeeding in its fight against the spread of the virus. At the time, Netanyahu claimed that Forbes - the site where the group had posted its study - had ranked Israel. Later, Forbes released a statement saying that it was not responsible for the study but that it was posted on the blog section of its website.
Until the publication of its first study, the Deep Knowledge Group was not widely known. It is said to be a small venture capital firm based in Hong Kong. At the time of the that study, Itzik Ben-Israel, a retired IDF general and chairman of the Israel Space Agency, called it the "mother of fake news."
A team that keeps Israeli missiles on course has turned its attention to the coronavirus, and says it has built a high-accuracy artificial intelligence system that tells doctors when patients will deteriorate.51 immigrants arrive from the US in shadow of COVID-19 crisis
Israel Aerospace Industries’ new tool has the power to accurately predict, in four out of five cases, the progressive state of a COVID-19 patient before it changes, the state-owned company’s chief innovation officer Einat Klein told The Times of Israel.
“We are using all data on the patient up to today, and predicting his or her status for tomorrow,” Klein said. “Our model is inside a software system, and you input blood measurements, heart performance, and other factors, and it gives you probability of a patient improving, deteriorating, and staying the same.”
She said that the model predicts, with an 80 percent success rate, when a deterioration or improvement will happen in the next day. Overall, factoring in instances when a patient’s state stays the same, the accuracy level of the model is 90% to 92%, she added.
She said that IAI’s data scientists took the move from weaponry to healthcare in their stride.
“When we try to predict if a satellite is ‘healthy’ based on its stats, it’s kind of similar to predicting the health of a patient based on his medical or her measurements,” she said.
Despite a spike in COVID-19 cases and a two week quarantine period at the start of their Israel adventure, 51 intrepid new immigrants from the US arrived in Israel Tuesday morning on a Nefesh B’Nefesh sponsored flight.UAE's Etihad first logo-bearing flight to Israel carrying Palestinian aid
The group flight brought new immigrants from across the US, including from Oregon to South Carolina, and Wisconsin to Texas, and are expected to be followed by as many as 2,000 more during the summer’s “aliyah season.”
Tuesdays immigrants will spread out across the country, and will take up residence in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ra’anana, Bnei Brak, Karmiel, Katzrin, and Netivot, among other locations.
Minister of Aliyah and Integration, MK Pnina Tamano-Shata said that the ministry was expecting an increase in immigration in the coming years, according to recent estimates by the Jewish Agency that 50,000 immigrants may make aliyah in 2021.
“As such, we are preparing a comprehensive national program to encourage Aliyah and effectively integrate Olim as best as we can,” said Tamano-Shata.
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Nefesh B’Nefesh, noted that interest in aliyah in North America has increased significantly, which he attributed to the realization that it is possible to maintain close contact with family by digital means while being on a different continent, something that has come about due to the change in work habits caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways operated a rare, second flight to Israel – the first bearing the company’s logo – on Tuesday, carrying medical aidJeremy Corbyn, David Hearst & the Great Israel Conspiracy
to be delivered to the Palestinians, an airline spokeswoman said.
The state-owned carrier made the first known flight to Israel by a United Arab Emirates airline on May 19.
It transported supplies to help the Palestinians combat the new coronavirus after the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) coordinated a 16-ton shipment from the UAE.
However, the Palestinian Authority refused to receive that shipment because they said it had not been coordinated with them, and the PA had suspended cooperation with Israel.
The PA is not expected to agree to receive the new shipment, either.
It was not immediately clear what has since happened to the first shipment, with reports saying Israel coordinated for most of the aid to go to Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas. A Palestinian Authority spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.
Like the first flight, Tuesday’s flight from Abu Dhabi was a cargo-only with no passengers onboard, the Etihad spokeswoman told Reuters by email.
“Etihad Airways continues to operate humanitarian flights providing much needed aid to nations within its network and beyond,” she said.
Israel does not have diplomatic relations with UAE or any of the other five Gulf Arab countries, and there are no commercial flights between them.
However, shared concerns over Iran’s influence in the region have led to a discrete thaw in ties between Israel and the Arab Gulf in recent years.
You’re unlikely to see a more fawning interview than the editor of Middle East Eye David Hearst’s three way with Jeremy Corbyn and Peter Oborne.
He’s so proud of it he published the transcript and an op-ed with the strap line:
“The former Labour leader was the victim of a carefully planned and brutally executed political assassination.”
Hearst may well believe that Corbyn is a victim of a media conspiracy because in 2017 he told told a room full of people that Israel instigated a conspiracy to “safeguard” itself from its “two worst enemies” the BBC and the Guardian:
“And then I asked him [the Israeli ambassador], as he was talking to me, ‘who are Israel’s two worst enemies?’ And I was expecting him to say Hamas and Hizbollah, and with an absolutely straight face he said ‘the BBC and the Guardian’ [laughter]. And they have acted on it. They really have acted on it, I don’t want to say anything about the Guardian, but I know they have acted on it, they have put people in place in senior editorial positions to safeguard that in both institutions.”
Two words:
— SussexFriendsofIsrael (@SussexFriends) June 8, 2020
Luciana + Berger! https://t.co/l86yKzcJqk
Notorious Ex-UK Labour Activist Jackie Walker Claims People Only Care About Holocaust Because Victims Were White
A former UK Labour party member expelled for antisemitism retweeted a conspiracy theory article on Tuesday minimizing the significance of the Holocaust and claiming people cared about the genocide of the Jews only because the victims were “white.”
Jackie Walker — a staunch ally of ousted Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has long been accused of antisemitism — tweeted on Tuesday, “Why is the Nazi holocaust more important? We all know the answer!! Because it’s white lives that matter duh!”
Jackie Walker shares an article by Tony Greenstein, and says: "Why is the Nazi holocaust more important? We all know the answer!! Because it's white lives that matter duh!"
— Jack Mendel (@Mendelpol) June 9, 2020
Completely lost the plot. pic.twitter.com/vBAtgORQXJ
Her comment appeared in a retweet of an article by another Labour member expelled for antisemitism, Tony Greenstein, which claimed Western nations have concentrated on the Holocaust rather than the early 20th-century genocide in the Belgian Congo because it serves the interests of imperialism and capitalism.
“How is it that the Jewish Holocaust (because there are few books on the other victims — the Disabled, Gypsies, Russian POWs, Political Prisoners, Jehova Witnesses) has received such attention yet the genocide of Black Africans has not?” Greenstein asked.
“In these days of Black Lives Matter there is one, obvious, answer. White lives matter more,” he asserted.
Greenstein then minimized the suffering of Holocaust victims, writing, “Of course the industrial extermination of the Jews of Europe was, by any stretch of the imagination, horrific. But was death by gas or shooting worse than castration, chopping off of limbs, burning and skinning alive?”
“It took minutes to expire from bullets or cyanide gas,” he asserted, “whereas the tortures of the Belgian colonial sadists are unimaginable.”
CAA appalled at Yasmin Alibhai-Brown’s proposal that British Jews be asked to answer questions “about the Palestinians”
Columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has greeted the news that a Jewish charity is launching a review of racial inequality in the Jewish community in the UK by proposing that the person leading it ask British Jews “about the Palestinians”.Tories lift suspension of councillor who wrote that part of Holocaust had been 'fabricated'
Stephen Bush, a journalist with the New Statesman who has been asked to lead the review, revealed that he was “terrified and overcome” with the invitation, to which Ms Alibhai-Brown, a columnist at the online The Independent, tweeted in reply: “maybe ask them about the Palestinians.”
The Jewish charity’s review is clearly intended to examine attitudes toward Jews of colour in the Anglo-Jewish community and in its institutions. The review has nothing to do with Israel. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” and “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations” are examples of antisemitism.
The notion that British Jews cannot engage in positive communal activity in the UK or make any positive contribution to British life without being held to account for the policies of the Israeli Government is an antisemitic premise that has repeatedly been used to discount the views of or attack British Jews and institutions throughout the past several years, in particular from activists on the far-left of British politics.
It is particularly appalling that Ms Alibhai-Brown would shamefully greet introspection by a minority community with prejudice of her own. Prejudice cannot be beaten by prejudice.
The Conservatives have lifted the suspension of a councillor who once wrote that he found some aspects of the Holocaust "fabricated".Israeli Arab Singer Mira Awad Slams Rogers Waters for BDS Support
Ryan Houghton - a candidate in the last general election in the Aberdeen North constituency - apologised in November for any hurt caused but insisted the comments had been taken out of context.
The Scottish Conservatives had condemned his comments, made during an online discussion seven years ago, as "unacceptable".
But on Monday it was confirmed that the party’s disciplinary committee found in favour of lifting the suspension.
Scottish newspaper The National had listed a number of posts in an article last year including one in which Mr Houghton argued that while there was "no credible evidence to suggest the Holocaust did not happen" he went on to say: "I do find some of the events fabricated."
He was also quoted as having written on a martial arts forum in 2013 that he did not see how homosexuality was good for the human race.
In other alleged comments he said Islam's core teachings had the goal of "world domination" and that some Muslims had big families with the aim of creating "Eurabia".
He released a statement on his Twitter feed at the time, saying the comments were taken "out of context" and insisted he had never held antisemitic, racist or homophobic views.
Israeli Arab singer and actress Mira Awad recently criticized former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters for his support of the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.University of Jordan Faces Backlash for Inviting Israel-U.S. Academic to Online Workshop
During a podcast interview with the non-profit group Creative Community for Peace, Awad urged Waters — an avid BDS activist — to have the “courage” and “the balls” to visit Israel, perform in the country and share his thoughts while in Israel rather than oppose dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis.
“I would love to have a conversation with Roger Waters about what he’s done…if he would only speak to me. Roger Waters, call me!” Awad said, before passionately adding, “Don’t sit there in London or wherever it is. I love you Roger Waters. I admire your work. But don’t sit your ass there and tell me what to do with my Palestinianism and my Israeli-ism, OK? Don’t tell me how to act…in this complex situation. You do not teach me what to do and how to act. I am trying to build bridges in order to build a future and you just want to talk from there. Big talk. It doesn’t help me.”
Awad starred in the Israeli Opera production of “My Fair Lady” in 2002. She represented Israel at the Eurovision Contest in 2009 together with Israeli Jewish singer Noa, and that same year both musicians received the Haviva Reik Peace Award for their efforts to promote peace and Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. Awad also sits on the board of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, a major Arab-Jewish NGO in Israel promoting shared society and equality.
Awad further said about the BDS movement, “The boycott movement — you’re cutting the conversation. I’m trying to work a conversation and you’re cutting the conversation. You’re deciding for me that I shouldn’t have a conversation? That’s rude…Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I just don’t like when that opinion means that the other opinion cannot exist.”
The University of Jordan has been condemned by the Supreme Executive Committee for the Protection of the Homeland and Confronting Normalization for allowing an Israeli academic to participate in a workshop on 30-31 May to discuss "bio-mechanics and kinetic behavior."
The committee demanded an apology from the university and to take necessary measures against those responsible for the workshop.
The university responded that the lecturer, Gideon Ariel, is American and lives in California. It noted that he is an expert in kinetic analysis and did not even enter Jordan.
Louisiana-based car salesman Ali Aziz had some pretty violent dreams: “you're not arab if you never had some type of dream of killing all the yahood [Jews].”https://t.co/eHPhYXk3rx pic.twitter.com/f0wrXaF0tK
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) June 8, 2020
Vice Makes YouTube Video Referring to “Jaffa, Palestine” Unavailable
After CAMERA's Israel office yesterday contacted Vice News about a video with a blatant geographic error, in which the central Israeli city of Jaffa was said to be in "Palestine," editors have made the YouTube video unavailable. As first flagged by Israellycool blogger, the June 3 Vice News video, "The George Floyd Protests Are Now Global," had referred to a protest in Jaffa, stating: "And in Palestine a group gathered to protest the killed of Iyad Al-Hallaq, an autistic Palestinian man, as well as Floyd." A label over the footage misidentifies the scene as taking place in "Jaffa, Palestine."Revisiting BBC portrayal of the Khartoum Resolution
In fact, Jaffa, along the Mediterranean coast next to Tel Aviv, is located in the heart of central Israel, within Israel's 1948 boundaries. It is not in "Palestine," a term at times used to refer inaccurately to the West Bank or the Palestinian-controlled territories.
In addition to private communication with editors, CAMERA also tweeted Vice, including a United Nations map clearly showing Jaffa in Israel.
Hi, @VICE. Please see @UN map showing Jaffa in heart of central *Israel* (w/in 1948 lines), next to Tel Aviv -- not "Palestine," not West Bank. Pls correct video on global #Floyd demonstrations https://t.co/LNs8RNbEUu @learmonth @k8lo @NickMiriello @CAMERAorg h/t @Israellycool pic.twitter.com/CkvoEQ7WNN
— Tamar Sternthal (@TamarSternthal) June 8, 2020
CAMERA's Tweet stating the geographic obvious – that Jaffa is in Israel, not "Palestine" – was too much for anti-Israel masses on Twitter who refuse to recognize Israel in any borders, and who laughably pulled out a 1947 Partition Plan map of the British Palestine Mandate to somehow argue that Jaffa is in fact today in Palestine. Significantly, Arab leadership rejected the Partition Plan, which would have made Jaffa an Arab enclave belonging to the Arab state surrounded by the Jewish state, and opted instead to attack the nascent Jewish state. The Arab armies lost the war that they started, and as a result, Jaffa has been part of Israel since 1948.
The BBC did indeed cover that anniversary extensively in June 2017 and its centrepiece was a 6,181 word article by Jeremy Bowen which he closed with repetition of his proclamation from ten years earlier that “Ignoring the legacy of 1967 is not an option”.Jewish Cemetery in New Orleans Vandalized With Nazi Graffiti
Readers of that lengthy screed found one paragraph on the topic of the Arab states’ rejection of peace.
“At a summit in Khartoum at the end of August, Arab states were in no mood to go cap in the hand to the country that had humiliated them, again. Arab leaders said there would be no negotiations, no recognition and no peace with Israel.”
Another June 2017 article – written by Paul Adams – likewise included a cursory reference to the Khartoum Resolution, along with a similar portrayal of “humiliated” (rather than defeated) Arab leaders.
“The Israeli cabinet held long, anguished discussions after the war about what to do with the territories now under its control. No formal peace offer was ever made and, at a summit in Khartoum in September 1967, humiliated Arab leaders declared there would be “no peace, no recognition and no negotiation with Israel.””
Adams’ claim that “no formal peace offer was ever made” fails to inform readers that a proposal was drafted by the Israeli government – and communicated to the Americans – just over a week after the end of the war.
“At the end of the debate, a resolution was adopted unanimously, offering Egypt and Syria peace treaties based on the prewar international borders, with security assurances for Israel. This implied an Israeli willingness to withdraw from the Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula, occupied during the war, in exchange for peace. It was further resolved that Israel would maintain its presence in territories currently held until peace is achieved. Following the Arab League’s Three No’s Resolution, in which it categorically ruled out the possibility of negotiations or peace with Israel, the Government of Israel repealed the offer in October 1967.”
Three years on, those two short paragraphs from Bowen and Adams – totalling less than a hundred words – remain the sole references to the narrative conflicting chapter in Middle East history called the Khartoum Resolution that the BBC’s funding public can find online.
The New Orleans Police Department said on Tuesday that patrols would be boosted around synagogues and other Jewish institutions after a local cemetery was vandalized with swastikas and a crossed-out Star of David.New Evidence Links White Supremacist ‘Zoombomber’ to Man Wanted in Australia
The offending symbols were sprayed over Sewerage and Water Board markings at the city’s Gates of Prayer cemetery. A crew from the New Orleans Department of Public Works cleaned up the graffiti on Monday afternoon.
Rabbi David Gerber of the Gates of Prayer Synagogue told local media outlets that there was no indication of a wider threat to the community, despite the upset caused by the vandalism.
“The Nazi imagery is painful, it brings up memories, it brings a sense of fear among our people,” Gerber said in an interview with the WDSU news channel. “We don’t believe this was indicative of any sort of threat or movement.”
A white supremacist who disrupted a March 24 webinar for Jewish teens on the video-conferencing platform Zoom about antisemitism, featuring US Deputy Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism Ellie Cohanim, is apparently the same man wanted by Australia’s Human Rights Commission for violating the country’s Racial Discrimination Act since the website’s creation.‘Miss Hitler’ jailed for three years, with longer sentences for other National Action accomplices
Andrew Alan Escher Auernheimer, also known as “weev,” has a history of expressing antisemitic and other bigoted views. He appeared in the video conference, hosted by the Greater Boston chapter of NCSY, a Jewish youth group, and pulled down his shirt collar to show a swastika tattoo on his chest.
New evidence uncovered by the Canary Mission, an antisemitism watchdog site, has revealed that Auernhaimer has another pseudonym, “Joseph Evers,” who was listed as the owner and creator of a racist website and Wikipedia parody site called Encyclopedia Dramatica created in 2010. Since 2010, Evers has been wanted by Australia’s Human Rights Commission for violating the country’s Racial Discrimination Act in connection to his creation of the racist website.
The website is “on the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s list of websites to be banned under the government’s planned Internet filter,” reported Australia’s ABC News.
“Andrew Auernheimer [Andrew Alan Escher Auernheimer] has called to wipe out Jews and advocated the mass murder of non-whites. He has also promoted violence against minorities and women and praised terrorists as heroes,” the Canary Mission said on its site.
A woman who entered a “Miss Hitler” beauty pageant in order to attract new members to the neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action and was found guilty of membership in the proscribed organisation has now been sentenced to three years in prison.Evidence of ‘Second Japanese Schindler’ found in US
Alice Cutter, who is 23 years old, used the name “Buchenwald Princess” to enter the online ‘National Action Miss Hitler 2016’ contest in June 2016, weeks after her now ex-partner, Mark Jones, visited the execution room of the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Ms Cutter was described in the trial as a “central spoke” of the banned group, exchanging hundreds of messages, including racist and antisemitic material, attending meetings with group leaders despite the ban, posing for a Nazi salute outside Leeds Town Hall in 2016 and attending a demonstration in York in May 2016. She had also joked about gassing synagogues and using a Jew’s head as a football.
Mr Jones is reportedly a “leader and strategist” of the organisation, as well as a former member of the British National Party’s youth wing. The court heard that he held “feelings of admiration” for Adolf Hitler and had a special wedding edition of Mein Kampf. He also gave a Nazi salute on his visit to Buchenwald’s execution chamber.
Mr Jones was sentenced to five-and-a-half years, as the judge said he had played “a significant role in the continuation of the organisation” after its proscription by the British Government following pressure by Campaign Against Antisemitism.
New evidence has emerged of another high-ranking Japanese official to be involved in the rescue of Jews during World War II via issuing transit visas those escaping persecution from Nazi Germany to pass through Japan, according to a report from the English-language Japanese daily The Mainichi released in late May.3 R&D consortia seek to boost self-driving, quantum and advanced materials tech
Saburo Nei (1902-92), who was Japan's acting consul-general in Vladivostok, in the then-USSR, is believed to have granted visas during the war after Akira Kitade, 76, a freelance writer living in Tokyo who has written books on Jewish refugees, discovered that Polish Jew Simon Korentajer had been to Japan on travel documents issued by Nei while on a US trip for stories on Holocaust survivors.
After contacting Korentajer's grandchild Kim Hydorn, 53, a resident of the US, she sent him pictures of the visa. Following inspection, it was found that the visa was issued on Feb. 28, 1941, and permits travel to the United States via transfer through the ports of Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of Japan and Yokohama, along the Pacific coast. Nei's signature and the consulate in Vladivostok's official seal can also be seen on the document.
Kitade also recounted the story of Korentajer, who was born in Warsaw, and later fled to Lithuania with his family during Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939. By February 1941, the US Embassy in Moscow rejected Korentajer's application for visas to enter the country, where he later traveled via the Trans-Siberian Railway in the Soviet Union to reach Vladivostok in Russia's far east.
Despite Japan's then-policy of not grant transit visas to people without permission to reach their final destination, the report noted that Nei may have made the independent decision to issue visas. In March 1941, Korentajer and his family arrived in Japan, later travelling to Shanghai, China, and finally the US after the war, in August 1947.
Israel is seeking to jump-start innovation in autonomous vehicles, quantum technologies and advanced materials by getting scientists and industry experts to bring their best ideas out into the market.Israel-Based Otonomo Signs Data-Sharing Collaboration With Fiat Chrysler
To do this, the Israel Innovation Authority has approved the establishment of three research and development industry-academia consortia that will receive funding totaling NIS 150 million ($43 million) over three years.
The idea is to be prepared for a time when smart cars will start making their way to cities, manufacturing processes will increasingly use advanced materials, and information channels will become both more difficult and expensive to secure, said Aviv Zeevi, head of the technological infrastructure division at the authority, in a statement.
The initiative seeks to anticipate “the technology that will fuel Israel’s growth engines in 5-7 years’ time,” he said.
The Andromeda Consortium, made up of industry giants including Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit Systems as well as startups like Cognata, will work on developing ways to command and control autonomous vehicle fleets in urban and non-urban areas with computers, artificial intelligence technologies and human intervention, when necessary.
The Quantum communications consortium will aim to improve quantum encryption while cutting costs. The consortium will focus on research and development of quantum communication technologies across three categories: communication systems for server farms; transferring data from a single communication channel to a network; and developing a secure communication system for transmitting encryption keys.
Otonomo Technologies, an Israel-based startup that offers technology to monetize the data collected by cars, signed on Tuesday a commercial agreement with automotive giant Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to increase the use of vehicle data. The company did not divulge the agreement’s details but it is estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars.IAI wins $350M European special mission aircraft deal
“The contract with Fiat Chrysler joins eight other contracts Otonomo has with various car companies such as Daimler, BMW, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, and others. Otonomo has positioned itself as a global leader in vehicle information processing and sits at the strategic junction of data and mobility,” Otonomo’s CEO Ben Volkow told Calcalist in an interview. “We are seeing strong momentum even in these days of the global health crisis and the auto industry crisis. Automotive companies want to raise revenue and compensate for the decline in vehicle sales. Making use of data and adding digital services are business that can be done successfully even during the global crisis.”
Under the terms of the commercial agreement, Otonomo will receive de-identified, aggregated data from FCA connected vehicles in Europe to deliver new use cases such as advanced mapping, advanced traffic management and planning, and smart city applications to support the decrease of congestion and pollution in urban environments driven by Otonomo’s de-identified data. The collaboration has begun with data from selected models located across the European Union and is expected to expand as new makes and models embed connected technologies.
A key function performed by the Otonomo Platform is to offer to OEMs data de-identification and aggregation solutions with different levels of support. The Otonomo Blurring Engine employs a sophisticated combination of blurring techniques that may change depending on the intended use of car data. This increases the value of the data while protecting car owners’ privacy.
“Otonomo enables the construction of a complete system of external services around vehicle data that provides added value to drivers and extra revenue for automakers,” said Volkow. “Our agreement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles represents a big step forward and will create new value for all participants: service providers, individual drivers, municipalities, and society.”
Israel Aerospace Industries has received a $350 million contract from an unnamed European country for special mission aircraft, the defense contractor said on Monday.Ancient pottery reveals secrets of Roman rule over Jerusalem – new study
IAI, Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, delivered special mission aircraft to the military and numerous other countries and is one of only a few companies with these technology capabilities in-house.
Its technology enables high-performance business jets to be used as special mission aircraft. Previously, most of these aircraft, primarily used for collecting intelligence, were based on converted cargo or passenger planes.
IAI has four lines of special mission aircraft: airborne early warning and control aircraft, air to ground surveillance aircraft, maritime patrol aircraft and signal intelligence aircraft that monitor the electromagnetic spectrum.
Two thousand years ago, in a Jerusalem buzzing with life, Jewish potters worked around the clock producing pots, jars and stands, as the industry was fueled by a population whose adherence to religious purity laws created an increasing need for clay vessels. New research by Israeli archaeologists has shed light on this flourishing activity as well as on the dramatic changes brought by the destruction of the Temple and of the city, as the industry progressively passed into the hands of the Romans.
A team of experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority analyzed several pottery workshops uncovered in excavations conducted in the area of the modern Jerusalem International Convention Center and the Crowne Plaza Hotel, revealing how materials and techniques employed, products manufactured and even the identity of those ancient artisans were deeply affected by the historical events in the area. The findings were published in the May 2020 issue of the Bulletin of ASOR – The American Schools of Oriental Research.
“The site we considered is one of the largest pottery workshops in the eastern Mediterranean,” Dr. Anat Cohen-Weinberger, co-author of the paper with Danit Levi and Dr. Ron Be’eri, told The Jerusalem Post. “The workshops were active for about 300 years between the Hasmonean and the Middle Roman periods in the second century CE.”
Cohen-Weinberger heads the IAA Petrographic Laboratory, which has been operating for about 30 years. Petrography aims at studying and identifying rocks and minerals and allows to ascertain their geological source, which helps archaeologists to collect important insights on ancient pottery and its manufacturing.
“Our research has been based on the regular archaeological tools, such as studying architectural plans and the distribution of production facilities, as well as on the petrographic study of the ceramic vessels and building materials found in the site,” the scholar explained. “All of them revealed that a significant change occurred after 70 CE.”
Cohen-Weinberger pointed out that before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, the potters operating the workshops were Jewish and the organization of the workshops was compatible with industrial production of private manufacturers.
During that period the production boomed, an event that researchers generally associate with the fact that Jewish purity laws, which played an essential role in Jewish life at the time, increased the need for clay vessels, since clay vessels were extremely susceptible to ritual impurity and very hard to purify, likely creating the demand for new objects.
