Israel’s prestigious Unit 8200 signal intelligence corps is well-known not just for its military effectiveness, but also for the success of its alumni in the hi-tech sector. Now they have launched a hi-tech incubator to support emerging tech entrepreneurs.
Inbal Arieli, who heads the 8200 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Support Program (EISP), talked about the program with the Times of Israel.
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by Charles Jacobs and Ilya Feoktistov
Two weeks ago in Boston, Northeastern University suspended a student group — Students for Justice in Palestine (NU SJP) – for an assortment of infractions against Jewish students and those who support Israel. The stunts that got them suspended were consistent with the strategy of anti-Israel forces at universities around the country: Campus enemies of Israel directly target the free speech of pro-Israel student groups by having their speakers disinvited, their members intimidated, and their events shouted down. So it is with a fair amount of gall that SJP has now launched a shrill campaign, aided by Massachusetts media, claiming that free speech is a value they cherish and that theirs has been abrogated by the University.
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Yoram Ettinger, the former Israeli Ambassador for U.S. Congressional Affairs, on Thursday had harsh words for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who he said has ignored the lessons of history in favor of “wishful thinking.”
Hitting at the heart of Israel’s relationship with the U.S., and informed by his years as Israel’s Consul General in Houston, Texas, Ettinger told The Algemeiner in an interview that Kerry’s refusal to acknowledge the historical facts and realities of the Middle East left America’s top diplomat “smothered in a Middle East sandstorm.”
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Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative”
“Israel Hayom”, April 4, 2014, http://bit.ly/1ilhGNQ
According to Secretary John Kerry, “if we do not resolve the issues between Palestinians and Israelis; if we do not find a way to find peace; there will be an increasing isolation of Israel.”
However, a thorough examination of Israel’s international standing reveals an increasingly splendid global integration of the Jewish state – economically, technologically and scientifically – irrespective of the Palestinian issue.
Contrary to the Kerry school of thought – and based on a reality check – the Palestinian issue has never been a core cause shaping the Middle East, a crown-jewel of Arab policymakers or the crux of Israel’s relations with Arab countries and the international community. While diplomatic talk highlights the Palestinian issue, the diplomatic, commercial and industrial walk reveals that policy-makers and the international business community do not embrace Kerry’s “Palestine First” assessment and his “Isolation Warning/Threat.” Read more…
Mike Wise is the person who crafted Glick’s Israeli Solution some 10 years. I remember because we used to discuss the ideas contain in it at that time. Sherman’s attack on Glick’s thesis is also an attack on Mike’s thesis because he entirely agrees with Caroline. I have had many discussion with both Sherman and Wise on their differing views. When they debate each other, neither relents. For my part, I am not comfortable with either view and prefer to back Bennett’s Plan instead.Ted Belman
I strongly concur with Caroline B. Glick’s diagnosis of the fatal failings of the two-state formula, and disagree just as strongly with the prescription she offers to remedy them.
The mechanics of the policy are fairly straightforward. Israel will apply its laws to Judea and Samaria and govern the areas as normal parts of Israel… Contingent on security concerns… Palestinians will have the right to travel and live anywhere they wish within Israeli territory… … Palestinians will have the same legal and civil rights as the rest of the residents and citizens of Israel… Those that receive Israeli citizenship in accordance with Israel’s Citizenship Law will also be allowed to vote in national elections for the Knesset.
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On Monday, former prime minister Ehud Olmert’s career ended.
Earlier this month, former IDF chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Gabi Ashkenazi’s career ended.
And on Tuesday, the phony peace process ended.
In the lead-up to last year’s elections, the media and key political figures were yearning for Olmert’s return to politics.
In July 2008, Olmert was forced to cede leadership of the Kadima party, and so opt out of running for reelection, when then-attorney-general Menahem Mazuz announced he was indicting the premier on corruption charges.
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Israel said to be considering sanctions against Palestinians
Also, Among the measures, it was decided to freeze the transmission frequencies for the Palestinian cellular company Wataniya and halt its introduction of 3G data.
Sanctions are a wholly inadequate response. Especially these sanctions.
We should pay off what they owe us for electricity with the tax money collected. But don’t call such a move sanctions or a penalty. It would hurt us too much if we cancelled their work permits.
The PA has initiated a game changer, so should we. Annex the settlement blocs.
‘Now is the time to present to the world the ethical, Zionist, realistic alternative to the two-state solution,’ .
Israel already began taking steps against the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Friday, after Ramallah applied to fifteen international organizations for legitimacy and torpedoed peace talks.
But at least one group proposes that the government take a step beyond sanctions, by using the opportunity to reclaim full sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.
To that end, Women in Green (WIG) sent a strongly worded letter to Knesset MKs Friday, proposing that Israel move away from the 1993 Oslo Accords and the notion of a Palestinian state.
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Israel Military Industries develops GPS-guided mortar shell, solving accuracy issue, offering military response to Gaza terror cells.
“Mortar shells were always considered an inaccurate weapon that hit only the target area and not the target itself,” a security source told Ynet. “Turning the mortar shell into an accurate weapon with the help of GPS is a real revolution.”
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By Moshe Feiglin
In an interview on Israel’s Channel 2, the broadcaster asked Moshe Feiglin what he would do today if he were PM. Feiglin answered that by turning to the UN, Abu Mazen has essentially declared the nullification of the Oslo Accords. Moshe Feiglin would jump at the opportunity to formally announce the end of the cursed Oslo Accords and declare absolute Israeli sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria. The Arabs living there could enjoy the same status afforded to the Arabs living in East Jerusalem.
“We are being dragged into impossible dilemmas because of the Oslo Accords, in which Israel essentially recognized the ‘Palestinians’ as the just side of the equation, with Israel being some sort of foreign occupying force,” said Feiglin. “This has slowly but surely brought about the erosion of our sovereignty to the point where we are willing to release hundreds of murderers and their accomplices back onto our streets, among Oslo’s many other ills.”
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Jerusalem has nothing to fear from the Palestinians’ application to join 15 international treaties and conventions, because even if “Palestine” were admitted to them it would have no direct practical implications for Israel, a leading Israeli legal scholar said Wednesday.
“It gives them a feeling of satisfaction and it strengthens their feeling of getting international recognition of their state, but [it has] no practical importance whatsoever,” said Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry and professor of international law at Hebrew University.
However, Sabel acknowledged that accession to international treaties does advance the world’s perception of “Palestine” as a sovereign, independent state.
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By Ted Belman
Israel should not concern itself with being blamed for doing what she has the right to do.
Israel agreed to enter negotiations without pre-conditions. She has no obligation to accept the Arab terms even if endorsed by the US.
There is no obligation on any party to the negotiations to reach an agreement. Each party has free will and free choice.
The only obligation each has is to negotiate in good faith but that doesn’t override their right to reject what they don’t like.
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Innovation of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems company is designed for threats too small to be dealt with by existing systems.
A new air defense system being developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which uses lasers to shoot down low altitude threats, is able to bring down “mortars like flies,” Rafael’s CEO told the Israel Defense website on Wednesday.
Vice Admiral (Ret.) Yedidia Yaari, former chief of the Israel Navy, said the Iron Beam system will be “very effective” once it becomes operational.
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Five young women who recently immigrated to Israel and live on Kibbutz Hanita join Israel Defense Forces, Border Police • “They are very motivated and determined to assume combat roles,” says an Israeli official involved with the program.
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Carrie French, Rachel Bernstein, Becca Perlin, Andrea Forsline and Nina Tabrizi
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Kibbutz Hanita, next to the Israel-Lebanon border, is used to taking pride in its avocado orchards and olive groves. But it now has a new source of pride, with five young women who made the kibbutz their home after immigrating to Israel currently serving in combat roles in the Israel Defense Forces and Border Police.
By Ted Belman
By Ted Belman
YNET asks “What’s the point of extending the peace talks?
So choosing the UN tract is a very big gamble for Abbas. He prefers to keep extracting a price for continuing the negotiations. He also has to worry what Israel will do in response.
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As we approach the Jewish festival of Passover and the night that is “different from all other nights”, it is appropriate that there is much in the recent news that positively distinguishes the Jewish State from the norm.
In medical news, Israelis have been developing some unique treatments and devices that will make a big difference to the lives of the chronically sick. The Renaissance Guidance System developed by Israel’s Mazor Robotics allowed doctors in Denver to perform the first ever Deep Brain Stimulation procedure on a patient suffering from Parkinson’s disease – whilst he was asleep! The 65-year-old patient responded well to the treatment. Lupus sufferers eagerly await the next Phase II trials by Israeli biotech XTL Biopharmaceuticals of hCDR1 (Edratide) – the first new treatment for Lupus in 50 years. And scientists at Israel’s Technion continually “think outside of the box”. They have been using a 3D scanner to develop unique objects, including the first ever inhalation mask specially designed for babies.
[See also:The Palestinian UN Upgrade: Setting Things Straight
Amb Alan Baker, JCPA]
By Rafael Ahren, TOI
Jan 7, 2014
Notwithstanding the best intentions of US Secretary of State John Kerry, the current round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians may fail (shocking, we know). But what happens then? Well, most members of the current Israeli government may be fine with the status quo — the emphatic absence of a Palestinian state — but Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to resume steps to unilaterally advance the PA’s statehood bid, a move Jerusalem is extremely wary of.
Yet Israeli experts disagree whether Israel really has something to worry about. Is it just a “big bluff” (as one international law scholar claimed), or would a unilateral Palestinian statehood bid make it impossible for Israel to ever reach a peace agreement that takes its positions into consideration (as another academic argued)?
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The American working document, meant to serve as a bridgehead for a second season of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, is one of the most palatable Israel has seen.
Its content does not, of course, meet everything the Israeli government wanted, but it does make an effort within the range of American policy since the Six-Day War.
Its advantage is that it binds only the U.S., not Israel. Its disadvantage is that it is not binding for the Palestinians, either. Jerusalem’s eyes are on Washington, not Ramallah. But political turmoil in the region is unfolding.
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