Israeli Vultures Defy Extinction

By World Israel News Staff 

Despite a case of poisoning earlier this year and fears of extinction, 2019 was a productive year for vultures in Israel, reports Maariv Online, citing figures issued by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.
In fact, a new record was set, says the report.

Twenty-four vulture eggs were hatched in breeding programs in 2019 compared to 19 in each of the years 2016-2018, according to the figures.

The incubating process takes place as part of a special project called “Spreading Wings.”

Ten vultures were poisoned on the Golan Heights in May. The intention of the assailant was apparently to carry out an extermination to protect his own farm.

However, in the process, he poisoned the vultures and eight of them, half of the total population, did not survive, according to reports.

Therefore, this year’s productivity is considered especially encouraging.

The breeding in the Spreading Wings project takes place in the Mount Carmel area in northern Israel.

The fears of extinction of vultures have prevailed for years, says Maariv Online. The counter-effort is said to include veterinary research, taking measures against poisoning, preserving nests, preventing electrocution, greater supervision of feeding, and educating the public.

Spreading Wings began in 1996 but was less successful in its first years in “revitalizing” the vulture population, according to Ohad Hazofeh, an ecologist at the Nature and Parks Authority, cited by the news outlet.

Vultures have since been “imported” from Cyprus, Armenia, and Spain, he says, in an effort to enlarge the seed supply.
Even as he speaks optimistically of the future, Hazofeh calls on the Israeli government to continue aggressively with law enforcement, legislation, and stricter penalties in acting to protect the vultures and the animal world in general.

60 Years International Development Cooperation

What an amazing organisation! Helping the under developed countries to develop.

300,000 participants from 140 countries in courses 

since 1958. 

50 training centres set up around the globe

35 onging partnerships with international organisations

UN adopts Israeli resolution on agricultural technology

WASHINGTON - The United Nations General Assembly adopted an Israeli-led resolution this week. 

Some 147 countries voted in favor. Arab League countries, who usually automatically vote against Israeli-led resolutions, decided to abstain.

The Israeli resolution, titled "Agricultural Technologies for Development," is intended to help improve access to agricultural technology capabilities for developing countries, helping fulfill the secretary-general's goal of promoting sustainable development, the Israeli Mission to the UN said in a statement.

"The resolution speaks to Israel's strong capabilities in agriculture, irrigation and water management practices [and in] youth job creation in agriculture, and is consistent with Israel's longstanding cooperation with other countries, especially in Africa," the statement reads. "The overwhelming support the resolution received indicates its importance for many nations around the world, especially developing countries."

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said he is satisfied with the passage of the Israeli initiative.

"Israeli technologies have made the State of Israel a global power of knowledge and innovation that contributes to the global development effort," he said. "The countries that chose not to support us are the very ones that need to implement this resolution the most. Their decision to stick to their political biases only ends up harming their citizens, who are thirsty for the technology and advancement opportunities outlined in the resolution."

Settlements - Legal or Not?

(Guest posting by Charles Smith)

The subject of “settlements” has been made a top factor in the Palestinian fight to discredit and eventually overcome Israel. It is discussed constantly in the media, and has been made into a big political issue in Europe, America, generally. You’d think the matter concerned at least China or Russia and was of world-wide importance. But it does concern the Jews, so the facts are that it concerns only one out of about 200 cases of building in “occupied” land by other nations worldwide, and then it is only on a dot on the map.

I'd class the supporters of the Palestinian narrative - that the "settlements" are illegal and are preventing peace in the M.E. - including representatives of many countries, large numbers of students and others – into two categories: 

a) those who are influenced by antisemitism and 

b) those who are ignorant of the facts and have accepted blindly what they’ve heard from spokesmen or the media.

I'm sure  that 95% of them haven’t the time or the interest, so haven’t checked the true legal situation via reliable sources. This probably applies to Jewish people as well, since most people can’t start reading legal opinions about everything that’s going on. I have made the effort, however, as it’s so important to us living here.

I came across a fairly short article in the papers today. It gives, what I think is a very  good summary of the important facts of the matter, and so a basic understanding of what we Israelis see as the true situation, and the flaws in the situation as it is broadcast and accepted by a huge majority world wide (for the two reasons mentioned above).

There is one more relatively minor factor, regularly used in discussions on the matter, which is not mentioned in the article. So just to add this to your ammunition if needed:

Another clause in the Geneva Convention (after WWII) on which most arguments are based, states that one state can’t occupy land captured from another state in a war. The Israeli (and now apparently also American) position is that the so-called West Bank was taken back from Jordan in the war they started in order to destroy the new Israeli state, but was never recognized as part of Jordan i.e. it was never part of another state. All the opposition choose to ignore that small problem, while accepting and relying absolutely on another clause !! (Questionable motive?)

Last note before you read the short article: Just to remind, once again, that the whole subject is a total red herring, since the one and only factor actually preventing any progress in the non-existent “peace process”  is the absolute refusal of the Palestinians to EVER consider acceptance of any Jewish independent state in the M.E. All the rest could be settled in no time if they dropped that eternal brick wall.

Journalists from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq tour Israel

By Herb Keinon  November 26, 2019

The Foreign Ministry hosted a delegation of Arab journalists last week – including from countries with which Israel has no diplomatic relations – in an attempt to chip away at Israel-hatred in the Middle East.

“My goal is to bring people here to get to know the real Israel, to see it first hand, and not through television or social media, and see how Israel is unjustly slandered,” said Hassan Kaabia, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman for the Arabic media who organized and accompanied the group.

This is the second such delegation in four months.

The delegation, which toured the country for five days, included senior journalists from Saud Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Egypt, as well as two musicians from Iraq.

Israel has no ties with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Iraq, and Kaabia said he did not know whether the governments of those countries knew about the visits.

“I deal with people, not governments,” he said, adding that he knows the members of the delegation from interactions he has had with them on social media. The Foreign Ministry has an active Arabic Facebook and Twitter pages.

Unlike the six person delegation that came in July, where one member – Saudi blogger Mahmoud Saud – was willing to be identified and go public, none of the members of the current delegation would identify themselves. Saud was cursed, jeered and spat upon by Palestinians when he visited the Muslim shrines on the Temple Mount during his visit here. He frequently posts pro-Netanyahu items on social media.

The Saudi journalist in the most recent group, whom Kaabia said was very well known in his home country, said in reference to the Palestinians in an interview with Army Radio’s Jacky Hugi that he did not understand why there had to be problems with Israel because of a “small minority” who had refused the opportunity to create a state in 1947 because they were busy asking why Jews should have an independent state.

Faced with a sea of hatred toward Israel in the Arab world, Kaabia said that these delegations – though small – can have a major impact. He said that the members of the current delegation are well known in their countries – with a YouTube release of one of the Iraqi musicians songs garnering 24 million views – and that they will all write about their visit, as well as talk about it with their family and friends.

The delegation met for two hours with Foreign Minister Israel Katz, as well as other Foreign Ministry officials and Knesset members from across the political spectrum. They also toured Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other parts of the country.

As to why they were not willing to go public, Kaabia said that their reply was that the Arab street is not yet ready for open ties with Israel, “So let’s do it slowly.”

The delegation’s visit came the same week that an organization called the Arab Council for Regional Integration held an inaugural meeting in London and supported engagement with Israel.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday posted a link to a New York Times story on the conference, and wrote: “It’s time for Arab countries to abandon boycotts and engage #Israel.” Pompeo added that “Arab thinkers who risk their lives to bravely advocate a regional vision of peace and coexistence shouldn’t face retribution. We need dialogue.”

Will They Ever Learn?

Israel struck tens of Iranian targets in Syria following rocket attacks on the Jewish state earlier the day.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday night carried out a series of strikes against tens of Iranian and Syrian targets in Syria in response to a rocket attack by Iranian-backed militia on Israel earlier in the day.

The IDF stated that it carried out “wide-scale strikes on Iranian Quds Force and Syrian Armed Forces targets in Syria in response to the rockets fired at Israel by an Iranian force in Syria” early Tuesday morning.

The targets included surface-to-air missiles, headquarters, weapons caches and military bases in Syria, the IDF stated, while providing a detailed map of the locations of the attacks.

During the IAF’s strike, the Syrian air defense fired missiles at the IAF fighters, despite “clear warnings” by Israel to Syria to refrain from such fire. The IAF responded by destroying a number of Syrian aerial defense batteries, the IDF said.

While Syria’s official SANA news reported that two people were killed in the attack and another two were injured, a Britain-based war monitoring group reported that 11 people were killed, with seven of the casualties assumed to be Iranians, according to the Associated Press.

The Israeli attack was conducted from the Golan Heights and from Lebanese airspace, and the “majority” of the Israeli missiles were intercepted by Syria’s air defense system, the report claimed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which has assets on the ground in Syria, reported that the Israeli strike generated explosions that were heard in the capital Damascus and its vicinity.

The SOHR noted that the Israeli attacks were conducted in areas “where the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian militias are active,” and that the strike targeted  “sites from which the four missiles were launched from inside the Syrian territory” on the Golan Heights earlier in the day.

What International Law?

Let’s be clear where we stand vis a vis International Law

"The most important distinction in international law and specifically about the rules of war is that here is a dividing line. On one side are combatants; on the other side are non-combatants. He added that one "cannot fight people who are innocent civilians. You can cross that line accidentally, but you can’t cross it deliberately. If you deliberately target civilians, that’s a war crime." – stated the Prime Minister

However, he continued, "Terrorists, including the terrorists in Gaza do something entirely different. They target civilians deliberately. They target our cities; they target Ashkelon, as they did today. They target the communities around Gaza. They target Tel Aviv. They target Jerusalem. They deliberately target civilians. That’s a war crime. Now, they commit a second war crime. They not only target civilians, they hide behind civilians in civilian areas, so that they know that we, who are trying to avoid hitting civilians, will not hit them in their places of hiding. So they’re committing a double war crime. They’re targeting civilians and they’re hiding behind civilians, trying to basically receive a safe situation where they can keep on doing this."

Meanwhile,  the ruling of the European Union court against Israel re labelling of products that while the EU chooses not to join the sanctions on Iran, it imposes economic-diplomatic restrictions on Israel . The hypocrisy continues