January News Not Found in your Media?

With thanks to the British Israel Group (BIG)


· The month of January saw the highest number of rainy days in one month on record in Israel. Rain fell on 29 out of 31 days. The level of Lake Kinnereth has risen by half a metre and 2 metres of snow has fallen on Mount Hermon.


· Among the 25 children currently undergoing surgery at Israel’s Save a Child’s heart programme at the Wolfson Medical Centre, 12 are from the
Palestinian Authority and 4 are Iraqis.

· On a recent visit to Sha’are Zdek Hospital in Jerusalem to see a friend in the cardiology unit, we waited for a while in one of the visitors’ rooms, in company with two Arab families, while our friend was given some physiotherapy. We were curious as to what was on a shelf opposite where we were sitting and discovered that on one side was a stack of siddurim (Hebrew prayer books) and on the other, a pile of prayer mats for the use of the Moslem patients and visitors of which there are many. As this is an observant, Jewish hospital, we thought this extremely thoughtful.

· On 2nd February 7 Qassam rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza and exploded in open areas of Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. No injuries were reported. Security officials said the Palestinians used the cover of stormy weather and its effect on detection systems to launch the rocket attacks.

· The Israeli Air force hosted a conference on Aviation medicine last week, bringing together experts and state of the art technology from around the world. “Medicine in the IAF is unique,” explained the head of manpower, Brig.Gen.Ilan Boger. “This is a professional and important field with great influence on human life.” Flight medicine is a crucial part of IDF military medicine because “its purpose is to save lives and maintain preparedness for battle.

”Fake" photograph causes sensation on Facebook

A photograph purporting to show an 'Israeli soldier' stepping on the chest of a Palestinian child and pointing his weapon at her face caused a sensation on Facebook this week as millions of Israel supporters reposted the photo but pointing out the obvious errors, such as the 'soldier' carrying a rifle without a trigger, and irregularities in the uniform. "Don't believe everything you see on the Internet," wrote blogger Omar Dakhane, who uploaded a wider framed version of the image, showing a crowd surrounding the soldier and the girl. “This picture was taken in 2009 in Bahrain during a street theatre.”