Thursday, July 27, 2017

Palestinians Return to the Temple Mount?

 So the Palestinians will return to the Temple Mount after police confirmed that all cameras installed after the murder of two policemen on July 14 had been removed. But police officials told Israeli media they’ll be on high alert during Friday prayers tomorrow:
"Police Commander of the Jerusalem District Maj.-Gen. Yoram Halevi said on Thursday morning that he expects many Muslim worshipers to attend prayers at the al-Aksa mosque on Friday, and that he expects attempts to harm police personnel and civilians."

“Do not test us tomorrow, and no one should be surprised if there are injuries on the other side,” he said in a stark message to the Palestinians. “I call on the leadership of the other side act to calm the atmosphere, and again not to test us tomorrow.”
With continuing incitement at all levels of the PA, why should we expect anything else?

Monday, July 24, 2017

Palestinian Hypocrisy? No, it’s worse, far worse!


It’s incitement to Murder!

Falseness, deceit, dishonesty, mendacity, pretense, duplicity – take your pick – can describe some of the Muslim world’s predictable knee-jerk reaction to Israel installing metal detectors placed outside at the entrance to al-Ḥaram al-Qudsī al-Šarīf, (“the Noble Sanctuary of Jerusalem”), or as referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount – but it is far worse.

It is incitement to murder and all those hypocritical counties supporting the PA’s nefarious position – it is nothing less than complicity of the same charge.

With a pretense of “holy sensitivities” – as if God; any God – would not support an action that saves lives, the PA, and their fellow merchants of death, have come up with the argument that metal detectors are “an instrument of the occupation”.

What a spurious ‘argument’; how disturbing that it finds traction with those same countries – including the PA – that have those same metal detectors to save lives at their holy shrines and sites.

Metal detectors are not political, they are devices to save lives – the lives of Muslims, Jews, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and atheists, heterosexuals, gays and our animals, who are not party to politics or religion but are all equally – creatures of God.

Whether to Laugh or Cry?

Whether to laugh at the obvious stupidity of hypocritical leadership or cry at the potential tragic results, one must ask – Why the sudden outcry?

Thousands of Palestinians pass daily through metal detectors at shopping malls and state institutions, such as the Post Office, Railway Stations, the National Insurance Institute, hospitals, and medical centers. They don’t complain because they know it’s for their personal safety. If they staged such protests at any airport in the world, they would not be allowed to fly anywhere – including to Mecca on Hajj!

Yes, in Mecca, the Saudi Arabia government has made compulsory the wearing of electronic bracelets by the millions of pilgrims as a security measure.

The only reason for the outrage is another means to galvanise support to undermine Israel.  If lives are lost, they don’t care; they invite it for they are the Merchants of Death. And the audacity to assume that God supports this murderous venture and to expect countries who all have introduced these same security measures, is beyond belief.

Who among the international community are likely to sign off on this?

• Surely not the Saudis as noted above

• Surely not Bangladesh, where Security Magnetometers were placed at the entrance to the National Central Mosque in its capital Dhaka, at the end of 2016 after a terrorist attack killed 20 people.

• Surely not in India
Security Magnetometers at the entrance
to a Mosque in New Delhi, India.














• Surely not Egypt where it installed Security Magnetometers in 2016 at the mosque in Giza

• Surely not Kuwait which installed Security Magnetometers at the entrance to its mosques in 2015 and 2016 after numerous terror attacks that took place in mosques in the kingdom at that time.

• Surely not Dubai which started in 2015 to install walk-through security gates with metal detectors and CCTV at all gates with a source saying at the time:

• Surely not Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population than any other country in the world and has installed metal detectors at the entrance to a Catholic church in Jakarta to protect the lives of Christian worshipers.

• Surely not France, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe and where there was no outcry when in November 2015 manual security checks for worshipers were conducted to those entering a mosque in Paris after the combined attack in the French capital in which 130 civilians were murdered.

• Surely not the USA who is trying to restrict easy entry of citizens from certain Muslim countries even entering the country.

In truth, surely not any country in the world with a responsible government.

Israel installed the Security Magnetometers at the entrance to al-Ḥaram al-Qudsī al-Šarīf or Temple Mount ONLY after two Druze Israeli policemen standing guard were shot by weapons that had been smuggled inside earlier because there were no metal detectors. The tragic result was that the policemen who were looking outward were attacked by surprise from the inside. Where is the Palestinian outcry about this MURDER or the incitement that has followed with three elderly Jewish civilians being murdered in a bloody knife attack.

Is this what the PA is asking the world to endorse – the right to murder?

Lies and Deception

The PA, Jordan and Turkey are accusing Israel of violating the status quo by installing metal detectors. This could not be further from the truth.

The Israeli government did not take the decision to install the metal detectors to alter the status quo or stop Muslims from praying; on the contrary, they took it precisely to preserve the status quo in a secure and safe environment.

Why did they protest the plan? No brainer – the Palestinians were afraid that their violence, harassment and amassing of weapons to attack Jewish visitors and police officers would be captured on camera.

It is this same thinking as to why they oppose the metal detectors – they want to be free to murder Jews.

In the same manner as measures to secure holy sites in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Indonesia, the Emirates, France and nearly everywhere in the world, it should apply no less than in Jerusalem that has built into its name – shalom and salaam – PEACE.

The world needs to bring some sanity to the PA leaders that they are not free to incite murder!

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Metal Detectors and Palestinian Lies


 This comment by Baasam Eid a Palestinian human rights activist  July 22, 2017 commenting on the result of the murder of two Israeli policemen



  • The slain police officers were stationed there to ensure the safety of Muslim worshippers. The Palestinian spin doctors are attempting to divert attention from the terror attack by making it look as if the crisis began when Israel installed the metal detectors and not when two police officers were murdered.
  • First, the security measures, including the placement of the metal detectors, was not an Israeli initiative but came as a direct and necessary response to a specific terror attack. The Israeli government did not convene and take a decision to install the metal detectors in order to alter the status quo or stop Muslims from praying.
  • Second, it was the Palestinians who took the decision not to enter into the Temple Mount unless the metal detectors are removed. The Palestinians and the Waqf are lying to the world by telling it that Israel is denying Muslims access to their holy sites.
  • The Palestinian opposition to the metal detectors at the Temple Mount means one thing only: that the Palestinians are determined to turn the holy site into a weapons cache and use it as a launching pad to carry out terror attacks against Israelis. If the mosque were then actually destroyed in the process, guess who would be blamed? Possibly that is even the real agenda.

Friday, July 21, 2017

When it Comes to Money - No Problems!!


Quite amazing that with all the hype 
and incitement surrounding the metal 
detectors at the Temple Mount, when 
it comes to taking money from the Israeli 
government, there is no such problem.

Above shows the queues of Arab women 
from East Jerusalem waiting in line to collect 
payments from the Insurance Institute  

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

A Good Story About Israelis and Palestinians



For more of this article read here  

This week, Jason Greenblatt, the US president’s Middle East envoy, did announce some welcome news at a press conference: The Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians will be cooperating on a large water infrastructure project, which will provide billions of gallons of new water supplies for each of the three parties.

That project — first announced in December 2013 — will take water from the Red Sea, near Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat, and use gravity to carry the water 137 miles via the kingdom of Jordan to the southern part of the Dead Sea. There it will be desalinated, with the brine deposited in the shrinking Dead Sea and the fresh water transferred into Israel for still-to-be-built desert farms. In exchange, a water pipeline will be built from Israel into Jordan’s capital, Amman.

The strategic genius of the plan is that it weaves vital economic interests of these sometimes-antagonists together.

The biggest news out of the press conference is that senior water officials from Israel and the Palestinian Authority shared a stage and warmly engaged with each other. It is, so to speak, a high-water mark in Israeli-Palestinian history regarding this precious resource.

Beginning in 2008, the Palestinian leadership decided to turn water into a political tool to bludgeon Israel. The claim, which gained currency among some in the human-rights community and the news media, was that Israel was starving Palestinians of water to oppress them and to break their economy.

To keep this manufactured water crisis from being exposed as a sham, it was necessary to have Palestinian water projects grind to a halt. The self-sabotage of the anti-normalization campaign was felt nowhere more strongly than in water. Israel’s settlements suffered from a lack of new water projects, but the Palestinians suffered more.

Quietly, the Palestinian business community made clear that the value of blackening Israel’s name in some quarters was not worth the price being paid in quality of life and lost business opportunities.


Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Yet More Success Against BDS

SodaStream, an Israeli company, hit the world headlines  when the boycott (BDS) campaigners attacked the company's products claimed they were produced in "Palestinian occupied lands".

The company at the time was employing over 1000 workers of whom 65% were Palestinian.

Fast forward a few years after the company moved its activities to a new factory near Beer Sheva and bingo:-

- Significant growth in new exiting markets
- A share price increase of 300% in the last 18 months
- A workforce offering employment to the Bedouin community

Some of the original Palestinian workforce  have received work permits to allow  them to work in the new facility and although the present numbers , 80 is likely to double shortly, it is a far cry from the numbers previously employed.

The bottom line is that the BDS campaign resulted in more suffering of the Palestinian community while SodaStream just goes on growing,

Most Dangerous Professor in America

I have always believed that the purpose of this blog is to inform of events or activities here in the State of Israel.

I have not wanted to get involved in the politics of other countries. However, the video below is so blatant in its effect on student attitudes towards Israel that I think it important to bring it to the attention of as many people as possible, including Senators, Congressmen and the media.

How come the American taxpayer is funding this level of anti-Semitism? 

Monday, July 17, 2017

BDS is Losing

The BDS movement  has been demonizing Israel online since the movement was created and although it has taken time, there is an going backlash by pro Israel activists that are turning the tide.
By highlighting the hypocritical actions of the organisers, more and more people are beginning to realise the true message of these bullies.
Recently virulent anti-Israel critic Ken Loach recently chided rockers Radiohead for performing in Israel, while he regularly screens his own films there. Loach vocally condemns artists who perform in Israel as supporting an “apartheid regime” and calls on others to boycott Israel. However, his latest film “I, Daniel Blake” is currently showing in Israeli cinemas.
Further, more and more States in the USA are passing legislation banning the state from doing business with those businesses supporting the boycott message.
We read almost daily of legal battles being won, most recently the students association at the University of Ontario won a ruling against the banning of a pro Israel group of attending campus events.
In the eyes of the Vice President of the Israel Project the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions operatives are already losers.

“When people read about BDS in the media, they get the sense that the delegitimization campaign is winning. But it’s not, it’s losing in a big way,”
 “Our main message is twofold,” he said. “First, that they aren’t about peace, but about hate and bullying. Every time they reveal their true face, we make sure everyone knows about it. Second, that they fail much more often than they succeed. They are on the defensive. With the help of a very wide and large coalition of organizations in Israel and the United States, these BDS activists are finding it more difficult to operate.”

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

So Much for Being Isolated!!

As well as losing the military battles, our enemies seem to have lost their war to isolate Israel.

Not only are more countries leaders visiting than ever before (with the associated traffic problems in Jerusalem) but more and more tourists are coming making it a bumper year,

-    1.74 million tourist entries in Jan-June 2017, 26% more than same period last year increasing revenue from tourism to  NIS 9.4 billion in Jan-June 2017.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin stated : “The June tourism statistics bring us to record levels for incoming tourism in the first six months of the year.   The significant increase in incoming tourism numbers makes an exceptional contribution to the Israeli economy and workforce. I am convinced that, with the correct activities, we will see continue to see good results in the coming months.”

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the following increases were recorded in the first half of 2017 as compared to the same six months in 2016:

-    76% increase in tourism from China
--   30% increase in tourism from Russia
-    20% increase in tourism from USA (the largest source country for incoming tourism)

Monday, July 10, 2017

PA takes ‘historic’ step toward energy independence

BY DOV LIEBER July 10, 2017,

High-ranking Palestinian and Israeli officials gathered in a field outside the West Bank city of Jenin on Monday to turn on the first-ever piece of Palestinian-owned electricity infrastructure and ink a new electricity agreement between the two sides.
The deal, hailed as “historic” by signatories, will for the first time set parameters for the supply of power between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which for years has seen the PA default on billions of shekels of debt and Israel subsequently withhold electricity.
After the signing of the agreement, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, Israel’s Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz, Israel Electric Corporation Chairman Yiftah Ron-Tal and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Major General Yoav Mordechai together turned on the Al-Jalameh Substation.
Al-Jalameh is the Jenin-region village nearest to the station, in the northern West Bank.
The station will allow Israel to send up to 135 more megawatts to the northern West Bank area, though the agreement currently calls for just 60 more. The energy will provide a much-needed boost to the Jenin area, which has suffered power outages more than any other Palestinian West Bank region.
The station also represents the first time the Palestinians will be able to control the distribution of the electricity to their own towns and cities.
The PA will still have to buy its power from the Israel Electric Corporation. But apart from that, once the power is handed off to the PA, it’s in Palestinian hands.
When infrastructure breaks down — which once necessitated Israeli teams escorted by the army to perform repairs, which inevitably caused delays — Palestinian teams will be responsible for dealing with any problems.
The station was built by the Israel Electric Corporation, by both Israeli and Palestinian workers, but it is owned by the Palestinian Electric Authority (PEA) and the PA. The IEC also trained Palestinians to work, maintain and fix the site.
Jenin is the first region to receive a substation, but three more are on the way — in the Hebron region in the south, in the Ramallah region in the center and in Nablus in the mid-northern West Bank. With all four stations, the Palestinian Authority will control the power flow across all the territory it controls.
Hamdallah, the PA prime minister, described the project as “pivotal to enhance our independence so we can meet the growing needs of our people in the electricity sector.”
He thanked Israel for “its cooperation to facilitate” the completion of the project.
These substations are only the first phase in a plan to make the Palestinians more energy independent.
The document signed on Monday only pertains to the Jenin area. It is a smaller agreement that is meant to pave the way for a contract that will deal with the entirety of electricity cooperation between Israel and the PA.
The Al-Jalameh station, built in three years, was bought from the IEC for 12 million euros.
The project was partially subsidized by Italy, Norway, the European Union, USAID, and the European Investment Bank.
In September 2016, the PA and Israel signed an agreement that transferred control of West Bank electrical infrastructure to the PA. Under that deal, the PA also began paying off its outstanding power bill of NIS 2 billion ($560 million).
Three quarters of that is still owed, and is meant to be paid off in 48 installments.
The contract signed on Monday allows the IEC to increase electricity supply to the Jenin region without fearing the piling up of more debt from the Palestinians.
For full article read here

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Israeli and Indian PMs meet with Moshe Holtzberg


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this afternoon (Wednesday, 5 July 2017), met with Moshe Holtzberg, whose parents were murdered in the 26 November 2008 terrorist attack on the Mumbai Chabad House. He told them that he misses India; Indian Prime Minister Modi said that his country was open to him.
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu invited Holtzberg to accompany him on his future trip to India.
 
Moshe Holtzberg was accompanied by his paternal grandparents (Nahman and Freida Holtzberg), his maternal grandparents (Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg) and by Sandra Samuel, his former Indian nanny who came with him to Israel.

Wheelchair-Bound Bedouin, Israel’s Newest Doctor of Physics


rael’s
This is the inspiring story of an Israeli Bedouin who overcame social and physical obstacles to achieve his dream. For full article read here.
Among the graduates receiving their doctoral degrees at Ben Gurion University of the Negev on Wednesday, one stood out above the rest.
Ramadan Abu-Ragila, 34, has muscular dystrophy, a degenerative disease that results in increasing weakening and breakdown of skeletal muscles. He is wheelchair bound and relies on an oxygen machine to breathe. A Bedouin, from the town of Segev Shalom, southeast of Beersheba, Abu-Ragila has just completed his doctorate in physics, specializing in the diffusion of water particles.
“I felt enormous satisfaction at achieving a goal and reaching a far off point that I had set for myself,” Abu-Ragila told Tazpit Press Service (TPS).
Abu-Ragila said he set that goal for himself back in high school. “People told me that physics was a very tough subject, so I decided to pick it as a major. I thought it would be very challenging, but challenges are not something I shy away from.”
Abu-Ragila didn’t face those challenges alone. His brother Jihad, who is two years younger, took it upon himself to help his elder sibling achieve his goals.
“One day I saw Ramadan sitting at home. He told me he had enrolled to study nuclear engineering at university, but didn’t have a way to get to Beer Sheva. I decided I would help him, and from the first day of his first degree, right through to his doctorate I accompanied him. He was the brains and I supplied the legs,” said Jihad.
Ramadan says the switch from the sheltered life of a small Bedouin village to the world of academia was not an easy transition. “At the beginning it was very difficult, the first month, the first year. They were really hard,” Abu-Ragila recounted.
“I understood that the transition from high school to academia was not at all simple. But thankfully I had a very supportive environment. My brother Jihad, my family and friends. Slowly I got used to it.  My success is their success,” he says.
Overcoming Hurdles in Life
Abu-Ragila steers away from talking about how he coped with his deteriorating physical condition alongside the rigorous demands of his academic chores. All he is willing to say is that he never received any special provisions and was always taught to believe in his abilities “until I believed in them myself.”
His experiences have taught him one central lesson in life: “Whoever you are and no matter what path you choose, there will be always be hurdles. It is our duty to strive to overcome them.”

Having achieved his goal, Abu-Ragila isn’t about to stop there. He has already enrolled for post-doctoral study at Haifa’s Technion-Institute of Technology. “From my perspective the next stage for me is to serve the academic community and to continue to develop my field of research in order to serve humanity.”

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Indian Prime Minister Visits Israel


The first trip to Israel by an Indian prime minister reflects the significant expansion in relations between the two countries that has taken place since the establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1992. The burgeoning relationship is based on similar strategic agendas and buttressed by extensive defense ties. Modi’s government has shed its predecessors’ reservations about regular public discussions regarding India’s ties with Israel and has even modified voting patterns at multilateral fora. 

The two nations share a common threat: radical offshoots of Islam in the greater Middle East. Israel regards parts of the Arab world — Saudi Arabia in particular — as hubs for Islamic extremism, while India views SaudiPakistani relations with suspicion.  Moreover, India fears the Pakistani nuclear arsenal might ultimately fall into the hands of Islamic radicals.
For Israel, Islamic radicals in the Arab world and in the Islamic Republic of Iran constitute a constant security challenge. This challenge has become more acute as Iran’s nuclear potential has grown. The more recent ISIS phenomenon has ramifications beyond the battlefields of Iraq and Syria, as its offshoots threaten the stability of Egypt and Jordan — Israel’s neighbors — and are increasingly sources of concern in south and southeast Asia.
India has gradually overcome its inhibitions and engaged in security cooperation with Israel.  The November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks underscored the need for better counterterrorism preparations in India and elicited greater cooperation with Israeli agencies.
Arms supply and technology transfer have become important components in the bilateral relationship. Initially, Russian failure to deliver promised weapons at expected prices and/or schedules led India to turn to Israeli companies to upgrade some of its aging Soviet platforms, such as its Mig21s and T72 tank fleet.
New Delhi purchased advanced radar and communications equipment from Israel, as well as portable battlefield radars, handheld thermals, night warfare vision equipment, and electronic fences to improve border monitoring. A long list of Israeli military items, such as ammunition, UAV parts, and even missiles (Spike antiarmor, the Python4 airtoair, naval Barak8 surfacetoair) are being produced in India.
Israel was the thirdlargest arms supplier to India in the three years ending March 2016. In April 2017, India signed a contract worth about $2 billion to procure antitank missiles and air defense systems from the Israel Aerospace Industry (IAI). This was the largest order in Israels history. One month later, the IAI secured another contract for $630 million to supply Barak8 missiles for the Indian Navy. Both deals involve technology transfer and production in India. These deals are part of PM Modis $250 billion plan to modernize the armed forces by 2025 amid tensions with neighbors China and Pakistan.
The IndianIsraeli nexus has various Indian Ocean implications, particularly in response to Chinas growing presence. The Indian Ocean, where India is an important actor, has become an area of growing interest for Israel because of its apprehensions about Iran and Pakistan.
India and Israel represent two ancient civilizations. They share a British colonial past and were the first to become independent (in 1947 and 1948, respectively) in the postWWII decolonization wave. Both were born as the result of messy partitions and have maintained democratic regimes under adverse conditions ever since. Nevertheless, it took over four decades to establish a fruitful bilateral relationship.
For Israel, good relations with India reflect awareness of structural changes in the international system as the center of gravity moves to Asia and the Pacific Rim. India is an extremely important protagonist that requires Israel’s utmost attention.

This article originally appeared in Asia Pacific Bulletin on June 7, 2017.