From Ian:
What Causes Genocide? A Perspective on Anti-Semitism at UC Davis
Decades after the atrocities of the Holocaust, researchers and anthropologists alike have searched tirelessly for the definitive answer to this harrowing question.
One looks to not find a simple answer, but to find a solution -- a pretext for genocide, so as to prevent it and fulfill the wishes of "never again."
Researchers such as Ben Kiernan, director of the genocide studies program at Yale, have argued that "racism, religious prejudices, revivalist cults of antiquity...and idealization of social classes" are the roots of genocide. James Waller, professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Keene State College, argued that nationalism and severe xenophobia were among main causes while Ervin Staub, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts, has said that genocidal behavior stems from cultural stereotyping and devaluation of respective races.
Despite what these renowned researchers of genocide argue, there is a common denominator among their reasons.
Simply put, while the genesis of the Holocaust is rooted in the troubled political history of Europe during that time period, it cannot be denied that the justification for the systematic mass genocide of the Jewish people during World War II lies in, not the sociopathic behavior of the oppressors, but the simple racist stereotyping of the oppressed: anti-Semitism.
It started with anti-Semitism; it ended in death.
Amb. Alan Baker: Is the Palestinian ICC gambit compatible with the EU call for a return to negotiations?
As reported by the EU: “The Quartet underlined the importance of the parties resuming negotiations as soon as possible, with a view to reaching a just, lasting and comprehensive peace on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, the Madrid Principles including land for peace and the agreements previously reached between the parties.”
Surprisingly, the EU Quartet added: “A sustainable peace requires the Palestinians’ aspirations for statehood and sovereignty and those of Israelis for security to be fulfilled through negotiations based on the two-state solution. The Quartet will remain actively engaged in preparing for a resumption of the peace process in the coming period, including regular and direct outreach to Arab states. Pending the resumption of negotiations, the Quartet called on both parties to refrain from actions that undermine trust or prejudge final status issues.”
Clearly the question here, taking into consideration these two news items, is how can the Palestinians push for bringing Israeli leaders before the ICC on the one hand while on the other intimating to the world their desire to resume negotiations with those same leaders? That the person heading their ICC preparation committee is the chief Palestinian negotiator to both the US and the EU would alone seem to render this whole picture rather absurd. It begs the question: which Israelis does Erekat intend to negotiate with, if his aim is to have them all arrested for war crimes? It is perhaps high time that the international community faced the reality that the Palestinian leadership, in attempting to stem the rise of popular support for Hamas among its population, is resorting to this ICC gambit as a public relations exercise, blatantly deceiving themselves, their constituency and the international community.
Having issued their Quartet statement calling for the resumption of negotiations, and in light of their express intention to “remain engaged” in preparing for a resumption of such negotiations, one would expect that if they had an iota of genuine concern for the future of the peace process the senior Quartet representatives issuing the statement – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson (representing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon) – would have made it very clear to the Palestinian leaders that “they can’t have their cake and eat it, too.”
European Anti-Semitism Starts from the Top
The Obama administration’s inexplicable denial that last month’s attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris could possibly be anti-Semitic overshadowed yesterday’s other interesting tidbit from the anti-Semitism front: German Jewish organizations are furious because a blue-ribbon panel set up by the German government to advise it on fighting anti-Semitism doesn’t include a single Jew. It’s hard to imagine that a panel on, say, prejudice against Muslims or blacks would exclude representatives of the targeted community. But the more serious concern is that a panel without Jews will ignore one of the main manifestations of modern anti-Semitism, as exemplified by another German decision just last week: a judicial ruling that there’s nothing anti-Semitic about torching a synagogue to protest Israeli actions in Gaza.
The case involved two German-Palestinian adults who threw Molotov cocktails at the Wuppertal synagogue in July, causing 800 euros worth of damage. The court decided the attack wasn’t anti-Semitic and therefore let them off with suspended jail sentences and community service. And why wasn’t it anti-Semitic? Because, said the court, the perpetrators were simply trying to bring “attention to the Gaza conflict” then raging between Hamas and Israel. And of course there’s nothing anti-Semitic about attacking Jews in one country to “bring attention” to acts by other Jews in another country; they’re all Jews, aren’t they? Doubtless the court would be equally understanding if Israelis torched a German church to “bring attention to” this abhorrent ruling.
Nor is the ruling an aberration; it’s quite representative of elite German thought. Last year, Prof. Monika Schwarz-Friesel of the Technical University of Berlin published a study that analyzed 10 years’ worth of hate mail sent to the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the Israeli embassy in Berlin. To her surprise, only 3 percent came from right-wing extremists, while over 60 percent came from educated members of “the social mainstream.” And these letters weren’t mere “Israel criticism”; they contained classic anti-Semitic statements like “It is possible that the murder of innocent children suits your long tradition” or “For the last 2,000 years, you’ve been stealing land and committing genocide.”
In New York Times, J Street Gets the Last Word
When Israel is covered by a writer from the New York Times, it is a safe bet that the writer will go to J Street in search of a stinging quote to drive home the article’s message, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.
The liberal anti-Israel lobbying group and its founder Jeremy Ben-Ami have become staples of Times coverage of Israel, which usually features a quote from Ben-ami as the final kicker.
The group has been quoted in nearly 30 New York Times articles since the beginning of 2009 and in more than half of those articles J Street is quoted in the concluding paragraph.
The practice of using J Street and Ben-Ami for kickers has been on the rise in recent weeks.
In a single day on Jan. 29, two different authors both used quotes from Ben-Ami regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s invitation to speak to the U.S. Congress.
ADL Slams ‘Repugnant’ J Street Campaign Against Netanyahu
The Anti-Defamation League has blasted the left-wing lobby group J Street for running an “inflammatory and repugnant” campaign against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Though it bills itself as a “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group, J Street has actively lobbied against sanctions on the Iranian regime, devoting its energies to attacking Netanyahu almost exclusively. Its latest petition campaign, around the slogan “Israel’s Prime Minister is not the spokesman for all Jews,” is directed at Netanyahu’s forthcoming speech to the US Congress on the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“At the height of the controversy surrounding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled speech to Congress, J Street’s petition campaign that attempts to distance itself and American Jews from Israel’s duly elected prime minister is inflammatory and repugnant,” ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said in a statement. “It exacerbates an already heated and politicized moment for U.S. Israel relations at a critical juncture in the West’s negotiations with Iran.”
PreOccupied Territory: J Street Poll Also Finds US Jews Support Hitler, Saddam (satire)
Left-leaning advocacy organization J-Street announced today that in addition to showing 84% of American Jews support a nuclear deal with Iran, an even larger number have favorable views of Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein.
The highlighted figure was featured in a promotional campaign attempting to show how Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s attitude toward Iran remains out of sync with American Jews’ perspective. However, the question they posed in the poll assumed a deal so safe for Israel that Netanyahu himself would have no problem with it either. In a similar vein, the J Street survey posited a hypothetical situation in which a man named Adolph Hitler were born in Iowa in 1883, and asked whether the respondents would support him if he decided to change his name in the 1930’s.
A separate question asked whether the survey respondents would support Saddam Hussein of Iraq if, in 1991, instead of launching SCUD missiles at Israel, he had laid down arms, withdrawn his forces from Kuwait, stopped oppressing Shiites and Kurds, relinquished his stockpile of chemical weapons, instituted comprehensive democratic reforms, and ceased supporting or funding international terrorism.
To both questions, more than 90% of survey respondents gave a positive answer, with support for the hypothetical Mr. Hitler reaching 98%. The organization says the figures represent a revolution in American Jewish sensibilities.
Gaza could erupt again if no recovery, UN official warns
A top UN official warned Thursday of another potential conflict in the Gaza Strip, urging Israel to lift its blockade and Palestinians to end infighting to avoid further violence.
The United Nations also called for an additional $705 million in humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories, most of it for Gaza, which saw its bloodiest and most destructive war over the last summer.
“Right now, things are not going well, and we’re very concerned about the possibility of a further conflict,” James Rawley, UN humanitarian chief for the Palestinian territories, told AFP.
“To have a complete recovery of Gaza, even to go back to where we were in July requires more than construction material going in. It requires a lifting of the blockade,” said Rawley.
“In parallel, we have to see a commitment from the militant groups in Gaza to stop firing rockets at civilians in Israel… and Palestinian reconciliation moving forward” to reassure donors that building materials will not fall into the hands of militants, he added.
A blank check
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas may well be the best paid man in the Middle East. In the mere 48 hours he spent in Sweden, he managed to bump up the aid given to Palestine by more than 100 percent, from 820 million shekels ($211 million) to 1.7 billion shekels ($440 million).
If you're wondering what promises he had to make to acquire such wealth, the answer is: none, none at all. During the press conference on Tuesday, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said the summit featured discussions on the peace process, on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and on the blossoming relationship between Sweden and Palestine after the official recognition. No word on any demands being made on Abbas or the PA for the riches received, nor was there any follow-up on the substantial aid given in previous years.
When making the decision to recognize Palestine, the Swedish government said it was a way of motivating and invigorating the peace process, and Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom echoed these words in the government's official foreign policy statement this Wednesday. The discerning reader may question this, however, especially since the EU's own financial investigation into the aid to the PA has found that the PA not only does not meet the basic provisions for receiving such aid, but that there also is proof of extended corruption, organized crime and failure to meet any and all demands for democratic reform.
EU official: No new sanctions against Israel
The report quoted unnamed Israeli officials as saying that they heard from European diplomats, who also were not named, that the European Union or member states are discussing “applying sanctions against companies that will do business across the border,” in reference to the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank.
One Israeli official said: “The assumption in Europe is that Israel will have a right-wing government after the elections and in that situation it would be easier for them to promote such moves.”
But the EU official said there currently is no intention of passing new sanctions or regulations against Israel, which is officially not subject to any EU sanctions, though EU steps designed to prevent member states’ involvement in the settlements are often perceived as punitive in Israel.
“The report is absolutely wrong about the incoming government and the elections, or that after the elections there will be all sorts of moves,” the official said. “I think that this is not being discussed at all among member states.”
EU Accused of 'Colonialism' for Funding Illegal Arab Settlements
A leading Israeli NGO has slammed the European Union over its alleged role in financing illegal Arab settlements in Judea and Samaria, saying its direct attempts to "subvert" Israeli internal affairs amounted to a form of "colonialism."
The remarks, made by the grassroots Im Tirzu organization, came in response to an article in the UK's Daily Mail, which cited figures showing how the EU has channeled European taxpayers' money into building some 400 homes and other buildings illegally in Area C of Judea and Samaria.
Under the 1993 Oslo Accords - signed not only by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but by the EU itself among other parties - while the PA maintains full or partial control over Areas A and B of Judea-Samaria ("West Bank"), Israel maintains exclusive military and civilian authority over affairs in Area C, including planning and construction.
As such, the revelations - first exposed by the Regavim NGO and initially reported several months ago by Arutz Sheva - would amount to a flagrant breach of international law by the EU.
The Left and Islam Apologetics
For some time, an argument has been made that the liberal left, in refusing to examine the problems of Islam, has betrayed its Enlightenment roots. That is, while secular, feminist, and protective of free speech in dealing with its Western peers, the liberal left has been accused of abandoning its heritage in its quest for political correctness regarding Muslims.
In truth, however, the left has a distinguished background of courting Islam as a weapon against Western capitalism. Its most representative figures from the past did so frankly, as the following rehearsal of their statements demonstrates.
Karl Marx supported the Ottoman empire, then accused of atrocities against Christians and non-Turkish Muslims.
Isi Leibler: Candidly speaking: Cry for me, Argentina!
The assassination of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman reflects the endemic corruption of the Kirchner regime and focuses the spotlight on the devil’s pact consummated by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in 2013 with Iran, whose leaders inflicted the worst-ever act of terrorism in the country’s history on her own citizens.
Today there are approximately 250,000 Jews in Argentina. Since the days of Juan Peron the government’s attitude to Jews has been ambivalent. Peron displayed friendship to the Jewish community but enabled Argentina to serve as a haven for the most evil of Nazi war criminals – including Adolf Eichmann.
In March 1992, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was the target of a terrorist bombing that killed 29 and wounded 242 people. Two years later, in July 1994, a second bombing was directed at the Jewish community center (AMIA), killing 85 and wounding hundreds.
No Gunpowder Found on Slain Argentinian Prosecutor’s Hands
Nisman’s death, first characterized by the government as a suicide, was soon cryptically described as the work of an anti-government agents. (Others have speculated whether Iran could be behind the murder). Weeks later a Jewish journalist reporting on the Nisman death fled to Israel, citing escalating threats he attributed to the government. Soon after that, investigators found arrest warrants for Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman, dated June 2014, in the garbage at Nisman’s home.
What happened the night of Jan. 18 in Nisman’s apartment, which was guarded by security, may never be fully known. But a new test could offer some information. According to the Buenos Aires Herald, a forensic analysis found no traces of gunpowder on Nisman’s hand, a result which would seem to cast doubt on the theory that Nisman shot himself in the head. Yet the gun in question, a .22 caliber pistol Nisman had reportedly borrowed from a colleague for security, wouldn’t necessarily leave residue on the shooter’s hands, a fact Viviana Fein, the prosecutor leading the investigation, made sure to point out. The test result, she stated “does not rule out the possibility that Nisman had fired the gun himself.”
Further testing will be done on the weapon, with someone else firing it, to see if those results can be replicated. Fein has said there is no evidence another person was present in the apartment at the time of the murder.
Alan Parsons Busts Out The Israeli Crew In Tel Aviv
The show was TERRIFIC. They played pretty much all of their best known songs – Games People Play, You Don’t believe, Time, PsychoBabble, I Wouldn’t Want to be Like You (unfortunately not dedicated to Roger) and of course their most famous song – Eye In The Sky with guest vocals by Marina Maximimilian who was a popular runner up in the 5th season of the Israeli version of American Idol (Kochav Nolad).
Another guest appearance was Avi Singolda who plays guitar in Shlomo Artzi’s band (think Israeli Springsteen). And a big surprise was guest appearance by Israeli mega pop star Aviv Gefen who joined them on stage for Old and wise.
In fact one of the members of the band was Israeli bassist Guy Erez who has been playing with Alan Parsons on and off for a few years now. Here’s some video I took myself of the song “Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You” featuring a great bass solo by Guy Erez.
At the end of the concert Alan said something diplomatic about how he realizes that there is opposition to playing in Israel, but he greatly enjoyed playing in Tel Aviv. Not quite the “Screw You Roger Waters” while flipping him the bird that I was hoping for, but I guess Alan just thinks actions speak louder than words. All in all the concert was a hugely entertaining night out and a colossal fail for BDS.
South African University Rejects Student Council’s Call for Expulsion of Jews, Brands Demand ‘Totally Unacceptable’
The vice chancellor of Durban University of Technology (DUT) in South Africa on Wednesday rejected the student council’s call to expel Jewish students who do not support the Palestinian cause.
University Vice Chancellor Professor Ahmed Bawa released a statement calling the demand “outrageous, preposterous and a deep violation of our National Constitution and every human rights principle.” He added, “No student at DUT will be discriminated against on the basis of religion, race, gender, political affiliation or sexual orientation.”
Bawa also told South Africa’s Daily News that the request was “totally unacceptable.”
The demand to expel all Jewish students, especially those who do not support the Palestinian agenda, was made by the university’s Students Representative Council and Progressive Youth Alliance.
Shouts of Anger as Stanford Anti-Israel Divestment Fails
When the University of California system-wide student government passed a resolution not only divesting from Israel, but also the United States, it was met with widespread mockery and ridicule.
The Stanford University Undergraduate Student Senate avoided that fate by failing to pass an Anti-Israel Resolution heavily promoted, including by dozens of Stanford pro-BDS professors to influence the outcome. As now seems to be a common tactic, the #BlackLivesMatters leadership was recruited to help with the effort.
There was a Petition and some very good dissections of the Resolution by opposition students. One analysis indicated it wasn’t even clear that Stanford invested in the companies from which divestment was sought, The Hidden Agenda Behind SOOP’s False Divestment Claims.
The vote was close — the boycotters needed a 2/3 majority, but fell just short.
Philadelphia Councilwoman "denounces" PA governor's support for terror, following PMW exposure
Yesterday, Palestinian Media Watch exposed that PA Governor Laila Ghannam, who was honored by Philadelphia Councilwoman Maria Sánchez, actively supports PA terror by glorifying terrorists and promising to continue their “path.” Councilwoman Sánchez awarded Ghannam the Liberty Bell and "Citation of Honor” last month.
PMW sent a copy to Councilwoman Sánchez of yesterday’s report, which documented that Ghannam has honored dozens of Palestinian terrorists who have murdered hundreds of civilians. Within hours, Sánchez issued a statement including the following words:
“I fully and unequivocally denounce the sentiments attributed to Governor Ghannam in this video...”
When asked for further clarification by PMW, Sánchez’s office wrote:
“The use of the word ‘attributed’ was simply because the Councilwoman can only read these statements in PalWatch’s (PMW’s) translation, as she doesn’t speak Arabic. Her condemnation of the content, as translated, is unequivocal.”
Abbas' representative: Arch-terrorists, murderers of hundreds, are "mighty"
Laila Ghannam: "We promise and swear to these mighty ones: We are still [following] your path... The President and icon, Martyr Yasser Arafat, Dr. George Habash (founder PFLP), comrade Abu Ali Mustafa (head of PFLP), Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (Hamas founder), Fathi Shaqaqi (Islamic Jihad founder), Samir Ghosheh (Sec.-Gen. of PSF), Abu Jihad (a founder of Fatah) and all the great leaders."
[Official PA TV Live, Jan. 7, 2014]
Supreme Court rejects Rachel Corrie wrongful death case
The Supreme Court on Thursday put out its dramatic decision in the Rachel Corrie case, rejecting her family's appeal of a lower court decision which had denied them civil damages for wrongful death in which Corrie died in connection with an IDF bulldozer.
At the same time, the court accepted a separate appeal by the family and reversed a separate lower court decision - with the result that the lower court will need to further probe the family's claim regarding the possible misplacement of some of Corrie's remains.
In the first decision, the court upheld the "combat activities exception" principle of the lower court in which the state cannot be held liable for damages of activities which occur in a war zone.
Police Investigating Alleged ‘Shooting’ Incident at Kosher Restaurant in London
Police in London are investigating a possible shooting incident earlier today at a kosher restaurant in Edgware, a heavily Jewish suburb in the north-west of the city. No-one was hurt in the incident, which left the windows of Orli’s cafe badly damaged.
Officials of the Community Security Trust, the communal security body of British Jews, were also on the scene, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
Eyewitness accounts posted on Twitter initially suggested shots had been fired from a car driving past Orli’s. According to the CST, it is “not clear what type of weapon used.” There are some reports that the damage was caused by marbles, and not live ammunition.
UK Police Investigate Antisemitic Hate Mail Sent to Jewish BBC Executive
British police are investigating a hateful antisemitic email sent to a prominent Jewish executive at the BBC.
Danny Cohen, the BBC’s television chief, received the email at the height of the summer 2014 war between Israel and the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip. A police statement confirmed that they “were informed on Friday 8 August 2014 to an allegation of racial harassment against a 40 year old man,” the Jewish News reported.
“One anti-Semitic email was sent to the victim’s work email address. Detectives from CID in Camden investigated. The email originated from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) based in Switzerland,” the police statement disclosed.
Cohen alerted the police to the email “several months” before he delivered a speech at the Cinematheque in Jerusalem in which he admitted to having “never felt so uncomfortable being a Jew in the UK,” and also questioned whether there was a long-term future for the Jewish community in Britain.
Austrian prosecutor: Call to kill Jews is legal criticism of Israel
Facebook postings from a Turkish man showing Adolf Hitler, with a statement praising the death of Jews, are a legitimate expression of criticizing the Jewish state, the spokesman for the prosecutor office in the city of Linz, Philip Christl, said on Tuesday.
“I could have annihilated all the Jews in the world, but I left some of them alive so you will know why I was killing them...,” Ibrahim B. wrote on his Facebook page in December.
Ibrahim, the 29-year-old owner of a hair salon in the city of Wels near Linz, attributed the quote to Hitler and posted a picture of the German dictator on his Facebook site. Ibrahim launched his pro-Nazi tirade in the context of criticizing Israel’s Operation Protective Edge war against Hamas last summer.
Christl described Ibrahim’s statements as merely expressing “displeasure toward Israel,” and not a glorification of Hitler, according to the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten paper.
Yes, George Galloway is antisemitic. #JeSuisHadleyFreeman
Though Galloway has largely couched his hatred and bizarre conspiracy theories in ‘anti-Zionist’ terms, let’s be clear:
When Galloway openly calls for “the destruction of the political state of Israel”, he’s not only sanctioning the end of the only Jewish state in the world, but advocating a position which will all but certainly lead to the ethnic cleansing of millions of Jews.
When Galloway expresses support for violent, antisemitic extremist movements like Hamas and Hezbollah, he’s in effect endorsing their insidious Jew hatred.
When Galloway said he was “enthralled” by Gilad Atzmon’s book The Wandering Who? (described by CST as “probably the most antisemitic book published in this country in recent years.”), he was legitimizing – if not outright endorsing – Atzmon’s neo-Nazi style anti-Jewish racism.
And, when Galloway walked out of a debate with an Israeli Jew, declaring “I don’t recognize Israel and I don’t debate Israelis”, as when he declared his district an “Israeli-free zone“, he was not only ostracizing and demonizing six million Jews, but sending a message to the millions of non-Israeli Jews in the world who are Zionists that they are morally beyond the pale.
The halachah of George Galloway
George Galloway continues to call his assailant of Aug 29 2014, the Islamophobic Neil Masterson, ‘a Jewish convert‘:
However, the very day of the assault, Masterson continued to describe himself as a ‘Catholic‘, even as he had hitherto only ever described himself as such or ‘Christian‘, or once as, apparently, “not a. [sic] Christian“. However not as “not a. Jew”.
There is, moreover, evidence Galloway knew of Masterson’s Facebook page. On a twitter thread by MPACUK, insinuating Masterson had belonged to a Jewish, synagogual community, one Fatima Fatwa alludes to said Facebook page as evidence contrariwise.
Italy's Senate Approves Bill to Criminalize Holocaust Denial
The Italian Senate approved Wednesday a bill initiated by Democratic Senator Rosaria Capacchione to criminalize Holocaust denial.
234 senators voted in favor of the bill while three voted against, Il Sole 24 Ore reported. Eight senators abstained.
The bill will now move to the second house of Italy's parliament - the Chamber of deputies. If approved there, it will be written into law.
Under the law people who partially, or entirely, deny the Holocaust will face a three-year prison sentence for promoting, inciting, or committing acts of racial discrimination.
The bill also covers crimes against humanity and war crimes as stipulated by the International Criminal Court.
Microsoft to buy Israel’s N-trig for $200m
Microsoft is set to buy Israeli digital pen-technology company N-trig for some $200 million, reports said Thursday. Neither Microsoft nor N-trig would confirm or deny the reports.
Microsoft already owns 6.1% of N-trig, but the acquisition would make it a full owner of the company, which has 180 employees, mostly in Israel and in Taiwan. According to the reports, the company’s Kfar Saba offices will become a Microsoft research and development center.
N-trig specializes in “pen tech”, which enables users to interact with devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops. Pen technology dates back to the pre-Internet days of personal information devices like the Palm Pilot, which featured a touch screen that required users to interface with the screen via a stylus, a plastic or rubber-tipped pen-shaped device. The technology remained popular for years, up until Apple came out with the iPhone and its touch technology, which proved to be more popular than the pen.
British gambling giant William Hill bets 4.42B on Israeli website 888
The Israeli high-tech sector could be on its way to another major exit, after Britain's largest betting company, William Hill, recently offered to buy Israeli online gambling company 888 Holdings for £750 million (4.42 billion shekels). Word of the emerging deal was first reported by the Sunday Telegraph on Tuesday.
One of the pioneers of the online gambling industry, 888 was founded in 1997 by businessman Avi Shaked and brothers Shay and Ron Ben-Yitzhak. Shaked, who vied for a Knesset seat with the Labor Party in 2005, currently controls 48.6 percent of the company, while the Ben-Yitzhak family holds 10.5 percent.
Following the reports of the purchase offer, 888 stock jumped by 28 percent on the London Stock Exchange. At closing time on Tuesday the stock had risen 19.1 percent and reached a price of 172.8 pence per share.
A boost for Israel-UK tech ties
Israel-UK relations received a boost with the announcement this week of two initiatives: the Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange partnership, and a new financial technology challenge sponsored by TeXchange, the UK-Israel Tech Exchange program.
The BIRAX partnership, a joint initiative of the British Embassy and the British Council in Israel, is a bilateral research program that promotes regenerative medicine research, a biomedical approach to curing and restoring the functions of the human body, often using the body’s own tissues.
Now in its third year, BIRAX will be funding eight projects on stem cell research to develop therapies for diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease, liver disease and Multiple Sclerosis
MIT and Ben-Gurion University Announce Five Jointly Funded Projects
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have approved five jointly funded projects.
The projects are part of a program established by the universities last spring during a trade mission to Israel led by former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. The MIT-BGU Seed Fund helps to promote and support early-stage collaborations between faculty and research scientists of the two schools. It was the first seed funding that MIT has launched in Israel through its MIT International Science and Technology Initiative, which was established in 2005.
The initial five collaborative projects between the two schools focus on environmental and medical research, such as research on agriculture and water use as well as treatments for spinal cord injuries.
The Next Big Thing: India-Israel Defense Start Ups
With economic growth and demand slowing down in Europe, the sun for Israel’s export-oriented economy is rising in the East.
China and India, the two giant economies of Asia, not only offer attractive growth prospects – in contrast to the saturated markets of continental Europe – but their populations also widely view Israel favourably.
Especially in the case of India, Israel is well placed to meet some key strategic demands of the country today. India, under the new government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has embarked on an ambitious plan to increase the share of domestic manufacturers in defense procurement.
With the third largest military in the world, India is one of the largest importers of defense equipment; the country’s 2014 defense budget was more than $37 billion, and more than 60% of defense requirements were met with imports.
‘Disney-style’ space park to open in Ashdod
Israel isn’t known for its amusement parks, but that could change soon as a new space-themed park is set to open in Ashdod. The International Space Center will feature displays, movies and activities all connected to space travel, with special shows and events featuring space industry personnel and astronauts from Israel and abroad.
Among those activities will be the 3D space experience, in which participants will have the opportunity to participate in a simulated space flight, with interactive displays to help visitors learn about the planets and the future of space travel. There will also be space-themed rides, games, snack bars – and, of course, a gift shop – to provide visitors with an “out of this world” experience.
Besides fun space stuff, the park will feature a more serious side, hosting an incubator for early-stage start-ups working on space-related technology. The site will also be home to the Israel Space Cadet Training Center, designed to be Israel’s premier academy for astronautics, aeronautics and space science.