From Ian:
Khaled Abu Toameh: The Palestinians' EU-Funded Campaign Against Israel
Abbas and his "moderate" Fatah faction have not only failed to prepare their people for peace with Israel; they continue to whip up anti-Israel sentiment among Palestinians and other Arabs. If Abbas and Fatah have already determined that many Israelis are "war criminals" who also poisoned Yasser Arafat, how can they ever return to any negotiating table with Israel? How will they then justify to their people that they agreed to resume peace talks with "war criminals?"
Fatah's anti-Israel incitement and campaign to delegitimize and isolate Israel has made it unsafe even for Palestinian children to play soccer with Israelis. Under the current circumstances, it has also become dangerous for Israeli peace activists to visit Ramallah and meet Palestinian colleagues.
The EU leaders who met with Abbas last week are either unaware of the anti-Israel incitement by his Fatah faction or simply prefer to bury their heads in the sand. In both cases, the EU is not helping advance the cause of peace in the Middle East. On the contrary, the EU continues to turn a blind eye to this anti-Israel campaign, and is generously funding it through dozens of NGOs in the Palestinian territories.
Indyk: Get ready for UNSC resolution proposed not by Palestinians, but int'l community
If a government emerges after the election that does not launch a diplomatic initiative or opposes a Palestinian state, Israel will likely face a UN Security Council resolution proposed by all permanent members designed to “lay out the principles of a two state solution,” Martin Indyk said Monday.
Indyk, who was the US special envoy to last year's failed Israeli-Palestinian talks, said at the annual Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference in Tel Aviv that he expected this alternative would be “against Israel's will.'
Indyk, currently vice president and director of the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, has been involved in the diplomatic process since the Oslo period. After he stepped down over the summer following the collapse of the negotiations, he did little to hide his position that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was largely responsible for the breakdown of the talks.
“If there is a government in Israel after these elections that decides to pursue a two state solution, then there is a way forward,” Indyk said. “It begins with coordinating an initiative with the United States. And then, together with the US, looking to Egypt and Jordan and the resurrection of the Arab peace initiative, to find a way to provide the Palestinians both with an Egyptian-Jordanian anchor, and the political cover of the Arab peace initiative.”
Indyk said that in this arrangement there would have to be a “freeze for a freeze:” an Israeli freeze of settlement activity, and a freeze of Palestinian international activity against Israel.
Ron Prosor: Behind the Curtain at the Theater of the Absurd
As Israel's ambassador to the United Nations (UN), I have a front row seat to the world's foremost theater of the absurd. This fall, the UN will celebrate its 70thanniversary. In honor of New York's longest running production, I offer here a synopsis of the most recent drama and a special glimpse behind-the-scenes.
In Act I, the despots seized control of the General Assembly. The very nations undermining international peace were elected to the UN bodies responsible for maintaining global security.
In Act II, the world's most notorious human rights abusers commandeered the Human Rights Council. My stomach has churned as I have listened to the mass-murdering dictatorships that jail journalists and persecute political opponents cynically pontificate about the virtues of a free press and the sanctity of free and fair elections.
Now it seems we have arrived at the curtain call. The world's terrorists have been invited onstage and given a starring role.
Israeli Ambassador Warns: Hamas Rearming, Rapidly
Prosor also wrote that the terrorist organization is actively restoring its terror tunnels designed to target Israeli civilians, urging the global community to act quickly to prevent another outburst of hostilities.
Hamas "is preparing to attack through rearming, rebuilding its terrorist infrastructure and clarifying its commitment to war against Israel," Prosor warned in the letter. "Hamas is working around the clock to restore its weapons manufacturing capabilities and its military capabilities. It is determined to attack Israel from land, air and sea."
Prosor referred in part to Hamas "test launches" of rockets off the Gaza coast last month.
"Rather than rebuild Gaza, Hamas is busy boosting its terrorist infrastructure," he warned. "Over the past two months, it shot some 90 rockets into the Mediterranean Sea."
Hamas "has worked tirelessly to rebuild its terror tunnels," Prosor warns. "These tunnels are used for infiltration into Israel and to attack Israeli civilians."
Einat Wilf: Why the UN Security Council can't solve the Arab-Israel conflict by itself
Australia showed moral leadership in its term on the UN Security Council, most notably when it stood with the US in December and voted against a highly biased and anti-Israel draft resolution put forward by the Arab League, recognising true peace between Israel and the Palestinians can only be achieved via direct negotiations.
The path to Palestinian statehood has always passed through reconciliation with Israel - a recognition of both the fact of a Jewish state in the Middle East and the acceptance of its legitimacy.
The Palestinians don't need another UN Security Council resolution to achieve statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They could have it today by making peace with Israel. In fact, they could have had it in 2008 by accepting then-Prime Minister Olmert's peace offer, or in 2000 by accepting the American-brokered Clinton Parameters.
As such, one should be very sceptical of internationally imposed settlements. But, if the international community are determined an outside arrangement must be forced on the two sides, then their resolution must go all the way. Picking and choosing only some of the issues on which to stake a position is the worst possible course of action.
US to stop updating Israel on Iran nuclear talks — report
The US has stopped updating Israel on progress in talks with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, Channel 2 reported Sunday. The report was quickly denied in Israel and the US.
According to the TV report, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice has cut off contact with Israeli National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen on the talks. It also quoted chief US negotiator Wendy Sherman as saying that she will no longer keep Israel informed of the attack.
The channel characterized the move as revenge for Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress next month, which has raised the ire of the Obama administration.
But a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel that the report is false.
Channel 2 Backtracks on Obama 'Punishment' Story
Israel's Channel 2 television news has quietly backtracked on its report from Sunday, according to which the United States has announced that it will no longer update Israel on the progress of its talks with Iran – because Israel uses this information to meddle in US politics.
The White House has bluntly denied the report.
Channel 2 now claims that “senior American elements” have recently told Israel that they are “concerned about the leaks of information that the US is sharing with Israel about the agreement being formed with Iran."
The fact that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided to speak in Congress against the deal, in a speech that was not coordinated with the White House, will “adversely affect the quality of the information sharing” between the two countries, says the news channel.
The channel's new version of the bickering between the countries is, however, bound to be viewed skeptically by many, after it turned out that the previous report – by ultra-leftist reporter-analyst Amnon Abramovich – was false.
Exposé: Phony J Street Poll on Iran
Burnett was interviewing Israeli cabinet minister Naftali Bennett, who argued that the weak terms President Obama is proposing to Iran will leave Teheran with the capability to develop nuclear weapons in a short time. So Burnett swooped in with what she undoubtedly thought would be a "gotcha" moment.
Burnett said she was "fascinated" to learn that "Israeli Jews and American Jews do not seem to see things the same way" on Iran. Her proof: "The influential Jewish lobbying group J Street" --note the absence of any acknowledgment that J Street is a strident left-wing opponent of the Israeli government-- carried out a poll which asked American Jews "if they supported a nuclear deal with Iran, a deal that would allow Iran to enrich nuclear material, and 84% of American Jews said yes." This trend, she concluded, is "an historically momentous event."
"Allow Iran to enrich nuclear material" ? Is it possible that 84% of American Jews would endorse such a position, which sounds as if they are willing to risk Iran turning that enriched material into nuclear weapons?
No, it's not possible. The number is the result of a rigged question, which in turn is being manipulated by J Street and its supporters --including Erin Burnett-- to advance their argument.
J Street Needs to Stop Lying
Recently, it came to our attention that J Street invited former Secretary of State James Baker to their annual conference this coming March. This is the same James Baker who said, “f*ck the Jews, they didn’t vote for us anyway” in a private meeting some twenty years ago. Furthermore, sources confirmed that he would be the keynote speaker at this gathering. Finally, when word got around that Baker, a Republican, would attend the conference, Jeremy Ben-Ami spoke happily about it, saying that he was, “very excited to have one of pre-eminent Republican statesman of our time. Bipartisanship, as you know, is essential.”
Not only has Jeremy Ben-Ami allowed vicious Jew-haters like Max Blumenthal to J Street conferences, but he also intends on bringing another anti-Semitic mouthpiece into its fringe community. This brings us to the following conclusions: Both the hard left and the hard right get along extraordinarily well over their communal Jew-hatred. In addition, J Street’s definition of “bipartisanship” means when the extremes of both political spectrums come together to trash Israel and the Jewish people as a collective whole.
This latest announcement from J Street indicates that it once again crossed a line that should not be even approached by members of the Jewish community. Rather than proactively combatting the sources of anti-Semitic vitriol, J Street allows it to fester in its events, hoping to inspire the next generation of American Jews to get involved in politics and in international relations. For an organization that claims to be “pro-Israel,” it has no trouble allowing anti-Semites to speak ill of Israel in its mere attempt to existence as a sovereign state.
Boehner Slams White House 'Animosity' toward Netanyahu
Boehner defended his decision to invite Netanyahu to give an address on Iran's nuclear program before Congress next month, flouting diplomatic convention which says that such an invitation should have come from US President Barack Obama.
Boehner said he felt it was important to do an end-run around White House "interference," amid a raging debate over whether to soften sanctions on Tehran.
"I wanted to make sure that there was no interference," he said about his decision to issue the invitation to the Israeli leader.
"There's no secret here in Washington about the animosity that this White House has for Prime Minister Netanyahu," Boehner told the Fox News Sunday television program, adding, "frankly, I didn't want them getting in the way."
"It's an important message that the American people need to hear," Boehner, the top House Republican, added.
Victim’s Brother: Rasmea Odeh deserves “significant sentence”
“My late father … was a broken man for all the remaining years of his life. My mother … suffered torment and agony for 40 years”
Basil Joffe is the brother of Edward Joffe, who was killed in the 1969 Super Sol supermarket bombing in Jerusalem for which Rasmea Odeh was convicted. The evidence of Rasmea’s guilt is overwhelming.
In connection with Rasmea’s sentencing, Basil has sent a letter to the Court, which he provided to us. In the letter he requests permission to address the Court in person at sentencing, and also asks for a substantial prison sentence for Rasmea. Basil argues that while Rasmea need not be punished again for her crimes in Israel, the concealment of those crimes is so intertwined with the immigration fraud that the nature of the crimes can be taken into account in sentencing.
Fighting The “Israel Apartheid” Lie And Other BDS Slanders
The Northeast is covered in snow, New Year’s Eve bashes are a distant memory, and the college kids are back at school, with slew of “activists” bringing divestment resolutions to campuses. To quote a UC Davis divestment proponent, “Hamas & Sharia law have taken over” at that school, and other campuses are in the crosshairs.
Groups like Camera On Campus and Stand With Us have been doing a great job countering these hatefests. Not all campuses, however, have chapters of these groups. When I was a student at an ultra-left midwest campus, hostile to Israel as far back as anyone can remember, these groups didn’t even exist, and our little band of campus Israel supporters was on our own. A lot has changed since then, but one thing hasn’t: the movement to delegitimize Israel is based on half-truths, distortions, and outright lies disseminated in part by anti-Semites and in part by the small group of well-meaning but severely misguided liberals with whom they ally. The themes that these Israel-bashers rely on are occupation, checkpoints, settlements, and apartheid. This year it also seems likely that we will hear more about Gaza than we have in the past.
JewHatredOnCampus.Org
We are witnessing a resurgence of global Jew-hatred on a scale not seen since the 1930s when Hitler was making plans for the systematic extermination of European Jews. Today, neo-Nazi groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas are making plans to “finish the job Hitler started.” And at colleges across America campus organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Students Association support these homicidal Middle Eastern groups, employing classic anti-Semitic libels in their activism and intimidating Jewish students while calling for the destruction of the Jewish State.
Because the anti-Jewish, pro-jihad activities of groups such as the SJP and MSA violate the most basic codes of student behavior promulgated by university administrators, the David Horowitz Freedom Center has launched a campaign to raise public awareness about Jew-hatred on campus
Academic Progressivism Descends into Moral Madness
Self-identified progressive students on campus are also enthralled by pursing “social justice” on the part of the Palestinians precisely because Third-world victimism parallels the identity politics of the same student groups who fuel the promiscuous BDS resolutions being proposed on campuses around the country. Thus, African-American student groups frequently rally in support of divestment when they are attracted to the narrative in which Israel is positioned as a racist, apartheid regime that suppresses an indigenous colored people and deprives them of human rights. And it is similarly manifested in such Orwellian-named groups as the anti-Israel “Queers for Palestine,” whose very name is so ironic—given the treatment that homosexuals receive in the Middle East anywhere except Israel—that it is difficult to believe the group’s own members can keep a straight face while parading with signs in support of the Palestinian cause. In January, a student group at DePaul University, Feminist Front, produced a short video in which they proclaimed their support for a petition being circulated by DePaul Divests that asked the university to “uphold its Vincentian values by divesting from [companies that profit from] the Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Members of the Feminist Front, who, if they were living in Hamas-controlled Gaza would be subjugated into silence and persecuted for their alternative sexual orientation, have also decided that divestment is “a feminist issue” and “a queer issue.” Why? Because, they contend, “Israeli forces target queer folks with blackmail . . ,” and because Israeli “methods of occupation historically target women, through violence, kidnapping, and rape.”
These assertions are not only grotesque, counter-factual libels, but a precise inversion of the truth. In fact, Israel is so gay-friendly that its detractors have had to undertake mental contortions in order to put a negative spin on what normally would be seen as a cultural virtue: tolerating alternative sexual lifestyles. Instead, Israel’s academic defamers, such as Sarah Schulman, a professor of humanities at CUNY, who normally would applaud a tolerant state, accuse Israel of what Schulman termed “pinkwashing,” as she put it in a notorious 2011 New York Times op-ed, “a deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians’ human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life.” Nor is the Feminist Front’s assertion that the Israeli occupation is linked to targeting women through rape accurate, either. In fact, the complete opposite is true: among militaries of the world the IDF is noteworthy for the extremely low incidence in its ranks of rape of Arab women.
That finding was brought to light, oddly enough, in a master’s thesis written by a Hebrew University graduate student who actually wished to use these findings to indict the Israeli military, not applaud it. The student, Tal Nitzan, who received a prize from the University’s Shaine Center for the “scholarly” study she wrote, and which the Center eventually published, came to the breathtaking and intellectually perverse conclusion that Israeli soldiers were racist because of the fact that they did not rape Arab women. The “lack of IDF rapes of Palestinian women is designed to serve a political purpose,” Nitzan wrote. “In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it can be seen that the lack of military rape merely strengthens the ethnic boundaries and clarifies the inter-ethnic differences―just as organized military rape would have done.”
DePaul students cite 'feminism,' 'queer issues' in Israel divestment campaign
Students demanding DePaul University divest from Israel are calling their campaign “a feminist issue” and “a queer issue.”
On Jan., 21, Feminist Front, a student group at the Catholic university, posted a video in which members claimed the divestment movement is a feminist issue because Israeli “methods of occupation historically target women, through violence, kidnapping, and rape.”
The same video alleged that “Israeli forces target queer folks with blackmail.”
BBC promoted NGO supplying props for ‘Israel Apartheid Week’
On at least two occasions last year the ‘Senior Campaigns Officer’ for ‘War on Want‘, Rafeef Ziadah, was interviewed on BBC Radio 4. On one occasion – in a programme about Jerusalem – Ziadah’s employment at ‘War on Want’ and her activism in the BDS movement were not clarified to listeners at all, whilst on the other – in a programme about drones – her position at ‘War on Want’ was mentioned but the BBC did not bother to meet its own editorial guidelines by informing audiences about that organisation’s anti-Israel campaigning.
One recent manifestation of that political campaigning comes in the form of an offer from ‘War on Want’ to supply props to student groups organizing ‘Israel Apartheid Week’ events at UK universities. Students are encouraged to:
“Organise an Apartheid Wall display on your campus to raise awareness about the ongoing destruction and human rights violations caused by the Wall. Props available to borrow are:
Six wall panels. Each panel measures approximately 2 metres x 1 metre and is heavy and must be supported. Your group may borrow some or all of the panels.
One watch tower measuring 2 metres by 70cm diametre. It is very heavy.
Four cardboard/paper mache over sized guns measuring 1.5 metres each (new – not in picture)”
Egyptian jets bomb Libya after jihadists behead 21 Copts
Egyptian warplanes struck Islamic State targets in Libya early Monday morning, hours after a video of mass killing of Christians was published on the Internet, enraging Cairo.
A spokesman for the Armed Forces General Command announced the strikes on state radio Monday, marking the first time Cairo has publicly acknowledged taking military action in neighboring Libya, where extremist groups seen as a threat to both countries have taken root in recent years.
A commander in the Libyan air force, Saqer al-Joroushi, told Egyptian state television that dozens of militants had been killed in the bombing attacks, Reuters reported.
“There are casualties among the individuals, ammunition and the communication centers belonging to them,” al-said. “The number of deaths are not less than 40 or 50 for sure.”
Iran: ISIS murders in Libya serve the 'Zionist entity'
Iran's foreign ministry claimed Monday that Israel somehow benefited from the recent ISIS decapitations of Egyptian Christians in Libya.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told a group of journalists at a weekly press conference that "this latest act of terror in Libya against Coptic Egyptians serves the Zionist entity."
"It is important to be aware of the schemes that are causing extremist terror to flourish in the region."
ISIS decapitation clips sent to Israeli consul in France
A specialized anti-terror unit in Paris arrested a 19-year-old Muslim high school student for allegedly threatening the lives of Israeli consul in Marseilles, Barnea Hassid, and Jewish parliamentarian Meir Haviv.
The French police released only the suspect's first name, "Amin."
Amin sent an email to Hassid and Haviv containing videos of Islamic State militants showing off severed heads. Amin wrote in the emails "messages that point to a similar fate for the Israeli diplomat and the Jewish member of parliament."
Islamic State calls for terror attacks in France, Belgium
The nine-minute video in Arabic and French entitled “A Message to France” claims that Islamic State operatives are deployed throughout both European countries and await orders to commit additional attacks, specifically in Paris and Brussels, Israel Radio reported.
“Islamic State fighters are deployed everywhere and your nightmare begins now, along with the real war,” the Walla news site quoted the Arabic-language video saying.
The clip opens with recorded statements by French President Francois Hollande and former president Nicolas Sarkozy, followed by a segment from a home video of Amedy Coulibaly, the terrorist responsible for attacking a kosher supermarket in Paris last month, killing four and injuring nine.
Dozens of Wisconsin Homes Vandalized with Anti-Semitic Graffiti
Thirty homes on the far west side of Madison, Wisconsin, were vandalized Friday night, spray-painted with anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas and “F*** Jews,” obscene drawings, and KKK references.
Residents reported the graffiti Saturday morning, with police saying that some 30 homes were involved. Thus far no suspects have been reported, no residents noticing any potential suspects Friday night when the vandalism occurred.
The damage is estimated by police to be perhaps more than “tens of thousands of dollars,” and thus a felonious offense. The Wisconsin State Journal reports:
The graffiti consisted of offensive words and symbols painted on houses, garage doors, cars and mailboxes, police said. Most of the damage was done in the area west of Gammon Road, east of High Point Road and north of Mineral Point Road.
The graffiti included some swastikas and anti-semitic expressions, along with derogatory words directed toward women and minorities.
Woman attacks Jewish neighbor to convince her to convert
A Boise, Idaho woman harassed and physically attacked a Jewish neighbor in order to convince her to convert to Christianity.
Marguerite Haragan, 58, harassed the Jewish woman identified in a court hearing on Feb. 12 as AG first by phone calls and then by showing up at her home in Ada County.
Haragan, 58, has been charged with two counts of malicious harassment in the attack, which police have labeled a hate crime, local television station KTVB reported. She could face up to five years in prison for each count.
Haragan went to AG’s home on Feb. 5 and banged on her window while shouting that she “better believe in Jesus,” and that she would not leave until AG did, the Idaho Statesman reported, citing a recording of Haragan’s arraignment.
Israel outpaces all other countries for London IPOs
Last year was a banner one for Israeli exits – and especially for IPOs, according to the IVC Research Center and Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal law firm. Altogether, some two dozen Israeli companies went public in 2014, accounting for $2.1 billion of the nearly $7 billion raised in 99 Israeli tech exits.
Most of those IPOs were on the NASDAQ, but London turned out to be a close second. Nine Israeli firms listed on the London Stock Exchange, two on the Main Market (for well established companies) and seven on the AIM, the international Alternative Investment Market for smaller start-ups. More Israeli firms went public in London than from any other country, other than the UK itself.
To celebrate, some 30 CEOs and CFOs of Israeli companies took part last week in an event with representatives of the London Stock Exchange, organized by UK Trade & Investment at the British Embassy in Israel. The British Embassy, as the representative of the London Stock Exchange in Israel, assists Israeli companies in raising funds in London.
Sony attack fuels earnings blowout for CyberArk
Even the most bullish analysts were blown away by CyberArk Software Ltd.’s earnings last week.
The company, which focuses on privileged account security, reported fourth-quarter revenue 30 percent higher than the top estimate, sending the shares up 42 percent last week to a record $52.52. They’ve now more than tripled since an initial public offering in September, making CyberArk the best performer among last year’s record wave of Israeli IPOs.
With U.S. President Obama convening a national summit to combat hackers and data breaches at companies from Sony Pictures Entertainment to JPMorgan Chase & Co., companies are keen to spend on cybersecurity. That helped CyberArk close deals more quickly than analysts expected in the fourth quarter. The spate of attacks prompted Jonathan Ho, an analyst at William Blair & Co. in Chicago, to upgrade the shares three days before the earnings report.
“The bad guys have made it worthwhile to make these investments and that’s what’s pushing a lot of these companies to the forefront,” Ho, who raised his recommendation to buy from neutral, said by phone from Chicago Feb. 13. “I wanted to be on the right side of CyberArk, but there was no way I thought it would be as good as it actually was.”
Israeli Water Technologies and Spanish Infrastructure Companies – A Promising Combination
“Some of the world’s largest infrastructure project companies, such as Abengoa, are Spanish. They are very active in all of Latin America, and this presents a tremendous opportunity for Israeli water technology companies,” says Ami Levin, Israel’s Economic Attaché in Madrid.
Levin and his team in Spain, together with Israel NewTech and the Israel Export Institute, organized a delegation of 11 Israeli water technology companies which just returned from Spain. The visit focused on introducing them to the large Spanish infrastructure companies, who are on the lookout for water technologies such as filtering, purification and others, that Israeli companies are well-positioned to provide.
One of the delegation’s main objectives was to “get in the door” at Abengoa, a huge multinational corporation with over 26,000 employees in 80 countries. Abengoa is active in various cleantech sectors, including renewable energy, biofuel and desalination. The Israeli delegation spent a day in Abengoa’s headquarters in Seville, where each of the companies presented and a “speed dating” style networking event took place.
Exports by Intel Israel rose 10% last year, and total $39 billion over the 41 years of its activity.
Intel Israel's exports rose by 10% in 2014, and it is spending $800 million on upgrading its fabs, according to figures released today.
Intel Israel's exports totaled $4.25 billion in 2014 (accounting for about 4% of Israel's total exports of goods and services), compared with $3.8 billion in 2013. In its 41 years of activity in Israel, Intel Israel has notched up exports totaling $39 billion.
One of the largest projects that Intel Israel is currently working on is the upgrade of its fabs in Kiryat Gat. According to Intel Israel's estimates, construction costs will total $800 million. Intel will construct a 5,000 square meter building bridging between the two fabs in which robots will move silicon wafers between them: the Intel fab (Fab 28) and the fab that Intel bought from Micron.
Indian tech giant Infosys buys Israeli firm for $200m
In one of the biggest tech deals between the two countries ever, India tech service firm Infosys announced Monday that it was buying Panaya, an Israeli cloud tech firm that helps customers upgrade databases and make them more efficient. The deal, Infosys said, was worth $200 million.
With Panaya’s technology, the Indian firm said, Infosys will be able to offer upgraded services to customers using databases like SAP and Oracle. The acquisition, said Infosys, “uniquely positions us to bring automation to several of its service lines via an agile software as a service model, and helps mitigate risk, reduce costs and shorten time to market for clients.”
Multi-billion dollar Infosys is one of India’s biggest companies, providing back-office services for many US and European companies. Among its customers are firms in banking, finance, insurance, manufacturing, and many other areas, with the company providing programming services, data maintenance and entry, database maintenance, and other information technology areas.
BBC: Israeli hospital rebuilds injured Syrian man's face
Mohammed is a young farmer from Deraa, where protests against President Bashar al-Assad began, back in 2011.
We are not using his family name, to protect his identity, but he is one of a growing number of injured Syrians receiving medical attention in Israel.
At least 1,500 Syrians have been treated so far, about 20% of them at Haifa's Rambam Hospital, Israeli authorities say.
The Israeli military finds them in the Golan Heights, deposited on the Syrian side of the fence that marks the 1967 ceasefire line.
Israeli officials are coy about how the process works, but it is clear that a degree of co-ordination now surrounds both the arrival of the wounded and their eventual return after treatment.
When he arrived at Rambam Hospital, at the beginning of November, Mohammed was unconscious and barely clinging to life.
Some kind of projectile - he says it came from a Syrian military jet - had destroyed the lower part of his face, leaving a bloody mass of tissue.
As luck would have it, one of the hospital's maxillofacial surgeons, Dr Yoav Leiser, had just returned from a fellowship in Germany, studying the groundbreaking field of Patient Specific Implants (PSIs).
His department boss, Prof Adi Rachmiel, told him to get to work immediately on Mohammed.
Three months later, his face has been reconstructed and he can talk, thanks to a titanium lower jaw, forged on a 3D printer, using cranial measurements to estimate the size of his missing bones. (h/t Yenta Press)
From Northern Ireland to Israel: Meet Gush Katif Supporter Stephen Haire
From Northern Ireland to Israel, Stephen Haire’s unique story shows determination, love for the land and friendship – qualities inherent in him, that he found reflected around him in Israel, and particularly among the people of Gush Katif. On March 13 Stephen will be running in the Jerusalem half-marathon to raise funds for medical supplies for Gush Katif needy.
Stephen was born in Northern Ireland, UK.
Unfortunately, I was not born Jewish but I was taught from an early age to love and believe in the land of Israel and G-d’s covenant with the Jewish people. I stepped out of Christianity many years ago and am at the very early stages of giyur.
How did your Israel connection begin?
I first came to Israel with my brother for a week before his wedding and since then I’ve come back by myself. I believe this is my 12th visit! I went to Ulpan six years ago and volunteered twice with Sar-El and a lot with Hope for Sderot including during Operation Protective Edge. I’ve been volunteering on Kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh from October 2014 and I hope to be here for a year.
Scholarship established in memory of slain lone soldier
A scholarship endowment fund has been established in memory of Max Steinberg, an American lone soldier killed in Gaza during the summer’s Operation Protective Edge.
The Max Steinberg Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund was established by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in partnership with the fallen soldier’s parents, Stuart and Evelyn, and his siblings, Paige and Jake.
The fund was set to be formally launched Sunday in New York by American Associates Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Vice President Jessica Sillins at The Times of Israel Gala. The Steinberg family is one of three “Families of the Fallen” to be recognized Sunday evening. A portion of the gala’s profits will be donated to the fund.
The Steinberg endowment will provide scholarships to Golani and other combat reservists at the university in perpetuity, with first preference going to lone soldiers. The Steinberg family will be part of the decision process.