From Ian:
Ryan Bellerose: Why I Am Pro-Palestinian
We need more people to start using their brains. If there was a Palestinian state declared tomorrow, do you honestly believe the PEOPLE in “Palestine” would gain anything? Has the PA ever done anything that suggest competent governance? Do you think Hamas has? If they were to be GIVEN a State without being held to some accountability, we would be looking at a corrupt inept state for decades, with no chance at representative government, and damn sure no chance of real peace without violence. This is fact not opinion. Fact based on careful analysis of previous situations like this one.
There is hope. There are now Palestinans who are speaking up and while they may not be “Pro-Israel,” they are not ANTI Israel which until now has been the truth behind this pro-Palestinian movement. By speaking up they risk a lot of persecution and even murder. The thing is, without them speaking up, I would assume that Palestinians are OK with Hamas and Fatah speaking for them, OK with the rife corruption that is endemic in the Palestinian government and OK with trying to kill Jews constantly.
I believe that Palestinians will eventually find a leader who doesn’t want to perpetuate the conflict to fatten his own wallet with the skimming of aid money. Just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean we cannot hope. But my support of the PEOPLE in Palestine is based on what I think is best for them long term and I believe that they will need to be part of Israel eventually, but must show that they belong and they understand they belong before that can even be discussed.
Israel is a singular place, a place where people are allowed to worship God as they see fit, where women are respected and where gay rights are not just words but actions. It is the only true democracy in the Middle East and most importantly the people have demonstrated their moral clarity on several occasions. That alone should be enough for us to be very careful about lecturing Israelis on doing what we want them to do. Most of them understand that what’s best for the Arabs in Judeah and Samaria will also be what’s best for Israel and that’s not just giving it up but building it up, making it into a thriving region that is part of a vibrant and peaceful nation. Most Arabs seem to want that, at least the ones not living outside of those borders who just want to see dead Jews.
Ryan Bellerose discusses the parallels between the indigenous struggles in North America and Israel.
Video: Ryan Bellerose at CIJR full discussion 110min
Ryan Bellerose CIJR Highlights
Red Cross Cooperating with Hamas-Affiliated University
The faculty of Sharia (Islamic law) at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University in Gaza is preparing to hold an international conference in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross on the subject of international humanitarian law in light of Islamic Sharia.
The conference is scheduled to take place on October 13 and 14 this year, according to a joint ad of the Red Cross and the Islamic University, which appeared in the Hamas-affiliated Palestine newspaper on Sunday.
According to the ad, the first session of the conference will deal with humanitarian issues. The second session will discuss the basic principles in the management of armed conflicts, the third session will deal with victims’ rights and measures for their protection during armed conflict, and the fourth session will deal with guarantees for the implementation of the principles of the management of armed conflict and modern challenges.
All the sessions will examine these issues according to Sharia law and international humanitarian law, the ad states.
The cooperation with the Red Cross is puzzling given that the Islamic University is considered a stronghold of Hamas and, according to Israeli intelligence, Hamas uses it to develop its rocket arsenal.
LATMA: We'll be the Judge, Episode 7
The Seven episode of the Israeli satire program "We'll be the Judge," from the creators of Latma's Tribal Update, Israel Channel 1, March 19, 2015.
Countering the anti-Israel narrative
Why does the Jewish state get such a bad press? It remains the subject of more hostile United Nations resolutions than any other state. There are growing calls for its economy and institutions to be boycotted. Its legitimacy is challenged. And it remains the only entity on earth whose population is threatened with extinction. Israeli policy is even blamed for the upsurge in anti-Semitic terror attacks in Europe.
Its occupation of the West Bank in 1967, with its captive Palestinian population, is seen as the nub of the problem. Were that to cease, Israel would be welcomed back to the comity of nations. Or so conventional wisdom dictates.
Leslie Stein, professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, in this lucid, learned and authoritative study of modern Israel, debunks the contention that the searing Arab-Israeli conflict is premised over conflicting territorial claims. This misconception did not exist prior to 1967 when Israel was viewed as the beleaguered darling of liberal and left wing opinion.
Frederick Forsyth: Israel is proof that democracy works
I do not like bigotry and am no admirer of boneidleness.
You have to be seriously lazy not to do a bit of research before striking a silly pose – even if you are a wellsubsidised student.
How many of the banner wavers know that there are one and a half million Palestinian Arabs who are citizens of Israel?
If their plight is so appalling, why don’t they leave?
They could jump in the car and in an hour be over the border into Gaza to live under Hamas.
But they don’t. In the same time they could be in the West Bank, living under the PLO government.
But they stay put. Why?
Well, it seems they have a better life and are well aware of it. They have better homes and jobs, better hospitals for their aged and better schools for their kids.
Why Are James Fallows and His Commenters Annoyed by the Holocaust?
The ugly accusation that Jews ‘use’ the Shoah to drive nations to war migrates from the swamps of the right to the foreign policy left
Interestingly, there are some people whose obsessive invocations of the Holocaust are fine with Fallows. In 2013, he rose to the defense of Max Blumenthal, author of a book about Israel that depicts Jews as Nazis and their state as akin to the Third Reich. Asked about such comparisons at an event, “Blumenthal’s answer was that he used these terms purposefully, to draw the universals from the ‘never again’ message of the Holocaust,” Fallows wrote approvingly. “Logically, he has a case,” for “the lessons of respecting rights and avoiding group discrimination should be more broadly applied.” In his praise of Blumenthal’s book, which he compared to classics such as The Jungle and The Grapes of Wrath in its being a “polemic” against “injustice,” Fallows has been joined by others who favorably cited Blumenthal some 300 times on a leading anti-Semitic website, as well as David Duke, who has also enthusiastically endorsed Blumenthal’s lurid exposés of Jews and their malign powers. In short, Fallows is fine when the likes of Max Blumenthal invokes the Holocaust as a means of calling Jews the new Nazis; he just has a problem when Jews mention it in conjunction with Iran, or in any other connection that might impede the Obama Administration’s Middle East policies.
To top it off, Fallows then quoted a German reader—nice touch!—who asked, “Why should the nations around Israel permanently accept the nuclear threat of Israel with no option on their side,” as if Israel had ever threatened to annihilate any of its neighbors. The sentiments voiced by Fallows’ interlocutors are essentially indistinguishable from those expressed by Joe Sobran and his predecessors in open bigotry, and the anonymity with which he cloaks them reads as a tacit acknowledgement that what they had to say might still be seen as distasteful in certain precincts. I guess we should be thankful at least for that.
As Fallows and Sobran before him have argued, the Holocaust is indeed being used as a club—not by Jews but by their antagonists. Rather than a bludgeon wrought to beat the world into seeing them as perpetually on the brink of yet another attempted extermination, the Holocaust is today employed to discredit its victims and their descendants as hysterical children perpetually crying wolf. Sobran complained of being “bullied” by Jews, which is another tip-off: In fact, it is the Jews who are being bullied in this discourse. They’re the ones being told that their historical ordeals and suffering are overblown and exploited for low political gain and as an excuse to wage war on innocent Muslims. “In a peculiar way, the Holocaust story has promoted not only pity, but actual fear of the Jews,” Sobran said, blaming Jewish power for his descent from the heights of conservative journalism to insignificance. “It has removed them from the universe of normal moral discourse. It has made them victims with nukes.”
21 arrested at violent BDS protest in South Africa
Dozens of anti-Israel activists raided a South African store which sells products made in the Jewish State, massively damaging the premises. At the end of the riot, Pretoria police arrested 21 teens between the ages of 16 and 18.
The mob first protested outside the store in a demonstration organized by local groups seeking a boycott of Israel. Protesters carried signs saying "Israel is the devil" before some of them raided the store, throwing rocks, breaking equipment, and looting food products.
The rioters also attacked several of the employees. The total damage to the store, at riot's end, was in the tens of thousands of shekels.
The store targeted in the latest boycott effort was in an industrial park named after Sammy Marks, a famous South African Jewish financier. The chain of stores has long been a target for boycott advocates, who in the past placed a decapitated pig's head at the entrance to a branch which sells kosher meat.
Daniel Mael: Is Anti-Semitism a Problem on College Campuses?
Pressure Mounts on Southampton University to Cancel Openly Anti-Semitic Conference
Pressure is growing on Southampton University to cancel an openly anti-Semitic conference questioning Israel’s right to exist. A leading paediatrician has already handed back his degree from the university whilst two wealthy patrons have withdrawn support, and prominent lawyer Mark Lewis, who has a number of celebrities amongst his clientele, has said that he would think twice before hiring Southampton graduates.
The University has made no secret of the anti-Semitic nature of the conference, titled “International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism”, describing the event on its own website as concerning “the legitimacy in International Law of the Jewish state of Israel. Rather than focusing on Israeli actions in the 1967 Occupied Territories, the conference will focus on exploring themes of Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism; all of which are posed by Israel’s very nature.”
According to the Sunday Telegraph, nearly 4,500 people have already signed a petition calling on the University to cancel the conference, due to take place in late April.
Speaking to that paper, Mr Lewis, a partner with London law firm Seddons, said “This is a one-sided conference, not a debate and I would want to raise serious questions about what students at this university are being taught and what the university believes.
University Facing Backlash for Conference Questioning Foundation of Israel
The dispute over the conference is also raising issues about the University of Southampton.
Organizers said in a statement that the event “does not imply support or endorsement by the University of any of the opinions to be expressed at the conference.”
Still, a partner in a London law firm told The Telegraph that he might think differently about hiring from the university:
"This is a one-sided conference, not a debate and I would want to raise serious questions about what students at this university are being taught and what the university believes. If Southampton allows teaching which does not present both sides of a case it would raise doubts in my mind about the suitability of a candidate from its School of Law. I would not look so favourably on those CVs."
Among others attacking the conference is Member of Parliament Mark Hoban, who called it “provocative.” Vivian Wineman, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said he expects the university “to take all necessary steps to ensure it does not become a platform for extremists”.
According to The Times, Joachim Schlör, director of the Parkes Institute, a center for the study of Jewish history based at Southampton University, said: “A conference that singles out Israel and invites the questioning of its very existence cannot be supported by a group of academics dedicated to the study of Jewish history and culture.”
Israel Supporters Must Oppose New Israel Fund
Count the Jewish establishment in the UK among those who stand against the New Israel Fund (NIF), and the organizations they support.
On April 17-19, 2015 the University of Southampton in the UK will play host to an academic conference, “International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism” where the forum “concerns the legitimacy in International Law of the Jewish state of Israel” and will question the legality of the “foundation and protection of a state of such nature.” Topics to be discussed include a plan to “diagnose the legal position” of Israel to enable “scholarly debate and disagreement” on the legitimacy of Israel’s existence.
Various speakers for this event support and promote a “one-state” solution (end of Israel as a Jewish State), endorse BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns targeting Israel, and practice lawfare against Israel.
To put it simply – This is simply anti-Israel.
Among those who will speak at the conference is Ms. Sawsan Zaher, Senior Attorney at Adalah. Adalah maintains a “Discriminatory Laws in Israel” database on its website, and has previously supported a 2008 “lawfare” case against Israeli officials. Zaher has stated that Israel’s discriminatory laws constitute “apartheid.” This organization has received (at least) $1,673,634 in funding from the NIF between 2008-2013.
Retired British Col. Richard Kemp Accuses Anti-Israel Protesters of Racism, Antisemitism
Retired British Army colonel Richard Kemp told The Algemeiner that protesters displayed blatant antisemitism when they interrupted his recent lecture at the University of Sydney and shouted anti-Israel remarks.
“This is nothing other than antisemitism,” said the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan. ”Some of the screams and chants of the protesters were against the State of Israel. Because such people are afraid of the consequences of open antisemitic abuse, anti-Israel and anti-Zionist comments are often used by them as a proxy for their antisemitism.”
“It is no more than a thin disguise for their true racism,” he added.
At least a dozen anti-Israel demonstrators disrupted Kemp’s speech on March 11 and began chanting “Richard Kemp, you can’t hide, you support genocide.” Kemp, who was in Israel during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge, has previously said he believes the Israeli Defense Forces did everything possible to minimize civilian casualties during their strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
The protesters stood on chairs, pushed students and shouted at those who objected to their actions, The Australian Jewish News reported. The protesters were greeted by booing from some students in the audience and a few of the rioters wrestled with campus security guards before they were removed from the room.
Emeritus Chief Rabbi of Perth calls on USyd Senate to restore the confidence and dignity of the University
Dear Vice chancellor Dr Spence
The outburst by students alleged to have been led by a professor at the University against Col Richard Kemp, an exemplary soldier for more than 35 years, who speaks facts without emotion and sentiment, during his visit by invitation to the prestigious University of Sydney where I was a former lecturer in post graduate Hebrew Studies and in the Department of Adult Education for at least five years, is nothing short of shameful and disgusting behaviour.
I feel embarrassed for you and all the staff and students and should naturally expect that an appropriate response will be forthcoming from the Senate in dealing with this matter so as to restore the confidence and dignity of the University and its magnificent record.
Rabbi Dr Shalom Coleman CBE AM MA LLD(HON CAUS) Emeritus Chief Rabbi of Perth Western Australia
IsraellyCool: Anti-Israel Professors Gone Wild!
A recent study found that more than half of all Jewish college students have experienced anti-Semitism on US campuses, that combined with the tidal wave of anti-Israel demonization sweeping across our colleges is reason enough for any Jewish parent to be concerned. These facts are what prompted the mother of two students at the University of Washington in Seattle to attend the February 26th lecture by Omar Barghouti, one of the most radical of anti-Israel voices.
Fearful of her safety and that of her children, both students at the UW, the college mom who shared this incident with Israellycool asked that her identity not be disclosed. Respecting her wishes we will refer to her as “Rose”.
“I went to this event because my child was going to attend” said Rose. “I had been told that Barghouti is a radical and I wanted to see what my children were being exposed to at the UW”. The event to which Rose refers was a lecture sponsored by the University of Washington Simpson Center for the Humanities being given by the founder of the anti-Israel BDS movement, Omar Barghouti. According to the Simpson center website, this Palestine series was developed “to create possibilities for more sustained, open, and critical exchange.”
BDS LARP ing at Hewlett Packard
Apparently, Jewish Voice for Peace and the American Friends Service Committee and other local extremists groups object. To them, Palestinian inconvenience trumps Jewish lives. To them, nearly everything trumps Jewish lives.
On March 18, they held a protest at Hewlett Packard headquarters in Palo Alto, protesting HP’s role in developing the technology that insures Israeli citizens remain safe.
In spite of press releases sent out by Carol Sanders not a single member of the press showed up, missing what might have been one of the most bizarre and baffling anti-Israel events in recent memory
Organized in part by Dalit Baum, the AFSC “Director of Economic Activism for Palestine” the event featured silly hats, ill fitting wigs and octogenarians engaged in what can only be described as political activism meets LARP- live action role playing.
Grotesquely Named “Jewish Voices for Peace” Lies to Try and Damage U.S. – Israel Relations
Of course, the most bogus of these claims by Professor Kowit in his Op-Ed, and the crux of the entire Arab-Israeli conflict, is the notion that Israel “stole Palestinian land.” First, this claim ignores the fact there has never (EVER) been a country called “Palestine” at any time in history; it has always been a region identified with Jewish history and the Jewish people. Second, this claim ignores the fact that there has never been a time over the last 3,000 years when Jews did not live in the area referred to now as the modern State of Israel. Third, it ignores the fact that every bit of land Israel currently has control of, Israel won in defensive wars launched against it by Arab dictators in self-described “wars of annihilation.” Fourth, it ignores the fact that every time these same dictator-led Arabs have been offered to have a significant portion of the land of Israel become the 22nd independent Arab country in the world, including in 1936, 1948, 2000, and 2008, the Arabs have rejected that offer if meant agreeing to a Jewish State in any part of the land of Israel; which (sadly) is the real cause of this conflict and the ongoing bloodshed – – the unwillingness to agree to Jewish sovereignty anywhere in the Jew’s indigenous, ancestral homeland.
Peace will only be possible when the overwhelming majority of the Arabs governed by Hamas and the PLO stop believing crazy things (such as that Jews kill Muslim kids to use their blood for Passover Matzah), stop believing that they can destroy the one Jewish State, and start (as Prime Minister Golda Meir famously said back in 1957) “loving their children more than they hate us.” That is something, which would actually be worthwhile of a campaign by an American university professor, like Professor Kowit, instead of this deceptive JVP campaign of lies against the only democracy and the only place in the entire Middle East where women, Christians, Jews, Gays, Druse, Muslims, atheists, … can enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and so many other rights and freedoms that those of us in the USA and Israel often take for granted. Of course, that would require asking for the Palestinians to take responsibility for their constant choice of war over peace year after year since 1936, and sadly, that is something Professor Kowit and his fellow Israel haters at JVP will never do. They rather just lie about Israel.
BBC’s Gaza blockade campaign continues with amplification of another NGO
Likewise, Doucet makes no attempt in either of these interviews to explain to audiences why Israel finds it necessary to restrict the entry of dual-use goods to the Gaza Strip (and those alone) which can be used for the purposes of terrorism against its civilian population. Hamas terrorism gets no mention at all and BBC audiences are herded towards the inaccurate belief that responsibility for “the main problem” holding up the reconstruction of buildings in the Gaza Strip lies exclusively with Israel.
As we have seen so many times before, the motivation for Doucet’s uncritical amplification of Roger Hearn’s inaccurate and misleading claims obviously lies both in a shared political view and in the BBC’s failure to treat NGOs with the same sort of journalistic standards it applies to other sectors. Hence, once again the BBC’s obligation to enhance its audiences’ understanding of international issues by means of accurate and impartial reporting is trumped by the opportunity to promote a political agenda.
The BBC self-conscripted to amplification of the campaign promoted by Hamas and assorted NGOs and ‘humanitarian’ groups against Israeli policies concerning its border with the Gaza Strip even as last summer’s conflict still raged. As we see, the exploitation of its unrivalled outreach for that purpose continues.
UK Media Watch prompts revision to Guardian claim that Israel launched war to avenge teens’ murder
As we noted in a recent post, a March 16th Guardian video story (Could the Israeli left beat Bibi?) co-produced and narrated by Phoebe Greenwood included this claim at the 1:14 mark:
In July, 2014, Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza. Netanyahu said this was in retaliation for the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank.
This of course is flat-out wrong. Israel launched Operation Protective Edge to stop rocket attacks from Gaza, and Netanyahu never once claimed that it was in “retaliation for the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teenagers”.
After contacting Guardian editors, the following addendum was added below the video.
Watchdog: Social Media Sites Slowly Improving Efforts to Stop Terror Promotion
Barely minutes after the news broke of yesterday’s terrorist attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis, in which 22 people, the vast majority of them foreign tourists, were murdered, jihadi sympathizers were taking to Twitter to crow about their latest success.
“Tunisia is contributing the most number of mujahideen to the front and in the Islamic State alhamdulillah,” asserted one tweet, in a triumphalist tone that was typical of hundreds of similar declarations.
The attack underlined in particularly gruesome fashion one of the key findings of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s 2015 Report Card on how social media giants are dealing with online terrorist and extremist campaigns. Twitter, which received a ‘C’ grade, is deemed by the Center to be the “online marketing weapon of choice for extremists of all types. There have been hundreds of thousands of tweets that often serve as the key link in online communications and marketing of groups like ISIS.”
Still, Twitter executives are at least starting to realize that there is a serious problem here—last month, founder Jack Dorsey and CEO Dick Costolo even received threats after jihadi accounts were blocked—but the Center says more effort is required if the company is to get to grips with the awkward reality that blocked accounts can be reopened under another name, while removed tweets can be tweeted again and remain online for hours before they are rediscovered.
Rabbi: 'Kill The Jews!' Synagogue Attack NOT Anti-Semitic
The rabbi of the synagogue attacked early Sunday with a gang of 20 young men and women yelling “Kill the Jews!” says he doesn’t think the incident had anything to do with anti-Semitism. The attack, he maintains, was simply an example of “anti-social” behavior.
A video posted online Sunday shows a group of 20 or so intoxicated young men and women attempting to force their way into the Ahavas Torah synagogue of the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Stamford Hills. In the video, the gang can be heard screaming anti-Semitic statements as they try to gain entrance and vandalize the building by throwing objects at doors and windows.
Those inside the synagogue, celebrating the end of the sabbath, used chairs to fend off the intruders. The attack resulted in six arrests and one of the congregants sustaining non-serious injuries to his face.
Despite the anti-Semitic abuses, Maurice David, the rabbi of Ahavas Torah, told reporters he does not believe the assault was motivated by a hatred of Jews, but that it was merely an “anti-social” outburst. The neighborhood, he said, remains a “safe place for Jews to live” that offers “good social cohesion” among diverse groups.
London: 'We Believe in Israel' Event Follows Synagogue Attack
Some 1,500 Israel-supporters from all over Britain are expected to take part Sunday in the country's largest-ever grassroots conference on Israel.
The ''We Believe in Israel'' conference will cover dozens of subjects, including online activism, campus activity, and countering the boycott-Israel movement.
The event is being held only hours after a group of thugs attempted to break into a Stamford Hill synagogue. Witnesses said up to 20 attackers tried to break in to the building, breaking doors, damaging prayerbooks, and yelling threats to kill the worshipers. One Jew was injured, and five or six attackers were arrested. The police said they are treating the incident as an anti-Semitic one.
Just a few days earlier, British PM David Cameron pledged that Jewish schools and synagogues would receive an annual 10 million pounds (nearly $15 million) for security.
"At a time when once again the Jewish communities of Europe feel vulnerable," Cameron said, "and when anti-Semitism is at record levels here in Britain, I will not stand by, I will not turn a blind eye to the rising threats Jewish people face, spurred on by Islamic hate preachers.'' He made this pledge at a dinner of the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that deals with security and protection of Jews in Britain.
He further said he would "fight anti-Semitism with everything we have got."
Jewish graves vandalized, human remains scattered in Hungary
The leader of a small Hungarian Jewish community says about 20 graves have been vandalized in a Jewish cemetery.
Peter Weisz says the damage to the graves in the northeastern city of Gyongyos, including the scattering of human remains, was “unprecedented.”
The office of Prime Minister Viktor Orban condemned the “barbaric deed” on Sunday and vowed to launch a program this year to renovate neglected cemeteries.
Weisz said a number of graves dating as far back as the late 1800s were of ancestors of some of the 80 current members of the recently re-established Jewish community in Gyongyos. Weisz said relations with other religious groups in the city of 30,000 people were “exemplary.”
Last year, more than 50 gravestones were vandalized in a Jewish cemetery in northeast Hungary.
‘Argentine archaeologists explore possible Nazi hideout’
Archaeologists in Argentina believe a collection of ruins found deep in a remote jungle region may be the remains of a secret hideout built by German Nazis to flee to after World War II, a report said Sunday.
A team of archaeologists is studying the remains of three buildings located in the Teyu Cuare provincial park in northern Argentina on its border with Paraguay, the Clarin newspaper reported.
The University of Buenos Aires researchers have found five German coins minted between 1938 and 1941 and a fragment of porcelain plate bearing the inscription “Made in Germany.”
“Apparently, halfway through the Second World War, the Nazis had a secret project of building shelters for top leaders in the event of defeat — inaccessible sites, in the middle of deserts, in the mountains, on a cliff or in the middle of the jungle like this,” the archaeologists’ team leader Daniel Schavelzon told Clarin.
Website matches US business students to Israeli jobs
MBA students who want to work in Israel on an internship now have an online resource that will help them make the right match. InsideIL is a new website and nonprofit organization with an online matching platform that helps students find internships at Israeli companies across a variety of industries including biotechnology, cyber security, venture capital, and e-commerce.
For both MBA students from the US and Israeli tech firms, InsideIL helps smooth the process of finding the right students for the right positions. InsideIL, said founders Sara Greenberg and Della Heiman, works with companies in Israel to identify and structure summer internships that will be beneficial for both the company and the intern. Most of the internships offer salaries, and for those that pay less than comparable internships in the US, the organization arranges for government grants for living expenses, flights, and incidentals.
InsideIL only does the introductions; it is not involved in the placement process, which is up to the company. Nevertheless, InsideIL, after just one internship “season,” has achieved an excellent reputation among Israeli companies.
Prescott Watson, Director of Special Projects at the equity-based crowdfunding platform OurCrowd, one of InsideIL’s first host companies, said, “InsideIL is a fantastic source for Israeli companies to find top-tier B-school students. Their team has been easy to work with and – most importantly – the interns have been among the most driven and capable we’ve had the pleasure to work with.”
Israeli startups woo American investors
Israeli startups and American investors will converge at the invitation-only Israel Dealmakers Summit 2015 next week in New York City. The March 24-25, 2015 event is a premier networking opportunity for senior global thought leaders to discuss the technology, trends and innovations shaping key sectors including Digital Media, Mobile & Wireless, CyberSecurity, Smart Cities, Enterprise Software, Health & Wellness, Internet of Things and Big Data.
“Israel has more active startups per capita than any foreign country, but one commonly cited problem is the lack of early-stage venture capital. The US has always been the first step for any aspiring Israeli high-tech company,” said Nili Shalev, Israel’s Economic Minister to North America. “The Israel Dealmakers Summit brings an impressive microcosm of Israel together in one room, unrivaled in terms of the global caliber of companies, investors and dealmakers. The summit has become a must-attend event for Israeli entrepreneurs and start-ups looking to gain a foothold in the US technology ecosystem.”
Among confirmed speakers are Yair Snir, Director, M&A and Business Development of Microsoft; Howard Tullman, CEO of 1871; Jonathan Pulitzer, Investment Director of GE Ventures; Jacques Benkoski, Partner of US Venture Partners; Jacob Lamm, EVP, Corporate Development & Strategy of CA Technologies; Claudia Fan Munce, Managing Director of IBM Venture Capital Group; Yifat Oron, CEO of LeumiTech; Kira Radinsky, CTO and Co-Founder of SalesPredict; and Imad Telhami, Chairman of Takwin Labs.
The summit, now in its seventh year, is organized by Landmark Ventures, a leading strategic advisory firm and global investment bank, in partnership with Investment Promotion Center of the Israel Ministry of Industry and Trade.
UK fund to enable small investments in Israeli tech firms
Taurus Asset Finance, a UK-based financier, is launching a fund that will enable retail investors to invest in start-up technology companies in Israel and the United Kingdom.
Wekix II is an Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fund specialising in cloud, Internet, mobile Internet and e-commerce early-stage firms. EIS is a series of UK tax relief measures designed to encourage investments in small unquoted companies.
Shay Hasson, managing partner of Wekix II, noted that Israel is home to a large number of tech start-ups.
"Its businesses have continued international investment opportunities and we want to tap in to that," he said on Thursday, adding that London has the market, creative services and capital that Israeli high-tech companies need to grow.
In 2014, Israeli high-tech companies raised a record $3.4 billion from venture capital and private investors, led by the Internet sector, according to the Israel Venture Capital Research Center.
Dionne Warwick to croon in Tel Aviv
Legendary soul and R&B singer Dionne Warwick will perform on May 19 at the Menorah Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv. The 74-year-old Warwick is best known for popularizing the Burt Bacharach-Hal David songbook, creating huge hits in the late 1960s with songs like "Walk On By," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" and "I'll Say a Little Prayer."
The cousin of the late Whitney Houston, Warwick continued a thriving career through the decades, including scoring a number one hit in 1985 with "That's What Friends Are For," a collaboration with Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Gladys Knight.
In 2013, Warwick made headlines when she declared bankruptcy, with more than more than $10 million in unpaid taxes. On the rebound, she released an album that year, Feels So Good, in which she picked up Tony Bennett's lead and recorded duets with a slew of younger artists, including CeeLo Green, Ziggy Marley and Ne-Yo.
Dave Gahan in Israel for son's wedding
Dave Gahan, the lead singer of British electronic band Depeche Mode, landed in Israel on Friday morning for a very special occasion: His 27-year-old son, Jack, married a local girl, Sigal Memis.
The wedding, which took place Sunday at a banquet hall in Caesarea the presence of 200 guests and scores of security guards, began with the couple standing under the chuppah (wedding canopy) during the sunset.
The romantic relationship between Memis (originally Memistevlov) and Gahan Jr. began more than six years ago when Jack decided to join his father's concert tour in Israel in 2009. He met Sigal, who comes from the northern city of Nahariya, while hanging out with the band members at a Tel Aviv nightclub. Since then, Sigal has moved to London and the couple has been keeping its relationship away from the spotlight.
Facebook Israel to hire 40 new employees
Facebook Israel will be hiring 40 new employees, its local team announced Sunday – 30 for its R&D center and 10 for marketing.
The announcement by Facebook Israel development center general manager Roy Tiger and country general manager Adi Soffer- Teeni comes a year-and-a-half after the social-networking giant acquired local startup Onavo for $120 million and turned it into its Israel R&D center. An earlier Israeli acquisition by Facebook was moved to the US.
Israel’s center is part of one of Facebook’s most important projects, called Internet.org, Tiger said.
“The goal is to connect two-thirds of the world to the Internet,” he said, noting recent successes in countries such as Colombia, the Philippines and India. The initiative helped set up free access to health, education and employment services.
Palestinian scientist wins top job at Israeli ministry
A scientist from East Jerusalem was appointed to a senior position at Israel’s science and technology bureau Sunday, becoming the highest-ranking Palestinian without Israeli citizenship in an official government post.
Tarek Abu-Hamed of Sur Baher, who specializes in the field of chemical engineering, was named as deputy chief scientist of Israel’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, the state body responsible for setting national policy on issues such as international scientific collaborations and research and development funding.
The deputy chief scientist is responsible for overseeing national scientific infrastructure, statewide intellectual property and the taxation of academic institutions, according to the ministry’s website.
The chief scientist at the bureau, Nurit Yerimiah, praised the decision and said that the appointment was made on professional grounds, the Haaretz daily reported.