An ultra-Orthodox Jewish (click here) man walks past a street poster in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood, inviting the public to a protest against government plans to draw more ultra-Orthodox men into the conscript army, June 3, 2013.
Israel needs to promote all the peaceful activities of the Palestinian nation, without exception.
Sepp Blatter, head of the international soccer governing body, (click here) to speak with Israeli officials to try and ease travel restrictions on Palestinian soccer players on Monday.
By Reuters | 11:57 08.07.13The head of FIFA, the international governing sports body was due to meet Israel's soccer chiefs on Monday and was also hoping to speak to political leaders on the matter of easing travel restrictions between the West Bank and Gaza....
I can understand the Israel government seeking intelligence, but, charges for assisting rebels? Really? This would indicate Israel is not taking sides in Syria's civil war. Israel is interested in peace and stability.
July 8, 2013
By Reuters
JERUSALEM - Israel sentenced an Arab citizen (click here) to 30 months' imprisonment on Monday for endangering national security by briefly joining Syrian rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Massarwa was arrested on March 19 upon returning via Turkey from Syria, where he had spent a week at a rebel base. Israeli prosecutors accused him of undergoing small-arms training by radical Islamists there who asked him to carry out a suicide attack in Israel - although, by all accounts, he declined....
July 7, 2013
After years of public controversy, (click here) the Interior Ministry is planning to run a pilot of the biometric database in Rishon Lezion on Monday afternoon, the ministry announced Sunday.
The pilot is set to take place from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Interior Ministry building in Rishon Lezion, where citizens coming to renew or receive a new identification card will have the option of signing up for a new biometric version or the traditional blue identification card.
Civil rights groups and data security campaigners have long criticized the database, saying that it would provide an unprecedented platform for running surveillance on private citizens, as well as a threat of security breaches and data leaks....
Israel’s Mobileye Adds Investors in Potential IPO Prelude (click here)
By Gwen Ackerman
Jul 7, 2013 5:15 PM ET
The transaction valued Amsterdam-based Mobileye at about $1.5 billion and is likely to close in August, the company said in an e-mailed statement today. It didn’t identify the new investors.
“This successful transaction is a testament to the strength of our business and the company’s future prospects,” Chief Executive Officer Ziv Aviram said in the statement.
Founded in 1999, Mobileye makes a chip and a system that alert drivers to pedestrians, unintended lane departure and speed limit violations among others. It can also execute active breaking to prevent an accident. General Motors Co. (GM) and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG are among the company’s customers.
The equity sale allowed early investors to exit and brought in more prominent stakeholders who can help the company move toward an IPO, said a shareholder, who asked not to be identified because the new investors haven’t been announced publicly....
The Past and the Possibilities - Israel wants peace. They don't want war. They don't even want war with Iran. Israel accepts their military necessity as a defense.
Morsi had his benefits. He was not interested in war either. The history of the Muslim Brotherhood has been radicalized because they were ostrasized. With Morsi gone it returns that void, although, the groups survive to still seek political seats in Egypt. Al Qaeda associates in the Sinai and economic deterioration, including sabotage of pipelines, was the real problem. It was the economics and social pressures that were adopted quickly causing the unrest. There were problems with Morsi's leadership.
July 7, 2013
...Nevertheless, (click here) he asserted that Israeli leaders have been "of two minds" about Morsi and the Brotherhood.
"They accept as a fact the Brotherhood's long-term goal of Israel's destruction; in the short term, however, Morsi supported Israel's immediate security from the Gaza ceasefire to increased weapons-smuggling interdiction in Sinai," Gold noted.
Who to tame Hamas after Morsi?
Last November saw the renewal of military confrontations between Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Israeli troops that launched a series of destructive attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Buildings, media centres and different government facilities across Gaza, including premier Ismail Haniyeh's office, witnessed a series of airstrikes. These week-long airstrikes led to the death of more than 162 Palestinians.
Five Israelis were killed as a result of Hamas rockets fired into Israel.
Netanyahu's government saw Egypt's Islamist president as a potential friend, especially after the ouster of Mubarak, Israel's ex-"strategic treasure."
Morsi had succeeded in securing a truce between the sides after contacting various parties to the conflict, despite the fact that Washington had refused to pressure Israel in this regard.
Paul Sedra, a specialist of modern Egyptian history at Simon Fraser University, said that it is doubtful that Egypt's coming president will have much influence on the Hamas leadership "at all."...
July 7, 2013
(Reuters) - An Israeli F16 warplane crashed (click here) at sea on Sunday due to an engine malfunction and Israel subsequently grounded all its F15 and F16 combat aircraft pending a review of the incident, a military spokesman said.
The pilot and navigator on board managed to safely bail out of the U.S.-made plane and a military rescue unit came to evacuate them by helicopter, the spokesman and Israeli media reports said.
"An F16 combat aircraft crashed earlier today in the sea after the engine malfunctioned," the spokesman said. He added that the air force commander had decided to "ground all F16 and F15 planes until circumstances of the incident are reviewed."
Israel's Channel 2 television said that the crash occurred off the coast of the Hamas Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip, a territory which also borders on Egypt.
