[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 12/28 Links: Palestinians create instructional video on stabbing; BDS fail

From Ian:

US senator Graham threatens to defund UN over Palestine bid

Visiting US Senator Lindsey Graham threatened Saturday to withhold US funding from the UN, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the Palestinian Authority, a day after a senior Palestinian official said the PA will push for a UN vote on the Palestinian statehood bid by Monday.
“This is the same PA that joins hands with Hamas, incites constantly against Israel, the same PA is going to try to bring to the UN Security Council a resolution that seeks to impose on us conditions that will undermine our security,” the prime minister charged on Saturday at a press conference in Jerusalem with the Republican senator from South Carolina.
“We will stand firmly and reject such a diktat,” Netanyahu said.
Graham, a staunch pro-Israel senator, expressed support for the PM’s position, declaring that Congress would not “sit back and allow the United Nations to take over the peace process.”
Graham went so far as to say that “any effort by the French, the Jordanians or anyone to avoid direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians over the peace process, anyone who tries to take this to the UN Security Council” will be met with “a violent backlash by the Congress that could include suspending funding to the United Nations. We will not sit back and allow the United Nations to take over the peace process.”

The Palestinians' Real Enemy: Europe

Listening, in both English and Arabic, to the latest speeches of Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas and his fellow Fatah Central Committee members, we get the uncomfortable feeling that the Palestinian State, now being promoted in Europe, will not only be a threat to the stability of the entire region, but to us who have to keep living here, as well to those countries in Europe who promote it.
As Palestinians discuss among themselves -- far from the diplomats in their five-star hotels -- rather than accept this "gift" that Europe seems determined to push down our throats, many people increasingly see no choice but to launch a "Palestinian Spring" revolution. It would not be, as you might think, to rid them of Israel but finally to rid us of our wretched leadership and corrupt system of government -- and to stop the European counties that are imposing this brutal system on us by financing it.
We have been fortunate enough to see from Israel how a democracy works. So although a Palestinian Spring revolution might cause chaos in the region and elsewhere for a while, its chances of success are far more assured than in the other places in the Middle East, where it has been tried but has not always succeeded.
We do not want to do this, of course, but if we are forced by Europe to have this corrupt dictatorship called Palestine, terrorist groups such as Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, and ISIS will flood the West Bank in less than week, and our lives will be even worse than what we have now. We simply do not know what else to do to defend ourselves from these "Goodists" of Europe.

Palestinians create instructional video on stabbing

Palestinians have uploaded an instructional video on the internet that shows would-be attackers the most lethal ways to stab somebody.
The step-by-step video, titled “How to stab correctly,” was circulated on YouTube and its links were shared with the Facebook and Twitter groups of Palestinian organizations and activists in East Jerusalem, the Hebrew news site NRG reported Saturday.
The 72-second clip comes in the wake of a number of stabbing attacks throughout Israel and the West Bank. Most recently, two border policemen were injured when an assailant attacked them in the Old City of Jerusalem Friday morning.

"Palestinian" How to stab someone video

The religious cleansing of Middle East Christians

Dr. Richard Landes, director and co-founder of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University said, “in the old days [Yishuv days], when the Muslims rioted and massacred Jews, they’d say, ‘first the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.’ Now that the Jews have a state and can defend themselves, they’ve moved on to the Sunday people, and the only place Christians are safe is where the Saturday people have sovereignty.”
He added, “The really sick part of this picture is that the Christians in the west not only won’t come to the defense of the Sunday people in the Muslim world, but rather, seem fixated on not letting the Saturday people defend either themselves or the Sunday people who live among them. With their western enemies behaving so self-destructively, it’s a good time to be a jihadi.”
Melancholy, frustration, outrage, deep pessimism, shock and exasperation seem to be the dominant themes when experts discuss the plight of Christians in the Middle East. Western policy makers and politicians have failed to mobilize the raw energy of their capitalist economies to stop jihadi attempts to wipe out Christians.
“I’m not very hopeful that things will get much better.
We will continue to see things that shock us in the year ahead. Next year may even be worse than 2014,” said Van Zile.

The Destruction of the Middle East

The heritage of centuries has been wiped out in little more than a year.
Eventually the need to wipe out all traces of unbelief becomes obsessive. At one time, for instance, Egyptian law demanded that any house found to contain a copy of The Apology of al-Kindi (a book containing a polemical dialogue between a Muslim and a Christian) would be demolished along with 40 houses around it.
Ethics were defined by what Allah said was good or evil in Sharia law. The Islamic State's behaviour is solidly rooted in Islamic ideology, law and practice. It is only when this fundamental fact is grasped that we will be able to address what confronts us.
There are many wise and sensible Muslims who favour a shift to a more updated way of thinking. It is their mosques and shrines that are being crushed; it is their heritage. Today, such Muslims use the freedoms bestowed on them in the West to write, network and debate their opposition to fundamentalist interpretation of Islam by the Islamic State and other supporters of murder and destruction.

Indiana Governor in Israel, Refuses Abbas Invitation to Dinner

Republican Indiana Governor Mike Pence spent Christmas with his family in Israel, part of a nine-day trip that includes a three-day jobs mission to meet with government and business leaders to discuss expanding economic ties between Indiana and the Jewish State.
According to a Facebook post by Caroline Glick, senior contributing editor of The Jerusalem Post:
"As a visiting dignitary, Pence and his family were invited to PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas’s annual Christmas dinner, where he was notified that a car would be sent to fetch him to Abbas’s office for an unscheduled and unsolicited meeting at 10:45pm.
Governor Pence in his inimitable wisdom, politely and firmly declined the summons."
Pence’s support for Israel is not new.
During his tenure as congressman, representing Indiana’s 2nd and 6th Districts, Pence was regarded as one of Israel’s staunchest supporters.
“His support for Israel and the safety and security of her people is genuine, not politically motivated in the least,” said Protect Our Heritage PAC Co-Chair, Peggy Shapiro. “I have always been impressed with his knowledge of the region and the threats against Israel’s existence. He is a truly genuine friend of the Jewish people.”

Netanyahu pans UN for ‘honoring’ Palestinian incitement

Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Iran was increasing its efforts to arm the Palestinians in the West Bank against Israel, a move he said was encouraged by the Palestinian Authority envoy to Tehran.
“In recent weeks we have seen a stepped-up Iranian effort to intensify terrorist actions in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “None other than the PA ambassador to Tehran said he was enthusiastic about the instructions by Iranian leader Khamenei to send weapons to the West Bank.”
The prime minister proceeded to quote the Palestinian envoy who said Israel was “an aggressive cancerous growth that must be destroyed sooner or later,” emphasizing that “this was not a Hamas member who said this, this is the envoy of the PA in Tehran.”
The prime minister condemned the UN for failing to combat the incitement, and for supporting the Palestinian’s move to pass a resolution which would call on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and East Jerusalem by 2017.
“Instead of dealing with this incitement, they give it a place of honor,” he said of the UN. The international body is also in favor of advancing the Palestinian resolution “whose goal is to impose a settlement which will establish a second ‘Hamastan’ here and endanger our security.”

Europe is in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state, Abbas claims

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that the Palestinians feel they are in a position of strength “because the world is standing with us.”
In a message to Fatah activists in Nablus, Abbas said that the parliaments and governments of important countries in Europe have voted in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state.
He pointed out that only nine countries opposed the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations General Assembly in 2012.
Abbas said that in light of worldwide support, the Palestinians felt strong enough to go to the Security Council and ask for a resolution that sets a timeline for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines.

Hamas left out of loop on UN draft proposal, official charges

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has not consulted his government’s partner Hamas on a draft resolution calling on the UN Security Council to set a binding timetable for ending Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a Hamas official charged Saturday.
The accusation from Hamas deputy political chief Moussa Abu Marzouk came as other Palestinian officials also panned the statehood bid for not going far enough to secure Palestinian rights.
“It is not enough to say that eight points have been amended in the paper submitted to the Security Council,” Abu Marzouk wrote on his Facebook page. “Our Palestinian people must know what these amended points are, and why the provisional leadership framework wasn’t summoned to approve the proposed resolution. Who submitted the previous resolution, which relinquished the rights and principles of the Palestinian people? Whoever did so should be held to account.”

Hamas Military Parade: All Palestine Is Ours from the River to the Sea

The Straightforward Message of the Arabs VS. The Convoluted Jewish Argument

The Arabs’ genocidal military assaults on the Jewish state failed repeatedly, so today they are using propaganda and diplomatic shenanigans in their efforts to destroy us. The Arabs have the power of huge territory and oil money, but we have truth on our side. We live in our homeland, and only we have a legitimate claim to this land—legally, morally, and historically. We will never let Arab squatters and imposters steal our birthright. As people of good will around the world learn the truth, they will stand with the people of Israel.
This should be our Jewish message. I hope that when our PM visits Europe and explains the situation, he will go beyond raising just the security issues. This is a message that even our European friends should be able to understand, since they are witnessing a replay of the same scenarios in their countries. Arriving as poor immigrants looking for jobs, just like in Palestine, once their numbers grow, radical Muslims take control and seek to impose their worldview and values wherever they live. From Berlin to Barcelona, from Marseille to Malmo, from Amsterdam to Athens they sow intolerance and hatred toward their host nations. They impose their sharia laws, homophobia and ill-treatment of women. Will Europeans be surprised when Arab Muslims start claiming that they alone are the native inhabitants of these lands? After all, they have gained experience and expertise in creating alternate realities during their aggression against the indigenous peoples of Israel.

'If UN Recognizes Palestine, Israel Must Annex in Judea-Samaria'

Likud Central Committee chairman Danny Danon, who is challenging Binyamin Netanyahu for leadership of the party, on Saturday night called on Israel to respond to an expected UN recognition of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as the "state of Palestine" by declaring sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
"We must clarify in the clearest terms to the world that every unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state will bring Israeli sovereignty," declared Danon in a meeting with Likud activists in Judea's Gush Etzion region.
Prime among the attendants at the meeting were Kiryat Arba Regional Council head Malakhi Levinger and Deputy Gush Etzion Regional Council head Moshe Savil.
"When a senior member of the Palestinian Authority, (chief negotiator) Saeb Erekat, dares to claim Israel equals ISIS (Islamic State), it's a sign that truly there is no one to talk with on the Palestinian side," said Danon.

Radical Leftists Call for Jewish-Arab List to Conquer Knesset

In a letter signed by 250 academics, politicians and other public figures from the radical left, a call went out for a wide Jewish-Arab unity on the left to conquer the Knesset and change Israel.
In the letter, the Jewish leftist radical leaders called on their Arab compatriots to join them, writing "the breakup on the Knesset brought the end of an awful government, maybe the worst in the history of Israel, which widened the colonialist enterprise on the occupied territories, deepened the economic gaps in Israeli society, and widened the exclusion of Palestinian citizens in Israel from the public sphere."
Aside from being a misnomer, the accusation of "widening the colonialist enterprise" stands out as being particularly ironic, given that the past government has been instituting a freeze on Jewish construction in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem for many long months despite there not even being an official request to do so from an external source, and amid a severe housing crisis. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

PreOccupied Territory: Elitists Already Disappointed By Election Results (satire)

A diverse group of elitists from across the narrowest sliver of the Israeli political spectrum gathered yesterday to mark what is clearly the death knell for the Israeli political system. Their group, Elitists for Government by Only Israelis who Showcase Total Superiority (EGOISTS), determined after a brief discussion that the country is going down the tubes because everyone else remains willfully blind to the only right way of doing things.
EGOISTS came together at Tel Aviv University yesterday to discuss the elections, scheduled for March 17. The diversity of the group ranged from academics and political activists openly hostile to Zionism all the way to academics and activists openly supportive of Hamas. Addressing the gathering of about eighty people were personalities as Haaretz’s Gideon Levy, Aluf Benn, and Amira Hess, with a special Skype call-in from noted liberal icon Hassan Nasrallah of Beirut. The EGOISTS conference dwelt mostly on the decay of Israeli democracy, as defined by anyone voting for policies other than the ones favored by EGOISTS.
“The results of this election were, predictably, an indication of antidemocratic, right-wing extremists clinging to power despite the overwhelming protests of those with a truer vision,” said EGOISTS in a statement emerging from the conference. “The short-sightedness of a system that merely listens to the votes of those who cast ballots and ignores the manifestly more ethical, moral, and democratic positions of our obviously superior caste dooms that system to failure.”

IsraellyCool: Forward Thinking: Ayala Shapiro? Had It Coming To Her

So maybe The Forward thinks it, the attack, really went down this way:
Two clean cut young men wanted their land back. They wanted self-determination. So one of them flagged down a car while the second one made his way to the passenger side of the car where Ayala was sitting, and politely tapped on her window, asking, “Excuse me Ma’am, are you by any chance a settler?” Only after determining that this little girl is occupying and oppressing him, did this young man do what was necessary to restore his pride, his rights to his land. . .
Um, no.
Justice does not look like that. And everyone knows it. There is no justification, no rationale for an evil act such as this. None at all. No religious justification. No legal justification. No moral justification. Not in any sense.
It is pure evil. Antisemitic evil. It is the Devil in Arab clothes, killing Jews for being Jews, and worse yet, for being Jews in the Promised Land.
That is something The Forward cannot stomach. Jews in their own land. Little girls growing up in the land God gave them. It cannot be countenanced, if you are The Forward.

Palestinian teens said to confess to West Bank firebombing

Security sources said the suspects, 16 and 17 years old, were arrested on the night of the attack, after a joint investigation by the IDF and the Shin Bet.
According to the probe, the two had intended to firebomb Israeli vehicles and waited by the side of the road for one to appear. After the attack, they fled back to their village, where they were later apprehended.
Shapira was seriously hurt in the attack, near Ma’ale Shomron in the West Bank.
On Saturday, the IDF released footage from the arrest operation.

Suspects Arrested for Molotov Cocktail Attack in Judea and Samaria

Firebomb Hurled at Residential Home in Jerusalem

A firebomb was thrown Saturday night at an apartment balcony in southeast Jerusalem in what police are calling a terrorist attack.
Fire broke out on the balcony at the building located on Meir Nakar Street in the Armon HaNatziv (East Talpiot) neighborhood. It was extinguished quickly. No injuries were reported but the balcony itself was damaged.
Fire and Rescue Services arrived at the scene to limit the damage of the attack. Meanwhile police and Border Patrol officers began searching nearby in Jabel Mukaber, a Jerusalem Arab neighborhood, in an attempt to locate suspects.
Marcel Kornicher, one of the building's tenants, said that he and his wife were sitting in their living room when the incident occurred.
"My wife suddenly saw fire and we had no idea why," he told Ynet. "We heard a boom which was extremely frightening. We were in shock. The bomb did not penetrate the apartment, but if it had gotten into our house, it could have set the house on fire. We saw what kind of damage firebombs can do last week."

The ongoing search for Arabic-language outrage at the men with the meat-cleavers and knives

In the long and bitter history of Arab, and in particular Arab Islamist, murderous hatred of their Jewish neighbours, the cold-blooded killings on the morning of November 18, 2014 of four Jewish men at prayer in the Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue in Jerusalem, along with a non-Jewish security officer who died trying to subdue the frenzied attackers, stand out.
This is not because the Har Nof Synagogue attack exacted an unusually large number of innocent victims: tragically, there have been many Arab terrorist attacks that killed and injured more people at a single time.
For many, the idea of an attack by men brandishing butcher knives, axes and a gun on unarmed individuals wrapped in prayer shawls, quietly swaying in their daily worship, will make concrete a horror that will have seemed incomprehensible. That horror is magnified by the evident clarity that accompanies the published Palestinian Arab reactions. If there is some ongoing process of moral doubt and profound soul-searching in their ranks, it's impossibly hard to find.

Expert: Hezbollah Building up Golan Terror Infrastructure

An analysis published this week in Haaretz indicates that Hezbollah is using Iranian and Syrian assistance to build up its terror infrastructure in the Golan Heights, a move that is likely to deepen concerns that the Iranian-backed organization is positioning itself for a dramatic escalation at in the region at a time of the terror group’s choosing. The Golan Heights area has in recent months seen intense fighting between rebel groups and troops loyal to the Bashar al-Assad regime, the latter with support from Hezbollah fighters.
Israeli military analyst Amos Harel assessed that the Iran-backed terror group has approximately 5,000 fighters in Syria at any given time. The past year has seen Hezbollah deepen its involvement in the Syrian conflict, to the point where its fighting for the Bashar al-Assad regime has now become a matter of open boasting for Iranian military leaders. The Israeli military, per Harel, “detects a clear operational improvement in Hezbollah,” which Harel attributes to fighters gaining combat experience in Syria. Most analysts consider Hezbollah’s involvement in the region’s nearly four-year conflict to have stressed its resources, but the organization remains capable of saturation bombing and perhaps even invading Israeli population centers.

Soldiers said to shoot 3 Palestinians on Gaza border

Three men sustained gunshot wounds to the lower extremities, with one suffering a wound to the thigh, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported.
An Israeli military spokeswoman quoted by the news agency said that “40 or more Palestinians were hurling rocks and rioting violently” in the area and, consequently, Israeli forces “attempted to disperse the riot” and “fired toward the main instigators’ lower extremities.”
Soldiers also fired warning shots before the incident, Israel Radio reported.
The incident came amid spiraling tensions along the border, breaking several months of calm between Israel and Gaza following the summer’s 50-day war.

Turkish PM vows to defend Palestinian rights to Temple Mount

Davutoglu was speaking to reporters in the central Turkish city of Konya, a day after meeting with exiled Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal.
Violent demonstrations led Israel in November to briefly restrict Muslim access to a holy site in Jerusalem that includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third most sacred place, and the ancient Hebrew Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism.
The move fueled accusations that Israel was secretly plotting to take over the site, despite Israeli denials.
“The Palestinians … have a common stance. We back this stance against the reduction or the elimination of Jerusalem’s Islamic character,” Davutoglu said.
“Turkey will not accept any impositions concerning Al-Aqsa and will do whatever needs to be done internationally to protect Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Hamas bars Gaza war orphans from entering Israel

Hamas prevented 37 Palestinian war orphans living in the Gaza Strip from entering Israel for a one-week visit on Sunday, claiming the trip would harm the children’s education and constitute “normalization” with the Jewish state.
The educational and recreational visit, organized by Yoel Marshak of the Kibbutz Movement in collaboration with the Arab Israeli towns of Kfar Kassem and Rahat, was meant to bring the teenage children of Hamas operatives killed during Operation Protective Edge to the Ramat Gan Safari and to Israeli towns along the Gaza border. But when their bus reached a Hamas checkpoint on the Palestinian side of the Erez border crossing, it was turned back.
“Security forces prevented 37 children of martyrs from entering the land occupied in 1948 for a suspicious visit to a number of settlements and occupied cities,” wrote Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Iyad Al-Bozom on Facebook Sunday. “This move came in order to safeguard our children’s education and protect them from the policy of normalization.”

Iran Outraged After PA Soccer Team Cancels Friendly Match

Four days before the Palestinian and Iranian soccer teams were to meet for a friendly match, the Palestinian Football Association cancelled the match due to “technical” problems, Al-Monitor reports.
The cancellation sparked outrage and rumors that it had been instigated by Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.
In a letter addressed to the Iranian team, the secretary-general of the Palestinian Football Association wrote of the scheduled December 28 friendly, “I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the planning that was done for this meeting. But, unfortunately, I have to inform you that due to technical reasons after returning from China and preparing for the AFC Asian Cup in Australia, the Palestinian team is not able to meet.”
The letter continued, “We are aware of the importance of this meeting [which is] based on historical brotherliness of the two teams,” and the secretary-general added that he hoped the two teams could continue their cooperation in the future.

Hamas Shows Off Army 'Ready to Conquer Jerusalem'

The propaganda unit of Hamas's "military wing", the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, kicked into overdrive recently with a new film, which attempted to portray the terrorist organization's Gazan fighting force as a modern Islamic army, exhibiting advanced weaponry training for a wide range of scenarios - and with its sights on Jerusalem.
In the video a large unit of terrorists are shown with all the equipment of a modern army, from combat vests to advanced assault rifles. Several are seen bearing a flag reading "the army of Al-Quds (Jerusalem)."
The Hamas "army" is seen conducting an array of operations modeled on attacks launched against Israel from Gaza - including several attacks in recent weeks that the terror group has denied responsibility for.
It appears to be an attempt to showcase a recently-announced "popular army", which the Islamist terror group said it formed following Operation Protective Edge to "liberate Palestine".

Another BDS fail. Gaza loves Caterpillar

At its core, the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) movement is awash in hypocrisy.
Since the very beginning, Caterpillar has been in the BDS'ers crosshairs.
But boycotts should begin at home. There are Caterpillar dealerships in both Ramallah and in Gaza
Its' been claimed that "Palestinian civil society " is behind the movement to boycott the region's only democracy. Yet clearly the Palestinians have rejected a boycott of Caterpillar.

PreOccupied Territory: Hamas To Execute Gravity For Collaboration With Israel (satire)

The Hamas movement that governs the Gaza Strip has sentenced gravity to death, after the force of nature was convicted of providing assistance to Israel in its recent Protective Edge operation against the Gaza Strip, and in numerous Israeli assassinations of Islamic militants. All appeals have been exhausted, says gravity’s lawyer, Mahmoud Souingh.
Gravity stood trial for more than three hundred counts of treasonous collaboration, and was convicted on all counts. The total would have been higher, said prosecutor Fairhoz Dayariyya, but his office decided only to pursue the ones with the most direct evidence. Each charge carries a mandatory death sentence by firing squad.
In most of the counts, gravity was charged with causing bombs from Israeli aircraft to descend, whereupon they hit buildings, roads and other targets, all contributing to the deaths of Palestinians. In other cases gravity insisted on allowing noncombatants to be harmed by incoming bombs, even where they were not the intended target. In still others, gravity caused entire structures to collapse after being hit. Although the last group accounted for the largest number of casualties, it represented the fewest individual counts.

Shots Fired at Jewish Owned Print Shop in Paris

Bullet holes were again discovered at a Jewish establishment in the Paris area marking the third such anti-Semitic incident in a week.
On Friday morning, the owner of a printing shop in the French capital's 19th arrondissement, found the holes at the entrance of his shop.
Bureau for National Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA), a watchdog on anti-Semitism, reported the latest incident on its website.
The shop’s owner, identified by BNVCA as K, the last letter of his last name, informed them of the bullet holes after hearing reports of two similar incidents last week in Paris.
“After the attacks on Jewish schools and synagogues have turned them into fortresses, now Jewish businesses are targeted,” wrote BNVCA founder Sammy Gholan.

French police arrest fourth suspect in Creteil rape and robbery

French police arrested a man they suspect was involved in the rape and robbery of a Jewish family in a Paris suburb.
The suspect, who was not named, was apprehended Tuesday during a routine police inspection of his vehicle while he was driving in Saint-Etienne near Lyon, 340 miles southeast of the capital, Le Figaro reported. The report was based on police sources who spoke under condition of anonymity.
The man is believed to have participated in a break-in on Dec. 1 at the home of a Jewish family in Creteil along with two other individuals. The three are said to have targeted the home because they knew it belonged to Jews they thought were wealthy. A fourth suspect is in custody for his alleged involvement.
One of the men raped a 19-year-old woman they found in the house while another guarded her 21-year-old boyfriend and a third withdrew money from an ATM using credit cards they took from the couple, police investigators said.

Argentinian president adopts Jew to counter werewolf curse

Argentinian President Christina Fernandez has adopted a Jewish 21-year-old from a Chabad family as grandson, as part of a superstition turned tradition about werewolves.
According to the legend, if a family has only sons and no daughters, the seventh son will become a werewolf, or "Lobizon," that would attack others and turn them into werewolves. A law passed in the 1920s allows the president to adopt the seventh son as a godson to prevent the family from suffering the cursed fate.
Up until 2009, the law only applied to Catholics. Yair Tawil was the first Jew to be adopted since the law was changed. Tawil's parents had asked for Yair to be adopted as early as 1993, but were denied. Tawil appealed to the president in a letter and cited the 2009 ruling as a reason for him to be reconsidered for adoption, thus avoiding the curse.

New innovation for safer night driving

Anyone who has driven at night, squinting in the glare of oncoming headlights — or who has struggled to see out the windshield during stormy weather — is familiar with the anxiety-producing and dangerous situation of poor visibility while handling a vehicle.
An Israeli startup has set out to eliminate this problem. Though it is not the only company in the world with night-vision solutions, BrightWay Vision is taking existing platforms and technologies to the next level.
“The proof is in the pudding,” CEO and co-founder Ofer David tells ISRAEL21c at the company’s offices in Haifa, before handing over the wheel of his car for a long test drive at night, over highways and through dark paths leading to the coast. “Hearing about the technology is not the same as seeing it in action.”
It is an “enlightening” experience, both literally and figuratively. The screen on the dashboard provides a clear, panoramic view of the road, similar to that achieved when turning on one’s bright beams, without actually doing so.
In addition, the headlights of the cars coming in the opposite direction appear as small dots, with none of the blinding glare. And the entire area around the dirt roads we traverse can be seen with no effort, in spite of the absence of street lamps.

10 gorgeous reasons to visit Israel next year

Israel is arguably one of the world’s smallest countries. Yet small as it may be, it has to be one of the most exciting places on earth.
It’s a country that can be an inspiration to all – the only place in the region where all religions live side by side under a solid democracy. It has become an international center for innovation and development, despite all geographical and political struggles. Even the desert flourishes in Israel.
A visit to the Holy Land may prove to be a spiritual experience even for those of who are not religious, considering how reach in history the land is. There is so much to be in awe for.
As 2014 comes to an end, it’s time to list my top 10 reasons for why you should start planning your visit here in 2015, in case you haven’t done so yet.

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/28/2014 01:00:00 PM