01/28 Links Pt2: US Customs issues 'Reminder' WB Goods Cannot Be Marked 'Made in Israel' ~ EoZ

From Ian:

US requires Judea-Samaria goods to be labeled

A mail from the Cargo Systems Messaging Service of the US Customs and Border Protection dated to this Saturday, and revealed by Channel 1's "Mabat" show on Thursday, shows the US is now required products from Judea and Samaria to be labeled differently.
In new instructions on marking requirements sent out to American importers, goods from Judea and Samaria are not to be marked "Israel." Those who do not comply are to be sanctioned.
"West Bank Country of Origin Marking Requirements," reads the title of the mail, which begins by clarifying that "the purpose of this message is to provide guidance to the trade community regarding the country of origin marking requirements for goods that are manufactured in the West Bank."
"Goods produced in the West Bank or Gaza Strip shall be marked as originating from 'West Bank,' 'Gaza,' 'Gaza Strip,' 'West Bank/Gaza,' 'West Bank/Gaza Strip,' 'West Bank and Gaza,' or 'West Bank and Gaza Strip.'"
"It is not acceptable to mark the aforementioned goods with the words 'Israel,' 'Made in Israel,' 'Occupied Territories-Israel,' or any variation thereof," warned the mail. It threatened that such goods that are marked as products of Israel "will be subject to an enforcement action carried out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection." (h/t Yenta Press)

Isi Leibler: The requiem for the Oslo Accords warrants a unity government

The controversy over the Oslo Accords, which bitterly divided the nation over the past quarter- century, is no longer a contentious issue.
The late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin personally told me on numerous occasions of his concern that the deal with Yasser Arafat, whom he despised as a murderer, was a gamble that Israel had to take in order to satisfy itself and the world that it had sought every opportunity to achieve peace.
In contrast, Shimon Peres, then foreign minister, in response to a few critical questions I posed in the days after the Oslo announcement, lost his cool and angrily stated, “They took Entebbe away from me, but they will never do the same with the peace process.” Today Peres is possibly the sole remaining senior politician who still maintains that the deal with Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization should be retained as the basis for a peace settlement.
The consensus, extending beyond right-wing politics, which recognizes the failure of the Oslo Accords, was articulated by the former director- general of the Foreign Ministry Prof. Shlomo Avineri, an esteemed intellectual doyen of the Zionist Left. In an article published last October in Haaretz, Avineri enumerated a host of reasons on both sides that contributed to the failure. But overriding these was the fact that the Palestinian position did not consider the conflict as territorial but regarded all of Israel as a colonial implant which had to be uprooted. Avineri concluded that we are obliged to face the reality that there is no way Israel could achieve any mutually acceptable peace agreement in the foreseeable future.

Accusing Others of Dishonest Language, Beinart Distorts an Ambassador's Words

To help push along his goal of turning readers against Israel, Peter Beinart erased the murder of Dafna Meir. He didn't gloss over it. He didn't fail to mention it. He actively erased it.
Beinart's Jan. 27 column in Haaretz is similar to most of his columns. It uses a hook from the news to make the case that Israel and its supporters should be blamed for the continuation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. In this particular piece, he seized on criticism of Israel by the US ambassador to Israel, and a follow-up statement by the ambassador about the poor timing of his comments, to rebuke not only Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, but also the US ambassador, Dan Shapiro.
Shapiro said during a Jan. 18 speech that "at times there seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians."
Netanyahu responded harshly: "The ambassador's statements, on the day when a mother of six who was murdered is buried, and on a day when a pregnant woman is stabbed – are unacceptable and wrong." This and similar criticism prompted Shapiro's follow-up comments that in which he said that "the timing" of his criticism wasn't ideal, and that "if it has, god forbid, hurt the Meir family or other mourners then I sincerely regret it."
But however innocuous and appropriate the follow-up may have been, to Beinart it was an outrage. On Twitter, Beinart took Shapiro to task, insisting he had "apologized" for making a "mild" and "true" statement.

IsraellyCool: The Truth About Brian’s Facebook Video On Israeli TV

Last night the very popular Channel 10 Program “Hatzinor” ran a segment based on the video I made about Facebook. This is the one that was then taken down by YouTube and finally reinstated. With help from friends here is the segment with English subtitles.
The show is pretty huge: they shared this clip on Facebook mid morning and it’s had 71,000+ views in 8 hours. I’m glad this topic is getting widespread public attention here, especially today, the International Holocaust Memorial Day.
Huge thanks to D@rLin|{ and Rahel Jaskow for helping with translations and subtitles. If you need professional translation or copy editing in Israel please contact me

Brian John Thomas talks about Facebook hate on Israel Channel 10

Obama at Holocaust event: We are all Jews; we must all fight anti-Semitism, evil

US President Barack Obama delivered a resounding denunciation of anti-Semitism, and a fierce defense of “our ally, our friend” Israel, at a Holocaust Day ceremony at the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Wednesday evening.
America’s commitment to Israel’s security “remains now and forever unshakeable,” he declared. “It would be a fundamental moral failure if America broke that bond.”
He lamented that anti-Semitism is again on the rise, with families leaving Europe because they no longer feel safe. “Even as the Holocaust is unique, a crime without parallel in history, the seeds of hate that gave rise to the Shoah… have always been with us,” he said.
The president attended the ceremony honoring four people, including Americans from Indiana and Tennessee, for risking their lives to protect Jews during the Holocaust. He was the first sitting president to attend the ceremony.
Righteous Among the Nations medals were presented posthumously to the families of the four.

Honoring Holocaust heroes, Obama warns against intolerance

As he honored four people for risking their lives to protect Jews, U.S. President Barack Obama warned on Wednesday that anti-Semitism is on the rise and that an attack on any faith is an attack on all faiths.
Obama spoke Wednesday evening at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, the first sitting president to speak at the embassy. He was introduced at the event by Steven Spielberg, the Oscar-winning director of the Holocaust film "Schindler's List" and the founder of a Holocaust history foundation.
"Too often, especially in times of change, especially in times of anxiety and uncertainty, we are too willing to give in to a base desire to find someone else, someone different, to blame for our struggles," Obama said. "So here tonight we must confront the reality that around the world anti-Semitism is on the rise. We cannot deny it."

IsraellyCool: Obama Sez: We Are All Jews

To those who defend the President, these words mean that he identifies with the plight of Jews and is staunch in the fight against antisemitism.
But to people whose critical thinking skills remain intact, the president is saying, “Jews are nothing special. They are no different than anyone else. Antisemitism is not special or unique. It’s just another kind of racism, just a garden variety evil, no different than any other.”
There’s another undercurrent here. Where he says “evil,” he is no doubt including the pretend occupation, the pretend maltreatment of Arabs in Israel by Israelis. He is saying, “Jews are just as evil as Nazis. Look how they treat their own minorities in their own country.”
If it mattered, if I could respond to the President’s most offensive words and tack, here is what I would say:
No, Mr. President. You are NOT a Jew. If you were a Jew, you would not have made a deal with Iran that threatens the Jewish State with annihilation. If you were a Jew, you would not have leaked Israel’s military secrets. If you were a Jew, you would not have forced Israel to halt the building of homes in the Jewish heartland.

Personal Testimony by Holocaust Survivor Marta Wise

Personal Testimony by Holocaust Survivor Haim Roet

Bayern Munich exhibit on its Holocaust victims opens at Dachau

Bayern Munich’s president Karl Hopfner has opened a touring exhibition at the former Dachau concentration camp, dedicated to club members who were victims of the Holocaust under Nazi rule.
The exhibition, titled “Idolised – Persecuted – Forgotten: Victims of National Socialism at FC Bayern Munich,” tells the story of the 56 members who were deported or had to flee Germany during the Nazi era.
Former club presidents Kurt Landauer, who was briefly imprisoned in Dachau, near Munich, and Siegfried Herrmann, were among the victims of Nazi persecution for religious or political reasons.
The exhibition at the Church of Reconciliation at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site is open until May 1.

UK Jewish Leader on ‘Striking’ New Holocaust Monument: ‘Permanent Statement of Our Values as a Nation’

The new Holocaust memorial announced by British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday will stand as a “permanent statement of our values as a nation,” said the head of the umbrella organization the UK Board of Jewish Deputies.
“Educating generations to come the best hope of instilling the determination never to tolerate hate speech, demonization and dehumanization directed against any other human being,” said Jonathan Arkush, in a statement tweeted by the Board of Deputies. “This is an imperative in our divided world and we must never compromise it.”
Cameron announced the “striking” new national Shoah monument during remarks to the House of Commons for the UN-designated Holocaust Remembrance Day. He said it would be built at Victoria Tower Gardens, a public park area on the north bank of the Thames, just near Westminster Palace.
“I know the whole House will want to join me in marking Holocaust Memorial Day,” said Cameron. “It is right our whole country should stand together to remember the darkest hour of humanity. Last year, on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, I said we would build a striking national memorial in London to show the importance Britain places on preserving the memory of the Holocaust. Today I can tell the House, this memorial will be built in Victoria Tower Gardens.”

Canada's PM forgets Jews in statement on Holocaust

The statement Canadian Prime Minister Justice Trudeau issued Wednesday in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day suffered from one very glaring omission.
The Holocaust is defined as the genocide of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazi regime and its collaborators, but in his statement, Trudeau did not mention the words "Jew" or "anti-Semitism" once.
Instead, the Liberal leader offered "tribute to the memory of the millions of victims murdered during the Holocaust," adding that Canada honors "those who survived atrocities at the hands of the Nazi regime, and welcome their courageous stories of hope and perseverance."
Continuing, Trudeau asserted, “The Holocaust is a stark reminder of the dangers and risks of allowing hate, prejudice, and discrimination to spread unchallenged. It also reminds us that silence must never be an option when humanity is threatened."

'I have empathy for Holocaust survivors,' MK Tibi says in Knesset speech

Joint List MK Ahmad Tibi told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that “Holocaust denial is wrong and unjustified.”
Each year he attends the Knesset memorial ceremony called “Every Man Has a Name,” in which the names of the deceased are read.
In 2010, the deputy Knesset speaker gave a speech about the Holocaust, which the current President Reuven Rivlin, who was then Knesset speaker, said was “one of the best speeches he has ever heard” in the Knesset.
In a new speech on the Holocaust on Tuesday, the senior Arab MK reiterated the theme of empathy for survivors: “They are victims of the worst crime in modern history, genocide, as an expression of the theory of racial purity.”
The Ta’al party MK said that Nazism was a product of Europe in the West, “not here in the East.”

Gas pipeline focus of 'historic' talks between Israeli, Greek and Cypriot leaders

Israel, Cyprus and Greece decided at their first ever tripartite meeting to set up a steering committee to look into laying a gas pipeline from Israel to Cyprus, and then to Greece for further export to Europe.
The decision was announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, standing next to Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Each leader delivered a statement noting the historic nature of the meeting, and highlighting the possibilities this emerging alliance has for the region. They did not answer any questions from the press.
While both Anastasiades and Tsipras stressed, without mentioning Turkey by name, that this cooperation was not “against anyone else,” Netanyahu did not make a reference at all to Turkey, either directly or indirectly.
National Infrastructure, Water and Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, who was part of the Israeli delegation, told reporters on the plane en route to Nicosia that Israel wanted to have the ability to export the gas both through Greece and Turkey. Laying the pipeline to Turkey is considerably cheaper than through Cyprus and Greece.

Israel and Greece send message to Turkey: Our friendship is not aimed against you

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Greek counterpart, Alexis Tsipras, sent a message to Ankara on Wednesday, saying the growing alliance between the two states, together with Cyprus, is not aimed against Turkey, with whom all three have tense ties.
“Our cooperation with Greece and Cyprus stands on its own,” Netanyahu said at a joint press conference in Jerusalem with Tsipras. “We believe it is long overdue, and are very happy about the progress. It is independent of efforts to normalize relations with Turkey.”
Netanyahu said that these efforts will continue, and “we have to ensure that Israeli interests are assured.”
“Turkey and Israel had very good relations in former years,” Netanyahu said. “We did not want to see it deteriorate, and we did not cause this deterioration. If there is a change of policy, we will welcome it.”

Ahead of Iowa caucus: A Jewish guide to the candidates

On Monday, Iowans will gather to launch the 2016 presidential election with an arcane ritual — the caucus.
In living rooms and meeting halls throughout the state, caucus-goers will group themselves into clusters according to which presidential candidate they favor. By the end of the day, two real-life winners will emerge: not a “leader in the polls,” not a “likely front-runner,” but the Democrat and Republican who will have secured Iowa’s delegation to the parties’ respective conventions in the summer.
A week and a day later, voters in New Hampshire will cast ballots in a more straightforward process, and by the late hours of February 9, the race will truly be on — with the media in hot pursuit. At JTA, the question is what it has been for nearly a century: What does all this mean for the Jews?
In that spirit, here’s a look at the leading candidates – their Jewish friends, family, advisers and donors, their stances on Israel and their Jewish-related controversies.

Regev: No funding for cultural institutions that subvert state, burn flag

Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev presented her “Loyalty in Culture” proposal to the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee on Wednesday, emphasizing that she did not intend to act as a censor or censure any cultural institution.
“Freedom of expression is part of the DNA of the State of Israel and I have no intention of harming this, but the state will not fund any cultural institution that subverts it or that burns the flag,” she told the committee.
“We all respect the principles of democracy and the State of Israel being a Jewish and democratic state. I will not allow the subversion of the foundations of the state, especially when it is government-funded. What is this outcry? That I ask that a funded institution will abide by the law?” she added.
Referring to herself in the third person, she said: “Miri Regev did not invent any new law. I want to introduce an amendment that the minister who releases funds can also withhold them,” she told the committee, Regev’s proposed bill would withhold government funding to cultural institutions that incite to racism, violence or terrorism, or support armed conflict of terrorism against Israel.

'Israel must force BDS activists to go on defensive'

Israel is formulating an innovative plan to fight the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in cyberspace. Speaking at the Cybertech conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan, who heads Israel's anti-BDS efforts, said, "The U.N. secretary-general's statements indicate more than anything how reality in Israel is presented in a distorted way in the world."
Erdan was speaking at a special session of the conference devoted to the topic of fighting BDS in cyberspace. The session was organized by the Israeli American Council. Philanthropist Adam Milstein, the chairman of the IAC's national board, was in attendance.
Erdan said, "We must force BDS activists to invest more time and energy in defending themselves, rather than attacking us."

U. Waterloo students reject academic boycott of Israel

A coalition of anti-Israel students at the University of Waterloo obtained 4000 signatures to put a resolution to a full student body vote completely severing ties with several Israeli academic institutions:
The resolution would have been non-binding on the University, but would have committed student government to advocating for the boycott, including cancellation of a 2014 academic cooperation agreement with The Technion, frequently referred to as Israeli’s MIT.
This was not just a “divestment” resolution, it was a full-blown academic BDS resolution. The only other such vote I’m aware of in the U.S. was at Bowdoin College in May 2015, which overwhelmingly was rejected by the student body.
It’s interesting that just as at Bowdoin, far fewer students voted in favor of the Resolution than signed the Petition. At Bowdoin, anti-boycott students explained to me that students were hesitant not to sign a petition — any petition — when asked by another student. That makes sense, but also allows anti-Israel groups to exploit the referendum process by forcing the entire student body to vote.
The other interesting thing is that whereas the Bowdoin turnout was 85%, at Waterloo it was only about 15% of the total student body. Usually, when there is such low turnout BDS benefits.

Brown Univ. anti-Israel group protests appearance by Michael Douglas and Natan Sharansky

Brown SJP announced its intent to try to keep Douglas and Sharansky off campus in a Letter to the Editor in The Brown Daily Herald from student Huriat Al-Sharq ’17 on behalf of Brown SJP:
You can read through the letter for the reasoning why Douglas and Sharansky should not appear on campus. The short version is that SJP doesn’t like their opinions about Israel. Notably, the link in the letter about “hasbara” is to the viciously anti-Israel Electronic Intifada website, which along with other activists openly calls for the destruction of Israel.
I think this SJP protest actually is a good thing in one sense, because it calls attention once again to who is the real enemy of freedom. And it’s not Michael Douglas or Natan Sharansky.

‘It’s just pure hate’: Paul Bronfman on why he withdrew support to York University over painting

York University said that its students have the “right to express their views” after film mogul Paul Bronfman withdrew philanthropic support until the Toronto-based school take down a painting seeming to glorify a Palestinian terrorist.
“When I saw that mural, I thought ‘I’ve got to do something here,’” he told the National Post by phone.
Palestinian Roots, which hangs over a public stairwell at the university’s student centre, features a figure wearing a scarf bearing an image of a borderless Israel and gazing at an under-construction Israeli settlement while holding two stones behind his back.
“It’s not artistry; it’s just pure hate,” Bronfman told the National Post.
While students and faculty at York are “disappointed” with losing support, said Bronfman, “they totally agree with my position; I’ve heard from both York students and the filmmaking department.

90 LGBT activists condemn ‘anti-Semitic’ protest

Days after 200 anti-Israel demonstrators forcibly shut down a reception at the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change conference, a group of American LGBT activists, both Jewish and non-Jewish, condemned the protesters’ behavior as “unacceptable and not in accord with the Task Force’s values of pluralism, inclusivity and thoughtful debate.”
The strongly worded open letter published Wednesday and signed by 90 people, including Edie Windsor, the plaintiff in the US Supreme Court case that resulted in gay marriage being legalized nationally, and former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), said the 90 signatories “unequivocally express our collective and deep concern” about the incident on Friday.
“We are united in our belief that what transpired at [the conference, when demonstrators disrupted a reception by A Wider Bridge, a group that forges ties between LGBT Jews in Israel and North America] was dangerous, deeply disturbing, and given the use of epithets like ‘kike,’ clearly anti-Semitic,” the letter stated.
The letter called on the National LGBTQ Task Force to have an “outside, independent party” review the incident at the conference to determine how it happened and what should be done to “ensure that it will not happen again.”

'BDS often turns out to be pure anti-Semitism'

The European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS) works to strengthen Jewish communities in Europe through promoting Jewish student activism and advocacy.
At a European Jewish Congress event in Brussels in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Arutz Sheva spoke with EUJS President Benjamin Fischer about the challenges facing Jewish students in Europe.
Fischer noted that while all university students face hardships, Jewish students in Europe must contend with specific hardships.
According to Fischer, the most "infamous" challenge is the BDS movement, which has "different faces in different countries" and thus begs for a vast array of strategies to counter it.

PreOccupiedTerritory: The Jews Aren’t Using Mind Control On Me? Then Explain My Stupidity (satire)

By Duncan Lamaar, antisemitic conspiracy theorist
foil hatsI’ve had it with you people who can’t see the reality staring them in the face. You keep living in your delusional world, until it comes crashing down and destroys your precious bubble of denial. A sober look at the facts demonstrates beyond doubt that some things can only be explained by the existence of a Jewish cabal to control our minds. Without that piece of the story, there;s no way to account for my lack of intelligence.
I went to school just like everybody else. I sat through the same lessons, was forced to read the same books, watched the same TV shows – yet I remained, and still remain, as stupid as the day I nearly blew my hand off by using a cigarette lighter to defrost a bottle of deodorant I’d left outside overnight. Something sinister, something outside, is the only thing that provides a satisfactory explanation for my remaining a dullard. That something is the Jews.
They’re everywhere, or so it seems. In our entertainment. Our politics. Our finances. Our medical care. Our legal system. Oh, sure, everyone wants a Jewish doctor, but what if those doctors are injecting mind-control substances into my body to make me stupid, and prone to make ridiculous associations? Didn’t think of that, did you? Of course not.

Guardian defence & security correspondent endorses book by extremist Jeff Halper

Richard Norton-Taylor is a Guardian defence and security correspondent and until recently was the paper’s security editor. He currently edits the Guardian Defence and Security blog with Ewen MacAskill. Norton-Taylor’s latest post at the blog (‘Spies, resistance and maps: seven books that spill secrets, Jan. 26.) consists of recommended books, including this curious entry:
In War Against The People, Jeff Halper (Pluto Press) chronicles the way Israel applies surveillance technology to monitor the Palestinians.
Any book by Jeff Halper would seem like an odd choice for the Guardian’s security correspondent for a number of reasons.
First, he’s a retired lecturer in anthropology, and it’s unclear what his credentials are to critically examine Israeli security policy.
Additionally, he is an extreme anti-Zionist ideologue.

Guardian continues to cover for Israeli ‘human rights activist’ Ezra Nawi

If you type the name Ezra Nawi in the Guardian’s search engine, the first hit you get is a brief mention in a May 2015 article about Irish politician David Norris which noted that Nawi was once convicted of statutory rape. Prior to that, there are a few mentions of the “human rights activist”: a couple of op-eds defending Ezra in the context of another conviction, and a 2009 official Guardian Editorial titled ‘In Praise of Ezra Nawi“.
Tellingly, there has been no mention of Nawi in the Guardian since he was caught on film boasting that he would turn in Palestinians who ‘conspired’ to sell land to Jews, even if they would be tortured and killed by the PA.
The Guardian – and most of the UK media – continues to bury the story, likely because it undermines their tendency to uncritically cite the work of such “human rights” to buttress reports critical of Israel.
This brings us to a op-ed by Mairav Zonszein published today in the Guardian (Netanyahu has taken Israel’s crackdown on Jewish dissent to a new low, Jan. 26).
The op-ed is more of a diatribe than a reasoned polemic. Zonszein’s risible argument – that there’s a coordinated assault on human rights activists and “Jewish dissidents” in Israel – is without even the slightest nuance. Indeed, it reads more like what you expect to see at +972, Mondoweiss or even Electronic Intifada, than at a putatively serious British news site.

Norway bans anti-asthma Hitler teddy bear ads

Norway has banned an advertising campaign that highlights the danger of dust gathering on toys because it features teddy bears resembling Adolf Hitler, the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and former North Korea dictator Kim Jong-Il.
The bears are displayed under the heading “Teddy bears can be dangerous.” But a Jewish organization reportedly feared the Hitler bear made the Nazi dictator potentially endearing.
The ad, produced by Norway’s Heart and Lung Association, was created as a response to a rise in asthma and allergy cases across the country, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday. The problem has increased fourfold since the 1970s, the association said.

Anti-Semitic French Comedian Dieudonné Likely to be Deported From Hong Kong

Controversial French comedian Dieudonné was being held at Hong Kong airport Thursday after flying in to give performances in the city, with his production company saying he was likely to be deported.
The comedian, who has been repeatedly convicted in France for anti-Semitic remarks, arrived in Hong Kong early Thursday and had been held for seven hours by immigration officers at the city’s airport, his lawyer Sanjay Mirabeau said.
It was not immediately clear why he had been stopped or on what grounds he could be deported.
Hong Kong’s immigration department said it would not comment on individual cases.
However, in a statement in response to enquiries about the case, it said that it was “committed to upholding effective immigration control by denying the entry of undesirables”.

First Israeli APC gets advanced missile defense

For the first time, an Israeli armored personnel carrier has been outfitted with the advanced Windbreaker missile defense system, the Defense Ministry announced Thursday.
The active defense system has previously been installed on IDF tanks and saw combat during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, but Me’il Ruah in Hebrew, or Windbreaker, has now been installed on the Namer, or Leopard, armored personnel carrier.
“Over the past few weeks we have completed the integration and adaptation of the Windbreaker system for installation on Namers,” said Brig. Gen. Baruch Matzliah, head of the Defense Ministry’s Merkava Tank Department.
The Windbreaker, which is inexplicably known as the Trophy system outside of Israel, is made up of a radar detection system that spots incoming missiles and predicts their trajectories, and launchers that fire buckshot-like metal pellets, which cause the incoming missile or rocket to detonate away from the tank.

The death of spam? BGU researchers figure out path to botnets

A team from Ben Gurion University, working with communications giant Deutsche Telekom, may have found a way to shut down one of the scourges of the Internet – botnets, the illicit and secretive networks that as many as a half a billion computers around the world have fallen prey to, according to experts.
Using big data and analytical intelligence technology, the researchers have figured out how to track a botnet to its controller – and the location of the command and control server that is managing illicit activity that costs the world economy $100 billion a year.
A team led by Ben Gurion Profs. Bracha Shapira and Lior Rokach analyzed data captured by a network run by Deutsche Telekom, one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies. By analyzing the data, the team built a breakthrough program that identifies the botnet by finding similar attack patterns.
The breakthrough was announced on the second day of Cybertech 2016 in Tel Aviv. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is the academic sponsor of Israel’s largest cyber security event, organized by Israel Defense.

In diplomatic victory for Israel, ZAKA recognized by UN

After three years of being rejected, ZAKA, an Israeli search and rescue service, was unanimously granted advisory status at the U.N. as an official body.
The granting of the status by the U.N.'s Nongovernmental Organization Committee gives ZAKA the right to take part in official U.N. discussions and conferences that are open for such organizations.
ZAKA's bid, which was approved unanimously, was backed by Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power.
"This is a very significant victory for Israeli diplomacy," Danon said. "ZAKA is an organization that reflects Israel's moral values, and its acceptance by the UN represents conclusive proof to the world of this fact. ZAKA received the status it deserves."

Seinfeld: Israelis are ‘all or nothing’ types

A month after his first stand-up appearance in Israel, Jerry Seinfeld on Wednesday jokingly characterized Israelis as having an “all or nothing” mentality.
“Everything you ask them is either ‘it’s no problem, it’s no problem,’ or ‘no, that’s impossible’,” said Seinfeld on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. “It’s all or nothing.”
The Jewish comedian said his Israel tour was “unbelievable” and the “audiences were amazing.”
Seinfeld held four shows in Tel Aviv in December. He had planned to put on one show, but three more were added after tickets for the first quickly sold out.

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