[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 09/10 Links Pt2: PA schools named after terrorists; Why you can't sue the UN; Stephen Colbert voices Waze ~ EoZ

From Ian:

PA schools named after terrorists by PA Ministry of Education

Dozens of Palestinian schools are named after terrorist murderers. The official Palestinian Authority news agency WAFA now reports that the naming of state schools "is under the authority" of the PA Minister of Education. [WAFA, Aug. 25, 2015] "The naming of schools and changes are the responsibility of the Minister of Education, by a direct decision of the Ministry or the Name Committee," the independent news agency Ma'an added. Palestinian Media Watch documented 25 schools named after terrorists in its recent report Palestinian Authority Education: A Recipe for Hate and Terror.
Terrorist Dalal Mughrabi:
Three Palestinian Authority schools are named after Dalal Mughrabi - the terrorist who led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history, known as the Coastal Road massacre. She and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus, killing 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70, in 1978.
Terrorist Shadia Abu Ghazaleh:
Two Palestinian Authority schools are named after Shadia Abu Ghazaleh - a terrorist who was active in the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) terror organization and involved in many attacks against Israel. While she was preparing a bomb for an attack in Tel Aviv in 1968, it accidentally detonated and killed her.
Terrorist Abu Jihad:
Three Palestinian Authority schools are named after Abu Jihad - a founder of Fatah and deputy to Yasser Arafat. He headed the PLO terror organization's military wing and also planned many deadly Fatah terror attacks. These attacks, which killed a total of 125 Israelis, included the most lethal in Israel's history cited above.

Norwegian Councilor: Sever Ties with 'Terror-Honoring' Shechem

A member of the Stavanger city council in Norway has called on the municipality to sever ties with sister city Shechem (Nablus) following a report that yet another central square in the city had been named after a terrorist murderer.
According to councilor Mats Danielsson, "the cities we partner with need to share values, norms and practices common to our people. This is proof of the opposite. Our sister city Nablus honors terrorists."
Danielsson made the remarks in an interview with Norwegian newspaper Roglands Avis, after Palestinian Media Watch reported the Palestinian Authority had named a square in Schechem after terrorist Naif Abu Sharah.
Abu Sharah has been involved in numerous terrorists attacks targeting Israelis, including a double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv in 2003 which killed 23 people and injured dozens more.
According to PMW, a memorial built in honor of Abu Shahar in the square is in the shape of a map of "Palestine" including areas controlled by the PA as well as all of Israel.
The monument's design, clearly touting the desire to erase the existence of Israel altogether, also outraged the Norwegian city councilor.

JPost Editorial: The ANC’s stand

The South African Jewish groups are unsure about how deep support for Bapela’s controversial move runs – whether it is merely the pet project of ANC extremists or it is countenanced by wider ANC circles including President Jacob Zuma. The lack of clarity further diminishes Jewish South Africans’ sense of security.
South Africa’s Jewish community is less than half its size of 40 years ago and its today are leery of criticizing the government much, lest they be accused of racism.
Hence, in fairly restrained tones, the Jewish organizations argue that “this unfortunate political grandstanding by Bapela is motivated by his own narrow understanding of the Middle East conflict, which is based on religious fundamentalism and the BDS lobby within the ANC, and we would hope that it in no way reflects the views of the ANC. This is not the first time that Bapela has attacked the Jewish community and its leadership.”
The groups accused Bapela of displaying “classic anti-Semitism” by questioning South African Jews’ loyalty and belligerently agitating against Jewish businesses.
But it is not only Bapela. The degree to which the ANC has departed from its traditions is disheartening. The irony is that Jews were always liberal as no other whites in South African politics, especially in the Progressive Party and the ANC, whose liberation manifestos they helped author.

Israel a model for Europe on resettling migrants, says Swedish official

To some, the scenes of Syrian refugees breaching the walls of Europe portend monumental difficulties, like how to resettle that many people, how to acculturate people who never lived in a democracy, and how to integrate the conservative mores of Islam with those of liberal Europe.
But Olef Zetterberg, Business Region Manager for Stockholm, Sweden – whose job is to develop partnerships and attract companies to his area – sees them more as an asset in the making.
“Those who are shouting to close the border are shortsighted,” said Zetterberg. “By doing so, they are demanding that we keep out talent that can innovate and strengthen our economy and society.”
And the role model for Sweden, and all of Europe, is right here in Israel, said Zetterberg. “Absorbing the Russian Jews did wonders for your country, and I believe that we in Sweden, and in Europe in general, now have the opportunity to bring that kind of immigrant innovation success to our countries.”
Zetterberg was speaking on the sidelines of the Tel Aviv Cities Summit, an annual event where urban planners and government officials gather to discuss how technology can help urban dwellers live better, healthier, and safer lives.

Ambassador Prosor on the Responsibility to Protect

"The UN was founded in response to the horrors of the Second World War and the unparalleled inhumanity of the Holocaust. The UN represented the promise that this family of nations would never again stand idly by in the face of mass atrocities. Tragically, in the 21st century, hardly a day goes by without news of a new atrocity being committed against the people of Syria, against those living under the thumb of ISIS, or under the oppressive rule of Boko Haram."
Today, Ambassador Ron Prosor spoke at the UN’s Interactive Dialog on the Responsibility to Protect, and said that all the nations must resolve to unite in our responsibility to protect those who cannot protect themselves. #R2P

How a bold US imam and his skeptical Israeli host bridged the Muslim-Jewish chasm

In a classroom at Jerusalem’s Shalom Hartman Institute, a group of mature students are learning about Tisha B’Av — the Jewish calendar’s saddest day, when the destruction of the two Temples and a whole series of subsequent tragedies are commemorated.
Their teacher, Yehuda Kurtzer, reflects on how, after the loss of the Temples, a “rabbinical elite” in ancient times resorted to the use of synagogues to give Judaism the focal points it needed to survive. And he goes on to note that nowadays, “we don’t have a dominant elite shaping the Jewish narrative.”
Earnest discussion ensues. Somebody mentions the Holocaust and its place in that unfolding Jewish narrative. “We don’t yet know the post-Holocaust nature of the Jews,” Kurtzer ventures, suggesting that there are those — like Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who see the legacy of the Holocaust as an imperative to be vigilant, because Jews will never be completely safe and secure. Others would highlight the need “never to be perpetrators” of evil, never to misuse our own power, he goes on. And still others, including many American Jews, stress the obligation not to be bystanders when evil is being perpetrated. Somebody asks which approach is winning. Kurtzer says it’s too early to say.
The lesson is sophisticated, though not without the occasional light-hearted exchange, as you would expect of a class at Hartman, a pluralistic research and education institute with a reputation for open-mindedness within the Jewish tradition. So far, so unremarkable.
What is exceptional, however, is that the 20 or so students in Kurtzer’s class today are not Jews. Neither are they Christians, for whom Hartman has run programs for many years. They are, rather, Muslims. American Muslim leaders, to be precise. Most of them are in their 30s and 40s.One is of Lebanese origin, another Algerian, a third Iraqi. Almost all are in Western dress. Two of the women wear hijabs. And they are here, in Jerusalem, because they want to learn about Judaism, Zionism and Israel.

UN Watch: Why you can’t sue the UN

By virtue of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, and the UN Charter, the U.S. Federal Court has ruled that “the UN is immune from suit unless it expressly waives its immunity.”
Likewise, the Appeal Court in The Hague ruled that “the UN has been granted the most far-reaching immunity, in the sense that the UN cannot be brought before any national court of law in the countries that are a party to the Convention.”

UN expected to okay Palestinian flag raising Thursday

The United Nations is expected on Thursday to allow the Palestinians to raise their flag at its headquarters in New York in a symbolic move highlighting Palestinian aspirations for statehood.
The General Assembly will vote at 3 p.m. New York time on a draft resolution that diplomats say is almost certain to garner a majority in the 193-nation forum.
“It is a symbolic thing, but another step to solidify the pillars of the state of Palestine in the international arena,” said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the UN.
The resolution would allow the flags of Palestine and the Holy See — both of which have non-member observer status — to be hoisted alongside those of the member states. However the Vatican said it has no intention of raising its flag in Turtle Bay anytime soon and opposed being included in the resolution.
If adopted, the UN would have 20 days to implement the move, which would be in time for a visit by president Mahmoud Abbas on September 30.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Abbas's plan to convene PLO’s parliament-in-exile delayed at least 3 months

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s plan to convene the PLO’s parliament- in-exile, the Palestinian National Council, suffered a major setback on Wednesday when it was announced that the session would be delayed for at least three months.
The PNC was originally scheduled to convene in Ramallah on September 14 and 15 to elect new members of the PLO Executive Committee and discuss relations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Abbas called the meeting in a bid to get rid of some of his political opponents in the PLO. Some reports claimed that Abbas was also planning to announce his resignation as chairman of the PLO Executive Committee during the session.

US to Abbas: Don’t cut security ties with Israel

The US administration has warned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas against suspending security coordination with Israel, Palestinian sources said on Tuesday.
The US and some European Union and Arab countries were also exerting pressure on Abbas to delay a meeting of the PLO’s parliament-in-exile, the Palestinian National Council, the sources said.
Those countries fear Abbas plans to use the PNC session to announce a number of dramatic decisions that could impact relations with Israel and aggravate tensions among the PLO and Fatah leaders.
Unconfirmed reports have suggested he may announce his resignation during the PNC session. Abbas, the reports said, is also planning to get rid of several senior PLO and Fatah officials by asking the PNC to elect new members for the two groups.

IsraellyCool: US State Department Funding Anti-Israel Activities

It seems AMZ Productions’ anti-Israel documentary was funded – at least partly – by an outfit called Rise Up.
Rise Up’s 2013 form 990 submitted to the IRS indicates it received $46,000 in grants that year to promote “peace and social awareness through educational programs for underprivileged populations in Egypt, Oman, Morocco and Barcelona.” No mention of “Palestine.”
In the form 990 for 2012, the year in which Rise Up traveled to Israel per the above article, there is no mention of work in “Palestine.” There is, however, mention of a grant of $21,067 for promoting “social justice and increased awareness for various underprivileged populations in Nicaragua and India.” Again, no mention of “Palestine.”
So while it is not clear exactly how much the US State Department has been funding them, one can assume it is in the tens of thousands of dollars.
And by funding Rise Up, and through them AMZ Productions, the State Department is funding those who glamorize violence against Israel, the exploitation of children and placing them in potential harm’s way, as well as the demonization of Israel.
You can contact the State Department here to let them know your disapproval of this allocation of their funds:

The ‘I Can’t Breathe’ case you never heard of

The death of Eric Garner made famous the phrase “I can’t breathe.” The whole world has heard of Eric Garner.
You probably never heard of Shelly Dadon. Or that she was Israeli. Or that her last words were “I can’t breathe.” Or that she was murdered May 1, 2014, stabbed dozens of times by an Israeli Arab cab driver on her way to a job interview. Because she was Jewish.
During the trial of the accused, the final phone call from Shelly was played, ‘I Can’t Breathe'; Chilling Last Words of Murdered Shelly Dadon
Nazareth District Court this morning heard the chilling last phone call made by Israeli murder victim Shelly Dadon, just moments before she was brutally murdered earlier this year.
Relatives of Danon wept as the recording was heard for the first time during the trial of taxi driver Hussein Khalifa, who stands accused of stabbing the 20-year-old to death in the back of his own taxi.
The following is the transcript of the brief call made by Dadon to her cousin, Tal Peretz.
Dadon: Hello. What’s up? Is everything OK? Where are you?
Peretz: I’m just walking – I’ll call you back soon.
Dadon: One second, listen…
Peretz: When did you leave?
Dadon: Ima’le (Hebrew slang, literally “mummy”), what a scary taxi! I left at a quarter to seven. I can’t breathe…
At that point noises which sound like someone being choked can be heard, and the call eventually cuts off.

Jeremy Corbyn and the Contagion of Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy theories plague society. Because of their moral certainty, they naturally become a motivating element of radical politics, whose adherents seek with revolutionary fervor to uproot the causes of social injustice. Precincts on the far-Left and Right serve as sanatoriums for the highest concentration of conspiracists.
It is in this light that we can begin to explain Jeremy Corbyn’s propinquity to antisemites. His brother, Piers, is a demonstrated conspiracy theorist. Conspiracy theories self-nourish in the individual, thrive and develop into conspiracism. They are contagious. For the Corbyns, they are a family affair.
Jeremy Corbyn has spent his career on the far-Left of British politics. He has associated with and provided leadership to groups such as the Socialist Campaign Group, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He has chaired the largely Trotskyist Stop the War Coalition since 2001. These are radical milieus in which cartoonish certainties about the malice of warmongers, plutocrats and Israelis – and the saintly, or at least sanitary, morality of their victims – prevail.
Jeremy Corbyn need not be overtly or even consciously anti-Semitic to apply the “cabalistic paradigm.” He need only presuppose that history is a passion play between haves and have nots, and that certain analytical principles light the path to social justice. At the time of Osama bin Laden’s killing, Corbyn participated in a roundtable on Iranian state television, calling it a “tragedy” and suggesting that the American government had covered up what really happened. “Why the burial at sea – if there was indeed a burial at sea – and if it was [indeed] Bin Laden?”
It is no wonder then that Corbyn would ally with anti-Semites. He has a fundamental affinity for them – not for their specific views, but for their worldview. He attracts them both wittingly and unwittingly. Last October, he invited Max Blumenthal to Parliament to describe how scenes in Israel were beginning to resemble Kristallnacht – and James Thring, an actual neo-Nazi and ally of David Duke, showed up to kick off the event.
In this time of political anxiety, as violent anti-Semitism spreads in Europe, chaos blooms throughout the Middle East, and nuclear capability looms in Iran, we would do well to reflect on a terrible historical truth: conspiracy theory is bad for the Jews.

Can Israeli People Power Thwart Major Grant to Far-Left NGO?

People power: When far-left NGO B'Tselem looked set to receive a handsome grant from the Dutch government, one quick-thinking Israeli activist stepped in determined to foil their efforts.
Right-wing activist Lev Solodkin noted B'Tselem's participation in a competition sponsored by Holland, which encourages the public to vote for which "human rights organization" should receive a grant of 100,000 euros (around 432,000 shekels).
As of Wednesday morning, B'Tselem - which has been accused of "hounding" Israeli soldiers and agitating violence against Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria - was well in the lead.
Solodkin quickly took to Facebook, urging his followers to knock the Israeli NGO off the top spot by voting for its closest rival, a fund led by Burmese human rights activist Phyo Phyo Aung.
The response was overwhelming; as of 9:00 a.m. Thursday B'Tselem has indeed been knocked down to second place, by a large margin:

Someone told Donald Macintyre that Jewish donors changed UK policy on Israel…so it MUST be true

So, an unnamed source claimed that Britain’s increasing sympathy towards Israel was facilitated by ‘Jewish donors’ who pressured the prime minister to change course, and that’s enough analysis for the seasoned foreign correspondent?
Were alternative explanations for Cameron’s alleged shift even explored?
Is this seriously what passes for professional journalism in the UK now? Have the British opinion elites’ views on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict become so sclerotic and ideologically-driven that old journalistic standards – which value careful analysis, empirical evidence and the use of primary sources over conjecture, prejudice and anonymous claims – are no longer in vogue?
Finally, we of course would also be interested to learn if Indy editors were at all concerned over the use of such a flimsy “source” to buttress a narrative which has historically served to reinforce toxic tropes about Jewish control of non-Jewish world leaders.

The Guardian’s ‘I Hate Israel’ Rubber Stamp Brigade

Whilst one wonders if these letters from “concerned citizens” represent the work of a ‘guiding hand’, it seems clear that Guardian editors see value in regurgitating different versions of the anti-Zionist agitprop which mirrors the talking points of “professional” pro-Palestinian activists.
Here are three recent examples of the signatories to such rubber-stamped ‘I hate Israel’ letters. Frequent signatories are underlined. Not surprisingly, they include quite few current or former Guardian contributors and editors (*):

BBC Two, BBC News give platforms to extremists

The result is that he and other extremists get a largely unhindered platform from which to present themselves as ‘misunderstood’ and even victims.
The bottom line messaging in this series of reports is that extremist ideas should be weakened through public debate. One can of course debate the merits of that approach in general, including the question of whether there is in fact a debate to be had with people who reject basic democratic principles such as equal rights for women, members of the LGBT community and people of all colour and race.
And one can also ponder the question of whether the BBC, committed as it is by its public purpose remit to “sustaining citizenship and civil society” and with editorial guidelines on impartiality which state that achieving due impartiality does not require “detachment from fundamental democratic principles”, should be obliged to present more robust challenge to views such as those promoted by Haitham al Haddad if it elects to broadcast them on a publicly funded platform.

Toronto Star Article Ignores Israel’s Security Concerns

Recently, the Toronto Star published an article on August 15 by GlobalPost reporter Laura Dean which was ostensibly about how Israeli authorities allegedly shoot at Palestinian fisherman and impede the efforts of Gazan surfers.
Nowhere in this report did it mention that Gaza is governed by the terrorist group Hamas which wages war and is committed to Israel’s destruction, and that’s why Israel enforces a maritime blockade of the Strip to ensure that weapons/rockets don’t end up in the hands of these radical Islamists. For example, in a 2013 New York Times article about Israel extending the designated zone for Gaza fisherman, the Times’ reporters noted that “Citing the need to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, Israel maintains a naval blockade on the Palestinian coastal enclave, which is controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas.”
This is the kind of critical context that this report was sorely lacking and it should have been mentioned, otherwise, readers can only conclude that the blockade is in place as a form of “collective punishment”.

2 arrested for beating of Jewish teen in Manchester

Two teens were arrested early Thursday morning in connection with the beating of a Jewish teenager in Manchester that left him in a coma.
The teens were arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm and violent disorder. Manchester police are also calling on witnesses to the attack, which took place at a train station near Heaton Park, located in the heart of north Manchester’s Jewish community, to come forward.
The 17-year-old victim, identified as Moshe Fuerst, was hospitalized after the attack with serious head injuries. He came out of a coma on Monday night after suffering bleeding on his brain.
He was one of four young Orthodox Jewish people assaulted at night on September 5 by three men at a train station near Heaton Park, located in the heart of north Manchester’s Jewish community.
“These arrests demonstrate that the police are taking this incident very seriously which I hope gives reassurance to the Jewish community and the wider public,” Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd told the London-based Jewish Chronicle.

French PM calls for ‘renewed’ fight against anti-Semitism

France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Tuesday the battle against anti-Semitism in the country “must be renewed.”
“There is this rampant Holocaust denial, hatred of Jews who grew up in our neighborhoods … that has contaminated the minds of some of our youth,” Valls said at a Tuesday night event at Paris’s Nazareth synagogue honoring the Jewish New Year.
“Today the fight must be renewed,” Valls said.
Anti-Semitic attacks and incidents have increased by 84% between January and May compared to the same period last year, according to the Protection Service of the Jewish community.
Valls said that “a broad government information campaign” would be launched this fall to raise awareness of the fight against racism and anti-Semitism.
The French government proposed a plan to combat anti-Semitism after January terror attacks in Paris that included the targeting of a kosher supermarket. Four people were killed in that attack.

Mayors decry anti-Semitism

In the statement, signatories “call upon mayors, municipal leaders, and other officials in Europe to join us in affirming that anti-Semitism is not compatible with fundamental democratic values.” The document adds that “in a world of global communications, where anti-Semitic ideas can and do spread quickly, the impact of the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe does not stop at Europe’s borders.”
Volunteers are working through AJC’s 22 regions to encourage American mayors to participate in the initiative. So far, 259 mayors, representing 67 million Americans, have signed on. This includes 25 New Jersey mayors. Eight are from our area: Paul Aronsohn of Ridgewood, Steven M. Fulop of Jersey City, John C. Glidden, Jr. of Closter, Jeffrey R. Goldsmith of Woodcliff Lake, Frank Huttle III of Englewood, Lizette P. Parker of Teaneck, Peter S. Rustin of Tenafly, and Mark J. Sokolich of Fort Lee.
The Mayors United Against Anti-Semitism project comes on the heels of AJC’s strategy conference, “A Defining Moment for Europe,” held in Brussels in May. At that gathering, which Mr. Rosen said drew representatives from virtually every European nation, AJC released a detailed plan for European governments to fight the growing problem.
“In Europe we’re in a position to deal with anti-Semitism,” Mr. Rosen said, crediting “amazing connections” with world leaders. While AJC ordinarily does not deal with leaders at the mayoral level, he called it a “useful tool, especially in large cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. It can make a difference. Mayors can be vocal on this issue,” whether making public statements, working on behalf of targeted legislation, engaging with the Muslim community, or addressing security concerns.

Jury recommends death for man who killed 3 at US Jewish sites

A jury recommended the death penalty Tuesday for a white supremacist who fatally shot three people at Jewish sites in Kansas last year, just hours after the man told jurors he didn’t care what sentence was handed down.
The same jury convicted 74-year-old Frazier Glenn Miller Jr. last week of capital murder for the April 2014 shootings. The judge overseeing the trial will now decide whether to follow the jury’s sentencing recommendation.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe had urged the jury to recommend a death sentence earlier Tuesday during closing arguments in the trial’s penalty phase. He showed jurors one of the shotguns used in the shootings, saying Miller — who repeatedly admitted to the killings — pointed the gun at one of the victims, 53-year-old Terri LaManno, but the weapon didn’t fire.
Howe then grabbed another of Miller’s guns to show the jury, saying LaManno “begged for her life” before Miller shot her.
“There’s no doubt she was terrified. She froze. … And his response was to brutally kill her,” Howe said. “The defendant’s actions are clearly the type of case the death penalty was made for.”

Amazon agrees to remove products with image of blood splattered Israeli flag

Amazon.com, Inc, an American based international retail website, had available for purchase various items imprinted with the image of a blood-splattered Israeli flag on Thursday morning.
A standing symbol of anti-Israel sentiment, the bloodied flag is available for purchase in the form of a cell phone cover, a shower curtain, a welcome mat, a mouse pad, an umbrella and a throw pillow. Prices range from $7.99 for the mouse pad, to just $34.99 for the "100% polyester waterproof bathroom shower curtain."
Amazon customers expressed their displeasure and called for the immediate removal of the products from the site.
"This item is appalling and extremely offensive," wrote one user. "It should not be permitted to be sold anywhere! It promotes hate and violence. Amazon.com should re-examine the items being sold on their websites."
Others called the sale of the blood spattered products "pure anti-Semitism" claiming Amazon was playing a part in revisiting Holocaust era anti-Semitic sentiment.
"So now Amazon had turned to politics and antisemitism? Shameful, what next? The head of a Jew for 50 cents? Maybe a small gas chamber model with a special button upon pressing it you can hear the Jewish victim cry?," wrote a disgruntled customer.
The products were available through third party sellers hosted on the Amazon.com website. The products could not be shipped to Israel.

French Aliyah Stealing Paris Hi-Tech Talent

French Jews' mass aliyah (immigration) to Israel has impacted the French business world - so much so that the French Economy Minister himself has invested in bringing back Jewish talent.
French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron visited the DLD Tel Aviv Digital Conference at the old train station on Tuesday, where he met with several prominent Israeli businessmen.
But more than strengthening economic ties between countries, Macron's visit is part of a larger agenda to stop brain drain.
“A lot of these people have energy, vitality. They want to create jobs, startups, and innovate here,” Macron said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. “They can innovate as well in France."
More than 20,000 French Jews, mostly young people and families, have made Israel their home over the past five years.

Israeli Tech Companies Boost Investments In Wales, Creating Up To 100 New Jobs

Four Israeli companies have announced multi-million-pound investments in Wales that will create up to 100 new jobs.
The announcements came in the wake of a visit by a delegation of Israeli businesses to Wales to celebrate existing Israeli-Welsh trade and investments.
Orbotech, a global leader in semiconductor equipment, confirmed that it will create 30 new R&D roles in Newport at its subsidiary, SPTS Technologies. Sapiens International Corporation, a global supplier of computer software solutions for the insurance industry, said it wants to expand its Cardiff workforce. Amiad Water Systems, a global producer of automatic, self-cleaning water treatment and filtration products and systems, announced Swansea for its first UK base, saying it will create up to 10 jobs this year with plans for further expansion in the future. And Lordan UK, which manufactures high-quality custom-made finned tube heat exchanger coils, announced a £1 million investment into its South Wales facility in Hengoed.
“I am certain ties between the two markets will continue to deepen, a collaboration that will benefit both sides,” said British Ambassador to Israel David Quarrey.

Unique center uses music to treat multiple sclerosis

A treatment center for patients with degenerative motor neuron diseases in northern Israel is using technology to provide music therapy for its residents. The program, the first of its kind anywhere, enables the residents to play music, even though some can hardly move a finger.
“The feeling the patients get from playing music is extraordinary,” said Eitan Lewis of Thalamus RDM, a research and design team which created the program with the Grabski Multiple Sclerosis Center in the northern Israeli town of Migdal Haemek. “What this symbolizes is there are no limits,” Lewis said.
The program uses existing technologies that are very sensitive to slight movements, like biofeedback and projection mapping, to allow residents with limited mobility to compose and play music.
Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a progressive degenerative disease that gradually limits the patients’ ability to move. The cause of the disease is unknown and there is currently no cure. The Grabski Center, which is sponsored by the charity organization Colel Chabad, hopes to improve quality of life for residents with its programs, which include psychotherapy, physiotherapy, art and ceramics. There are currently 40 residents living in the facility.

The Israeli Connection To Yesterday’s Apple iPhone 6s Announcement

Yesterday Apple unveiled the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s+.
A major part of the advance in these models is the camera and that may well be Israeli. Back in April Apple quietly bought an Israeli camera company called LinX.
It’s not clear if their tech has made it into this iteration but the full list of what they were working on does have some similarities to the capabilities of the new camera in the iPhone 6s
So here’s another problem for the Boycott Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) crowd: they’re going to have to switch to… err well pretty much nothing. With Google and Microsoft so heavily invested in Israel and Nokia largely defunct there’s pretty much no part of smart phones left that Israel isn’t the worlds driving force for.

Stephen Colbert becomes the voice of Waze

14-year-old cleans the sky in cute sandstorm video

Complaining about the heavy haze covering Israel — which has obscured familiar skylines and continues to make going outside a breathing hazard — is one way of dealing with this mysterious weather phenomenon.
A better way is to add a dash of creativity to the surprise sandstorm-mixed-with-heatwave-and-haze that turned the country a nuclear orange on Tuesday, a threatening gray on Wednesday and an opaque gray-white on Thursday.
Israeli photographers, videographers and creative folk of all kinds are posting amazing images, funny video clips and satirical GIFs on the wacky weather.
14-year-old Roy Adin’s 15-second video clip titled The Sky Cleaner offers a cute idea on how to bring the sunshine back. With a squeegee in hand, Roy sprays the hazy sky with some window washer and mops away the yellow-brown air. “When I saw that the sky is not bright enough I just cleaned it,” says the son of a marketing and productions expert.

Ancient Torah Scroll Found in Poland Restored by Holocaust Survivors in New York

The Torah scroll was rediscovered in September 2014 by Polish students volunteering for From the Depths, a non-profit organization dedicated to Holocaust commemoration. The University of Warsaw students were participating in the organization’s “Matzeva Project” — focused on recovering Jewish gravestones that had been re-purposed during or after World War II — when they encountered a non-Jewish couple in the village of Filipów, who revealed they had been hiding a Torah scroll in their home for more than 70 years.
The volunteers contacted From the Depths founder and chairman Jonny Daniels, who then traveled to meet the family. Kazimierz Wróblewski, a retired shepherd, brought Daniels into his home and lifted cushions from his couch to reveal the Torah scroll, wrapped in brown paper.
He then recounted the tale of how he had come to be in possession of the scroll: When the Jews of Filipów were being rounded up for deportation to the Treblinka death camp in 1939, the village’s rabbi ran to his neighbor, Wróblewski‘s father. Wróblewski remembers the rabbi giving his father the Torah scroll and asking him, “Please hide this for me. I’ll be back. If not, give it to a Jew who will know what to do with it.”
The rabbi was murdered in Treblinka, along with the rest of the Jewish community of Filipów, and the Torah scroll was left lying under the sofa in Wróblewski‘s home for the next seven decades.
Daniels told The Algemeiner that after he came into Wróblewski’s home, the shepherd turned to him “with tears in his eyes” and said, “You’re the Jew they were talking about. You’re the Jew the rabbi was referring to.”
“I felt a responsibility to bring the Torah back to life,” Daniels said.

Shanghai opens park to honor its 20,000 Jewish Holocaust refugees

Beginning in 1938, as Jewish persecution by the Nazis went into high gear, approximately 20,000 Jewish refugees fled to Shanghai, one of the few safe havens in the world that did not require a visa.
On Sunday, a Jewish Memorial Park was opened at the Fushouyuan cemetery in that city’s Qingpu district in their honor.
Israeli Consul-General Arnon Perlman, speaking at the dedication, said it is very important “to remember the friendship between China and Israel and between Shanghai and Israel.” On a patch of newly laid grass, a Star of David made of stone forms the centerpiece of the park and serves as the base of a sculpture of interlocking stones with another Star of David, and a menorah, at its center.
One of the stones pays tribute to Dr. Ho Feng-Shan, the Chinese consul general of Vienna during the war, who defied orders and issued over 3,000 visas to Austrian Jews to allow them to travel to China (while visas were not required to enter Shanghai, they were required to leave Austria).
The mostly German and Austrian Jews who came to Shanghai in the late ‘30s and early ‘40s joined another several thousand Jewish residents who had made the country their home in the previous 50 years, either as merchants or to escape Russian pogroms.

Israel supporters worldwide pray for bereaved IDF families

Several hundred supporters of Israel from around the globe have submitted prayers for the families of IDF soldiers who fell during the most recent war in the Gaza Strip, marking the one-year anniversary of their deaths.
Responding to an online campaign by a pro-Israel nonprofit, mostly Christian supporters of Israel from 35 countries, including Egypt, have offered a personal prayer to be submitted to the bereaved families during the upcoming High Holidays.
“Losing a loved one is the most painful cross any of us could ever bear. Your loved one is always in your heart forever,” wrote Nannette Balsam from Montana. “I pray that God is carrying you through this season of sorrows. I pray that His Peace and Comfort surround you always.”
Anne-Amarie Pan from Singapore wrote, “May the memory of your loved ones be a blessing always. May you know Adonai [God] is always with you, in pain and in sorrow, in peace and in joy. Whatever the circumstances, you are not alone.”
Sixty-four Israeli soldiers were killed during Operation Protective Edge, which ended on August 26, 2014.

UN Watch: 1975 UN Debate on "Zionism is Racism"

Darkest episode in UN history, later reversed by the General Assembly in 1991. Speakers include Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog, U.S. Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and the roll-call vote.