Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with Israelhaiom.
Israel News: Latest news from Israel
Czech Republic Supports Israel - Again
By by Hillel Fendel | IsraelNationalNews - Is the world waking up? Following U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and others, the President of the Czech Senate, Dr. Premysl Sobotka, says the Turkish flotilla was a planned provocation designed to entrap Israel.
Dr. Sobotka told Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin on Wednesday, “As a doctor, I certainly regret any loss of life, but there is no doubt that this was a planned provocation designed to drag Israel into a trap.”
“Many in the European community feel as I do,” he added, “but they are afraid to speak out publicly.”
Sobotka met with Rivlin in the Knesset, and told him, “I support the position that views Hamas as a terrorist organization… It is too bad that European countries present an unbalanced position on this matter. Unfortunately, the positions of the international community are not always to my taste, particularly in Europe.”
Israel expected protestors, but found terrorists aboard aid ship
A flood of information and contradicting reports have been hitting the media since Israel forcefully halted a flotilla of ships attempting to break the maritime blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Monday. Israel Today will try to break down that information and rebut any false claims so as to paint a clearer picture of what really happened for our readers.
Israel intercepts the ships
sraeli warships made contact with the six ships making up the first wave of the flotilla organized by the Free Gaza Movement late Sunday night. Israeli officers contacted the ships' captains by radio and ordered them to follow the Israeli ships back to port. The aid ship captains refused.
The Israeli army said that it expected the ships to refuse to return to port, and were ready with commando teams to board and seize control of the aid ships.
Israeli rabbis warn about fake Passover matzah
By DANIEL ESTRIN | Associated Press Writer - JERUSALEM – Israel's Chief Rabbinate is warning Israeli citizens to be on the lookout for pirate matzah and Jews are worried, a merchant said Wednesday.
A week before the start of the holiday of Passover, Israeli police raided a warehouse containing a 7-ton stockpile of matzah with fake kosher certificates, according to a statement from the rabbinate.
"I can't believe that someone would do something like that," said Roy Wolf, manager of a leading matzah factory in Israel, after receiving calls from concerned customers.
Matzah is the flat, unleavened bread Jews eat during the weeklong holiday instead of regular bread. Matzah is made of flour and water and must be baked according to strict religious instructions, under supervision of a rabbi, to ensure that it does not rise like bread.
The unleavened bread is a main feature of the weeklong Passover holiday, commemorating the biblical exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The Bible says the fleeing people did not have time to bake ordinary bread, making do with flat, unleavened bread instead.
Powerful ultra-Orthodox Israeli rabbi dies at 93
: By KAROUN DEMIRJIAN | Associated Press Writer - JERUSALEM – Menachem Porush, a well-known Israeli rabbi and longtime leader of one of the most influential ultra-Orthodox parties in parliament, has died. He was 93.
Porush served for more than 30 years in Israel's parliament, acting twice as deputy labor minister. He was known for leading the minority ultra-Orthodox Jewish community's efforts to slow secularization in Israel, leading epic battles for legislation to enforce strict Jewish laws that sparked charges from critics of "religious coercion."
The Jerusalem-born Porush also founded several religious education centers for ultra-Orthodox children.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu eulogized Porush, who died Sunday, as "a dear, wise, and warm man" and one of Israel's "most dedicated public servants."
Thousands attended a funeral Monday for Porush, who retired from politics in 1994.
Israel unveils new drone fleet that can reach Iran
: By TIA GOLDENBERG | Associated Press Writer - TEL NOF AIR FORCE BASE, Israel – Israel's air force on Sunday introduced a fleet of huge pilotless planes that can remain in the air for a full day and could fly as far as the Persian Gulf, putting rival Iran within its range.
The Heron TP drones have a wingspan of 86 feet (26 meters), making them the size of Boeing 737 passenger jets and the largest unmanned aircraft in Israel's military. The planes can fly at least 20 consecutive hours and are primarily used for surveillance and carrying diverse payloads.
At the fleet's inauguration ceremony at a sprawling air base in central Israel, the drone dwarfed an F-15 fighter jet parked beside it. The unmanned plane resembles its predecessor, the Heron, but can fly higher, reaching an altitude of more than 40,000 feet (12,000 meters), and remain in the air longer.
"With the inauguration of the Heron TP, we are realizing the air force's dream," said Brig. Gen. Amikam Norkin, commander of the base that will operate the drones. "The Heron TP is a technological and operational breakthrough."
Jewish Cemetery Vandalized in Strasbourg France
by Avi Yellin | israelnationalnews.com :: Anti-Semitic Vandalism at a Strasbourg Jewish cemetery was discovered on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. According to the French Jewish umbrella group CRIF and the Jewish Community Protection Service, some 30 gravestones were vandalized, including 18 painted with swastikas and 13 overturned. The German phrase “Juden Raus” or “Jews out” was also written on one of the tombstones. Although the vandalism was discovered on Wednesday, police have not yet determined the time of the attack.
Laurent Schmoll, president of the approximately 1,000-member Jewish community in Strasbourg, told reporters that he believed the cemetery was defiled in connection with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was being observed when the vandalism was discovered. “These are absolutely inscriptions from the Nazi period,” Schmoll said. “At the moment we celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, and I think there has to be a link.”
CRIF researcher Marc Knobel said it was too early to tell why the tombs were defiled, but that one reason could have been to “mark the day.”
Auschwitz blueprints go on display in Israel
By ARON HELLER | Yahoo News :: JERUSALEM – The neat lines and red rectangular sketches look like any typical architectural design. But the handwritten initials H.H. — belonging to the infamous Nazi SS chief Heinrich Himmler — indicate what the drawings represent: wooden barracks, gas chambers and crematoria.
Just ahead of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Israel's Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem is displaying the blueprints of the notorious Polish camp that has become a symbol of the Nazi genocide of European Jewry. It is the first time the plans will be on display for a wide audience.
Auschwitz was the largest of the Nazi camps where millions of Jews and other minorities were forced to work as slaves. Many died of starvation or exposure. Also, many Jews were herded on arrival into gas chambers, the bodies burned in crematoria and their ashes buried in pits. In all, about six million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators.
Detained American journalist opts to leave Israel
JERUSALEM – An American journalist working for a Palestinian news agency voluntarily left Israel on Wednesday after being detained for a week and risking deportation, his lawyer said.
Castro Daoud said his client, Jared Malsin, chose to leave because "he could no longer endure the conditions of his detention."
Malsin'sfather is Jewish, according to a colleague. He was detained at Israel's international airport last week after arriving on a flight from Prague. He has been accused of lying about his reasons for wanting to enter Israel and repeatedly overstaying his visa on past visits.
Interior Ministry Spokeswoman Sabine Hadad said Malsin raised security suspicions during an initial investigation upon his arrival.
Israeli court issued but then delayed a deportation order against Malsin last week, saying it sought more information about the case. It was unclear when it would have been resolved, Daoud said.
Initially, Malsin appealed the deportation order, but retracted it, a court spokesman said. The spokesman confirmed Malsin left Israel voluntarily.
Israeli police arrest 5 in West Bank mosque blaze
JERUSALEM – Israeli police said Monday they have arrested nine people at a radical Jewish settlement in connection with the torching last month of a West Bank mosque and other attacks on Palestinian property.
Five people arrested in the pre-dawn police raid were linked to the mosque blaze, while four others are suspected in connection with what police described as "severe damage" to other Palestinian property.
Police officials gave no further details and spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
Authorities suspect the Dec. 11 mosque fire was set by Jewish extremists outraged by a government-ordered slowdown in West Bank settlement construction. Some extremists take out their anger on Palestinians in a practice known as "price tag."
The mosque attackers burned prayer carpets and a book stand with Muslim holy texts, and spray-painted Hebrew graffiti on the floor. A teen was briefly detained last month in connection with the blaze.
Prehistoric building found in modern Israeli city
JERUSALEM - Israel's Antiquities Authority say the remains of a prehistoric building and ancient flint tools have been discovered in the modern city of Tel Aviv.
Archaeologist Ayelet Dayan says the find is "important and surprising" because it's the first evidence of life from that time in the area.
The three-room structure is believed to be about 8,000 years old and was built in the Neolithic period - when humans went from nomadic existence to permanent settlements. It is the earliest building ever found in Tel Aviv. The flint tools and hippopotamus bones found nearby date back 100,000 years.
Tel Aviv, Israel's financial and cultural center on the Mediterranean, was built on sand dunes 100 years ago. The ancient remains were uncovered during construction in the affluent Ramat Aviv neighborhood.