China Agro to be irrigated by the technology of Zion

Drip irrigation and other water-saving technology will be getting a major boost in China, after Israeli drip irrigation leader Netafim opened its first production plant there on May 9. Netafim announced the inauguration of the plant in Yinchuan, the capital of the northwestern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Stephan Titze, Eitan Neubauer, Israeli Ambassador to China Matan Vilnai and David Zeng, Managing Director for China at Netafim. – Photo: Courtesy

The company has invested over NIS 20 million in the plant, which has begun producing drip lines of various sizes and a number of types for the Chinese market. In addition, the site includes a training center and called the plant “the company’s initial base for investments in the region and in northwest China.”

Netafim CEO Ran Maidan called the plant “testimony to Netafim’s commitment to investing in China,” and said the country has “significant growth potential.

The company said in a statement that the area was chosen due to its low rainfall levels that has led to an increasing interest by local farmers to find ways of saving water.

According to the statement, the Chinese government policies “favor agricultural and water-saving irrigation technologies.”

A burgeoning wine industry in the Ningxia region was another incentive for Netafim to build its first Chinese plant there, since the company produces specialized irrigation and fertilizing systems.

Netafim has already collaborated with American winery Domain Chandon in setting up a vineyard in the region.

Netafim Asia-Pacific head and China chairman Stephan Titze said that the plant will be a “solid foundation” for future activities in the country as well.

However, a spokesman for the company told The Jerusalem Post that there are no plans to build more plants at the moment.

The process of bringing Netafim to China first began in 2014, when Chinese officials met with the company, both at their offices in China and in Israel at Kibbutz Hazerim. The 61-year-old company has 28 subsidiaries, 17 manufacturing plants and 4,300 employees worldwide in addition to the Yinchuan plant.

Yom Yerushalayim 2016 in Zion

"Jerusalem of Gold" (Hebrew: ירושלים של זהב‎, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav) is a popular Israeli song written by Naomi Shemer in 1967. The original song described the Jewish people's 2000-year longing to return to Jerusalem; Shemer added a final verse after the Six-Day War to celebrate Jerusalem's re-unification, after 19 years of Jordanian occupation.

Jerusalem marks 49th anniversary of historic reunification

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat: "Despite the difficult year that the city has had, Jerusalem and its residents have proven what true strength is and what a Jerusalemite is" • Police, parade organizers work to avoid potential clashes ahead of Ramadan.

Efrat Forsher and Yori Yalon

Jerusalem is celebrating 49 years since its reunification under Israeli sovereignty with a number of ceremonies and events going into Sunday evening.

The official state ceremony for Jerusalem Day will take place at the Ammunition Hill memorial site. Six torches will be lit in memory of those killed in the battle for Jerusalem. Those lighting the torches will be representatives of bereaved families and of the brigades that fought in the battle. Speakers at the ceremony will include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev said of Jerusalem Day: "Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, is marking 49 years since its reunification. This is the day that we commemorate those who fell in battle to liberate it and give thanks to the heroes who reunited the city.

"We have kept guard along your walls, City of David, and we are still keeping guard. The war for your security is not yet over. We will continue to defend and safeguard you. You will always be our Jerusalem of gold."

Also on Sunday evening, there will be a ceremony at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem, with several ministers and Knesset members in attendance.

Between the Jerusalem Day ceremonies and the memorial for the Prophet Samuel, which began Saturday night and will continue until Monday, there will be a number of road closures in the Jerusalem area.

A rise in Zionist education

The main Jerusalem Day event that has raised concern of potential clashes is the annual flag parade, in which thousand of people, mainly youth, march with Israel flags through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. The parade ends at the Western Wall plaza, where the participants dance. In past years, there have been conflicts between the marchers and local residents, including vandalism and violence.

This year, because the Muslim holiday of Ramadan begins early this week, police made arrangements with the organizers of the flag parade to minimize the possibility of clashes on Sunday. The parade was scheduled for an hour earlier than usual so that beginning from 6:30 p.m., marchers will not be able to pass through Damascus Gate or the Dung Gate, rather only through Jaffa Gate. This is meant to allow the Muslim worshippers to easily make their way to the Temple Mount for evening prayers ahead of Ramadan.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Municipality released statistics about the city ahead of Jerusalem Day. According to the data published, after a decade-long drop, the last seven years have seen a rise in the number of children enrolled in Zionist schooling. The number of students enrolled in state and state-religious schools in the capital has risen from 58,607 in 2009 to 64,518 in 2016.

Since 2009, there has been a steady increase of 36% in the number of children enrolled in kindergartens among the Zionist community, from 8,656 to 11,821 in 2016.

Over the last two years, the number of startup companies in Jerusalem has doubled, from 250 to 500. At the same time, the city's negative net migration is the lowest it has been in the last six years.

"Despite the difficult year that the city has had, Jerusalem and its residents have proven what true strength is and what a Jerusalemite is," said Barkat. "We are back to the routine and to growth, and in the coming years, we will implement the 'Jerusalem 2020' plan, which will develop the city's potential and position it alongside the leading cities around the world. Happy Jerusalem Day."

After Mahmoud Abbas Quo Vadis the Palestinian Authority and its Struggle against Zion

What if a Shakespearean palace battle to succeed Palestinian bigwig Mahmoud Abbas was raging and no one was there to document it?

American and Israeli officials shrugged off Abbas’s warnings last fall that he’d dissolve the Palestinian Authority, of which he’s president. The rais (boss) had so often made similar threats in the past that no one took him seriously.

No one, that is, except some in Ramallah who started thinking that maybe, well into Abbas’ tenth year of a four-year term, the 81-year-old chain-smoker is finally thinking of mortality, retirement — or just a bit of rest.

Abbas had always discouraged such notions. Palestinian doubters and dissenters are jailed or otherwise made to shut up. Yet now even Abbas’ own former yes-men started making public statements that could easily be interpreted as a challenge to his hold on power.

Palestinian Sports Minister Jibril Rajoub wondered out loud where Abbas is leading the Palestinians. Mohammed Dahlan, a Dubai-based former Gaza strongman who pulls West Bank strings from afar, raised his Abbas criticism a notch. Even top loyalists like long-time negotiator Saeb Erekat and intelligence chief Majid Faraj sounded like they were contemplating a leadership fight.

When Palestinian security forces arrested a top manager in Erekat’s office earlier this month, accusing him of spying for Israel, West Bankers speculated that it was orchestrated by Erekat’s rivals seeking to make him look bad.

But as whispers of a succession battle intensified, Abbas realized he risked losing his grip. In the last couple of weeks he gathered loyalists to assure them he’s going nowhere. He then started a campaign to rein in the terrorist wave he had unleashed in September but of which he’s clearly lost control.

Faraj, the intel chief, gave a rare interview to the New York-based Defense News this week, boasting he’d prevented 200 terrorist attacks and arrested 100 Palestinians. It signaled to outsiders that the PA is fighting terror, but at home the message was, hey, watch out. (Faraj didn’t say how many of the men he’d arrested were mere critics or political rivals.)

At the same time, officials in Ramallah leaked to reporters that they’re about to launch a UN campaign to fight Israel diplomatically.

These are staples of Abbas’ longtime tactics, which suggests he’s got full control of the reins again.

But, like it or not, he won’t live or rule forever.

And then what? To fend off pesky rivals, Abbas has long avoided anointing a successor or naming a deputy. So who decides who’s next?

According to Palestinian law, the speaker of parliament would take over pending new elections. But the parliament hasn’t convened in years. And the current speaker is a member of Hamas, Abbas’ Islamist rivals.

Israel and the US — and, even more so, members of Abbas’ Fatah party — won’t let him get near the seat of power. Nor would they risk another humiliating election, which Hamas is likely to win.

In other words, no one in the West Bank knows how the next leader will emerge — “and Israeli intelligence officials, whose entire job is to predict such things, have no idea either,” says Gal Berger, Israel Radio’s indispensable Palestinian affairs correspondent.

When the time comes, the Fatah men who in the last few weeks started jockeying for position will duke it out for real. Such chaotic political fighting often leads to violence.

Once that violence ebbs, a new strongman will emerge.

But not a peaceful, democratic state of Palestine.

This week, the UN’s Ban Ki-moon said Palestinian terrorism is part of “human nature” to resist occupation through “hate and extremism.” US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro earlier said Israel’s justice system employs “two standards” — one for Israelis and another for Palestinians (and later said he regretted his timing).

The real double standard is in endlessly scrutinizing Jerusalem while ignoring Ramallah. Rather than promoting two states, it only assures endless failure in the West Bank and Gaza.

Confederation with Jordan?

Surprising an interviewer from a well-known Palestinian website two months ago, famed Palestinian man of letters Sari Nusseibeh said the concept of a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation should be reconsidered.

The idea of a confederation has been almost completely discredited in recent years — a process that began with a 1988 announcement by the late King Hussein of Jordan that he was giving up his claim to Palestinian-controlled territories.

The comments by Nusseibeh, the president of Al-Quds University, were thus widely perceived among Palestinians as an irrelevant example of his unusual musings and doings, such as his ill-fated 2003 peace initiative with former Shin Bet chief and ex-Labor MK Ami Ayalon.

The remarks did spark some dialogue, in particular among some of the older generation and the more affluent tiers of Palestinian society – the business people and merchants. Ultimately, however, it is clear that the Hashemite royal family has no interest in reviving the initiative.


President of Al-Quds University Prof. Sari Nusseibeh in his office at the university in Beit Hanina, in East Jerusalem. 

But then came another surprising statement, this time from a member of the Jordanian establishment.

Last week, Jordan’s former prime minister, Abdelsalam al-Majali, visited the West Bank city of Nablus as the guest of Ghassan Shakaa, the city’s former mayor and a member of the PLO Executive Committee,

Speaking to 100 key Palestinians in the Nablus area, Majali expressed support for a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation, after the establishment of a Palestinian state. “Jordan cannot live without Palestine and Palestine cannot live without Jordan,” Majali said. “The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, wants such a confederation established. He asked as much several times but was refused completely.”

The confederation, Majali said, should be headed by a joint government and parliament that would guarantee security, oversee the economy and handle foreign affairs. As things stood, he said, the Arab Ummah [nation] was not fighting for the Palestinians since they have no viable economic capacity on their own.

(Incidentally, Majali also criticized education systems in the Arab world, saying they are not preparing students well enough to tackle scientific issues, “and this allows them to learn only history.”)

Majali’s speech created a real stir among Palestinians. While he no longer holds an official position with the court of Jordan’s King Abdullah, he is still considered a person of influence among the Jordanian elite and among local politicians, having twice served as prime minister.

In the past, Majali was regarded as a close associate of King Hussein. Was his speech coordinated with the Jordanian monarchy, as part of an effort to revive Palestinian – and especially Israeli – faith that peace is possible? Or were these merely the words of an aging ex-politician, who wields no influence with King Abdullah?

A Jordan expert at Tel Aviv University dismissed Majali’s speech.

“It sounds like another attempt by one of the ‘formers’ to make headlines,” said Dr. Yoav Alon. “Majali spoke of this two or three years ago, and the idea in fact dates back to 1982, as an initiative of King Hussein. Then there was an agreement between Hussein and [former PLO leader Yasser] Arafat, that the leadership of PLO rejected. So, in 1988, the king announced he was disengaging from the West Bank. Still,” Alon went on, “one must emphasize: The official Jordanian position does not reject the possibility of establishing a confederation, albeit only after the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“This idea rises now and again when the Palestinians are in distress and diplomacy offers no hope,” Alon went on. “Maybe it also helps Israel swallow the idea that a Palestinian state may rise. For now, the idea of a confederation is non-obligating, so nobody can say precisely what it means. Furthermore, I don’t see any support from official Jordan or the royal family in this idea. Jordan’s demographic situation is delicate as it is. The Palestinians make up 50 percent of the population there. The Jordanians make up 25-30% and the rest are Syrian and Iraqi refugees. That is why they are so sensitive to this notion. The Jordanian regime has no interest in promoting the idea of a confederation and this is why I think there is nothing concrete here,” Alon said.

Senior Palestinian officials speaking to the Times of Israel also dismissed the idea of a confederation. They vaguely said, too, that it may be reconsidered after the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Other Palestinian sources said the Hashemite monarchy is preoccupied, where the Palestinians are concerned, with resolving the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic deadlock, grappling with the fear of a deterioration into violence in the West Bank which would impact Jordan, and dealing with tensions in its ties with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Amman is not pleased by Abbas’s recent shows of independence, including his making diplomatic moves without first consulting King Abdullah, and this has created tension between the two men, the sources said.


Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (right) and Mohammad Dahlan (left), leave a news conference in Egypt, in February 2007.

Ramallah has also been angered by reports that representatives of the Hashemite Kingdom have met with several Palestinian officials, gauging their suitability to take over the PA presidency one day. Especially infuriating for Abbas, the sources said, is that the Jordanians met with his No. 1 enemy, Mohammad Dahlan.

The Jordanians also met with Nasser al-Kidwa, Arafat’s nephew and a former PA foreign minister, whose name keeps coming up, and with ex-PA security chief Jibril Rajoub among others.

Nasser al-Kidwa 

Such Jordanian meddling in Palestinian politics, preparing for the day after Abbas, is seen extremely negatively in Ramallah, the sources said.

The tension between Ramallah and Amman underlines how improbable the idea of a confederation currently seems, much to the chagrin of some of the “West Bank elders” who miss the days when King Hussein was sovereign in the West Bank and the Palestinians had ministers in the Jordanian government and representatives in its parliament.

Promoting Gay Pride Week in Zion

5 El Al Planes were repainted to promote GAy Pride Week in Tel Aviv 2006. The fallout was surprisingly insignificant

Gay Activists Call to Cancel Tel Aviv Pride Parade Over State's Preferential Treatment of Tourists

Backlash follows Tourism Ministry's $2.9 million investment in campaign to attract tourists coming to Israel to participate in the parade.

250,000 Israelis and foreigners celebrate during the 17th annual gay pride parade in Tel Aviv on June 12, 2015. 

Israeli Orthodox rabbinical group calls for acceptance of gays and lesbians

Gay pride murder inspires grassroots movement to reclaim Jerusalem landmark

Mizrahi, gay and proud – the team behind Israel's pink panthers’ revolution

In protest over the wide gap between the resources allocated to attract gay tourists to the country and the limited support for local LGBTQ organizations, members of Israel's gay community are calling to cancel this year's Tel Aviv Gay Pride Parade.

The call comes following the Tourism Ministry's announcement this month that it would invest 11 million shekels (more than $2.9 million) in a campaign to attract tourists coming to Israel to participate in the parade. As part of the campaign, the ministry will set up an international competition whose winners will be flown to Israel in a plane specially painted in gay pride colors. State support for LGBTQ organizations, meanwhile, amounts to 1.5 million shekels a year.

The Tourism Ministry's announcement caused outrage in the gay community. In a popular Facebook post, gay activist Netanel Azulay asked of the community to unite and announce that "it would not allow the government to profit at its expense and won't allow the government to use it and lie to everyone that LGBTQ people have it good here.

"Once and for all we're setting conditions and fighting for what we really deserve: If there won't be fully equal rights here then there won't be profitable gay tourism," he wrote.

The Tel Aviv municipality, which organizes the parade, clarified that it will take place as scheduled on June 3, and will mark the empowerment of women in the LGBTQ community. The municipality estimated that 250,000 people will take part in the parade, among them 30,000 tourists.

The Tel Aviv municipality responded to the call to cancel the parade, noting its longstanding relations and cooperation with the gay community.

"We hope that the parade will take place and that a solution will be found to the community's just claims against the government for equality."The municipality welcomes the Tourism Ministry's decision to allocate a budget of 11 million shekels for pride events, it's an expression of the community's strength, and we hope that the move will also become an indicator for other ministries."

Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni expressed her support for the gay community's call.

"Will the colorful plane to advance gay tourism be the same plane with which gay couples will travel to marry abroad because the government voted against the civil union I proposed only during the last [Knesset] session?" she asked."Full equality is created through education and legislation. We can't be proud of gay people in tourist branding or UN speeches without showing a drop of willingness to advance full equality in Israel. The gay community is our natural partner, not only when we need it, but the whole year round," she added. 

Ovadia Yosef. Father of Shas in Zion

On the afternoon of 3 Marheshvan, 5774 (Oct. 7, 2013), the entire Jewish nation plunged into mourning with the news of the passing of Hacham Ovadia Yosef zt”l.  Hacham Ovadia was recognized as one of the greatest halachic authorities in the world, and the leading halachic scholar for Sephardic Jews around the globe, who stood at the forefront of Sephardic Jewry for more than 70 years. Over 800,000 people – more than 10 percent of the Jewish population in Israel – accompanied the hacham along his final journey. People crowded onto rooftops and even climbed trees to catch a final glimpse of the man they viewed as their father. It was the largest event in modern Israeli history.

“I Would Not Divert From My Way”

Born on 12 Tishre, 5680 (September 23, 1920) in Baghdad, Iraq, Hacham Ovadia moved to Jerusalem with his family in 1924, when he was four years old. His father, Rabbi Yaakob, and his mother, Georgia (Yaffa), were known for their dedication to Torah and to their eight children, of whom Hacham Ovadia was the oldest.As a young boy, Hacham Ovadia attended the Benei Tziyon School in Jerusalem’s Bucharian neighborhood, where he was recognized as a child prodigy. At the young age of 10, he transferred to Yeshivat Porat Yosef, where he earned a reputation for unmatched diligence, quick comprehension, and a phenomenal memory. He studied under the tutelage of the famed Rosh Yeshivah of Porat Yosef, Hacham Ezra Attiah zt”l.

When he was 17 years old, he composed a short pamphlet consisting of several pages of intricate halachic discussions, the kernel of what would ultimately become his monumental, 10-volume work Yabia Omer. It was inconceivable in the yeshivah world that such a young student could produce a scholarly work, and indeed some tried to discourage him from publishing the treatise, as Hacham Ovadia writes in his introduction: “I am 17 years old, but I am meant to succeed, and I don’t care if you say I’m arrogant. I was told, ‘How dare you write at your age philosophical and legislative writings?’ But I hardened my face, as hard as stone, and I would not divert from my way.”

From Chief Rabbi of Cairo to Chief Rabbi of Israel

Hacham Ovadia received his rabbinical ordination at the age of 19, and at the age of 23, he was appointed as a dayan (religious judge). Around that time, in 1944, he met Margalit Phatal, the daughter of Hacham Avraham Phatal, a distinguished hacham from Aleppo, Syria, and the two were married after a brief courtship. Throughout her life, Rabbanit Margalit Yosef a”h, who passed away in 1994, was known for her wholehearted devotion to her husband and for lending him the support he needed to become a Torah giant.

In 1947, the couple moved to Egypt, where Hacham Ovadia served as Deputy Chief Rabbi and head of the Bet Din (rabbinical court), later assuming the position of Chief Rabbi of Cairo. After three years in Egypt, he returned with his wife and children to Israel and was appointed judge in the Bet Din of Petah Tikva. By this time, Hacham Ovadia had already authored five scholarly halachic works, and word of his unsurpassed mastery of Torah, and how he had committed to memory hundreds upon hundreds of volumes, quickly began to spread throughout the Torah world.

In 1960, he was appointed as a judge in Jerusalem’s Bet Din HaGadol (High Rabbinical Court), and in 1968, he was named Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. It was then that he and his family achieved a degree of financial stability for the first time, after many years of poverty and hardship. Four years later, in 1972, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef won the election for Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel. In 1984, he founded the Shas political party which represents religious and traditional Sephardic Jews, and is currently the fifth largest party in the Knesset, with 11 parliamentary seats.

Teacher of Scholars, Teacher of the Masses

During and immediately after his term as Chief Rabbi, Hacham Ovadia emerged as the primary religious authority for Sephardic Jewry. He served as a powerful symbol of Sephardic heritage, and succeeded in reviving Sephardic identity and pride, inspiring Sephardic laymen and scholars alike to return to their origins and reconnect with their ancient traditions. Hacham Ovadia’s effectiveness as a leader was due, in part, to his ability to communicate with the laity. Whereas his halachic writings are on the highest caliber of scholarship, and he served as a mentor and teacher to some of the greatest young Torah minds, he was also a popular lecturer among the masses of Sephardic Jewry, inspiring audiences of all levels with his stories, clarity, humor and charisma.

Among Hacham Ovadia’s most important contributions was reestablishing Maran Rabbi Yosef Caro and his Shulhan Aruch (Codex of Jewish Law) as the final authority for Sephardic Jews in Israel.

Hacham Ovadia Yosef zt”l had a profound and incalculable impact upon the Torah world. In addition to the Sephardic revolution which he inspired and led, he composed 58 halachic works, all of which have become standard texts in the field of practical halachic decision-making. He trained thousands of accomplished halachic scholars, untold numbers of whom serve as rabbis, writers, and educators in Israel and around the world. His legacy is also carried through his 11 children, several of whom are accomplished Torah scholars in their own right.

Palestinian , Nakba , and their 1948 reality in Zion

The Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, meets with Adolf Hitler in 1941. Photo: German Federal Archives 

The truth about the circumstances and numbers of the 1948

Arab refugees has been sacrificed on the altar of Arab-appeasement and Israel-bashing by the UN, Arab regimes, the “elite” Western media, and most Western foreign offices.

For instance, the Palestinian Arab leadership collaborated with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, seeking Nazi support to settle “the Jewish problem” in British Mandate Palestine in accordance with the practice used in Europe. Thus, the top Palestinian Arab leader, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, incited his people in a March 1, 1944, Arabic broadcast on Nazi Berlin Radio to “Kill the Jews wherever you find them. It would please God, history and religion.”

On January 9, 2013, Mahmoud Abbas honored this Nazi collaborator: “We pledge to continue on the path of the martyrs [suicide bombers]…. We must remember the Grand Mufti of Palestine, Haj Amin Al-Husseini….” And in 2016, Hitler’s Mein Kemp and the antisemitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion feature prominently in Mahmoud Abbas’ hate-education and incitement systems.

On October 11, 1947, Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, the first Secretary General of the Arab League told the Egyptian daily Akhbar al Yom: “…This will be a war of extermination and momentous massacre, which will be spoken of like the Tartar massacres, or the Crusaders’ wars…. Each fighter deems death on behalf of Palestine as the shortest road to paradise….The war will be an opportunity for vast plunder…. ” On August 2, 1948, the New York Times reported that Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the largest Islamic terror organization — the Muslim Brotherhood — said“Drive the Jews into the sea… and never accept the Jewish State.”

The Arab incitement led the CIA and the Department of State (which vehemently opposed the establishment of a Jewish State) to warn David Ben Gurion, Israel’s Founding Father, that “a declaration of independence would lead to a second Jewish Holocaust in less than ten years.”

In spite of the Arab military assault on the newly-born Jewish state, the wave of terrorism and subversion by Israeli Arabs, and their collaboration with the Arab invasion, the Commander-in-Chief of the “Arab Liberation Army,” Ismayil Safwat, admitted on March 23, 1948: “The Jews have not attacked any Arab village, unless attacked first.”

The Arabs egregiously violated the November 29, 1947, UN General Assembly Resolution 181; Article 80 of the UNCharter (that includes the “Mandate of Palestine,” and stipulated a Jewish state in the entire area west of the Jordan River); the July 24, 1922 League of Nations’ “Mandate for Palestine”; the April 1920 San Remo Conference of the First World War Allied Powers, which resolved to establish a Jewish national home on both sides of the Jordan River; and the November 1917 Balfour Declaration, which was the basis for San Remo.

How many refugees resulted from the 1948/49 Arab attempt to annihilate the “infidel” Jewish state, which was established, supposedly, in the abode of Islam? According to inflated British Mandate numbers, before the 1948/9 war, there were 800,000 Arabs in “pre-1967 Israel.” 170,000 Arabs remained at the end of the war. Of the 630,000 Arabs who left, 100,000 were absorbed by Israel’s family reunification gesture; 100,000 middle and upper class Arabs left before the war, absorbed by neighboring Arab countries; 50,000 migrant laborers returned to their Arab countries of origin; 50,000 Bedouins joined their brethren-tribes in Jordan and Sinai, from whence their forefathers migrated during the 18-19 centuries; and 10,000 were war fatalities (compared with 6,000 Jewish fatalities). Thus, the total number of Palestinian Arab refugees — resulting from a war launched by Arabs — could not exceed 320,000, in the context of more than 100 million global refugees.

According to Elfan Rees, Advisor on Refugees Affairs to the World Council of Churches, during the 1950s there were 36 million refugees in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Less than 1% were Arabs. All, but the Arabs, have been integrated into their new societies. Moreover, 100 million refugees were created by wars since World War II and 79 million were created during 1933-1945, yet all were integrated.

In addition, there were 90 million Chinese refugees during the 1937-1945 war against Japan; 15 million Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim refugees during the 1947 creation of India and Pakistan; 12 million German refugees from Poland and Czechoslovakia following World War II; 9 million Korean refugees during the 1950-1953 war; 7 million Syrian refugees caused by the current civil war; 5 million Sudanese refugees; 3 million Polish refugees following the 1939 USSR occupation; 3 million refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia following the 1975 US withdrawal; 3 million refugees from Afghanistan; 2 million Greek and Turkish refugees from the 1919-1922 war; 1 million Libyan refugees since 2011; 800,000 Yemenite refugees from Saudi Arabia in 1990; and more 500,000 Christian refugees from Lebanon.

The UN has highlighted/twisted the story of the 320,000 1948/49 Palestinian Arab refugees, singling them out for perpetuity unlike all other refugees, as a means to de-legitimize Israel. But, the UN has ignored the 300,000 Palestinian refugees from Kuwait, the 200,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria, and the 50,000 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.

In 1948, expecting an Arab assault on the reconstructed Jewish state, the British High Commissioner, Alan Cunningham, urged Arab and Jewish minorities to evacuate mixed towns. The Arabs complied — many of them returned to their countries of origin — but the Jews remained.

The London Economist wrote on October 2, 1948: “The most potent factor [triggering the Arab flight] was the Higher Arab Executive, urging the Arabs to quit…and [saying] that those Arabs who remained in Haifa and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades….” It was reaffirmed by Syrian Prime Minister Khaled al-Azam, who admitted, in his 1973 memoirs: “We brought destruction upon the [1948] refugees, by calling on them to leave their homes.”

The goal of promoting the myth of the 1948 Arab refugees — which fails the reality test — was disclosed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Muhammad Salah al-Din Bey in the Egyptian daily Al Misri on October 11, 1949: “In demanding the return of the Palestinian refugees, the intention is to exterminate the Jewish State.
”

OECD tags Zion's Growth Rate to 2.5% . Bank of Israel comments, " Don't be Silly"

The OECD now sees 2.5% growth in the Israeli economy in 2016; in November last year it predicted that growth would be 3.2%. The Bank of Israel have so far declined to alter their 3,2% prediction for 2016 downwards especially after Israeli unemployment feel to below 5% for the first time since this benchmark was accurately calculated (1956). Gas reserves continue to increase as more development and discovery continues at accelerated pace.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) today published its annual forecast for Israel, predicting 2.5% growth in 2016 and 3% growth in 2017. In its previous forecast, in November 2015, the OECD predicted that the Israeli economy would grow by 3.2% in 2016.

The OECD review states that an expansionary budget and low interest rates and fuel prices are likely to support domestic demand and employment. In its forecast, the OECD notes that first quarter exports were weak, but predicts that they will gradually recover in line with recovery in overseas demand. 

The OECD asserts that taking into account low inflation and super-expansionary global monetary policy, the Bank of Israel's easy money policy is essential in order to prevent shekel appreciation. The OECD's economists write that tax cuts, combined with a cut in government spending in 2016, would support the economy in the short term, but that the government would have difficulty in the medium term in meeting the target for cutting public debt.

The OECD economists state that the authorities in Israel should keep a careful watch over the constant tension in the real estate market. They add that the efforts to encourage competition in various sectors, mainly in agriculture and banking, were praiseworthy, and designed to increase purchasing power.

27 Israeli NGO (know your enemy from within) targeted by Zion

Demonstrations in Support of Zahal in response to Breaking the Silence random unsubstantiated  malicious reporting on Zahal atrocities.

NGO transparency bill to apply to 27 foreign-gov’t-funded groupsIsrael talking to US in efforts to impact Paris summit Obama slams Trump for promising to roll back all organizations aligned with Left; Bill to ban Super PACs advances.

Legislation requiring greater transparency for organizations getting most of their budgets from foreign governments will affect 27 NGOs, Nonprofits Registrar representative Yafit Shemer told the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Wednesday.

Committee chairman Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi) prohibited Shemer from presenting the list to the MKs, arguing that he wants the bill to be “clean” of being drafted in a way that would target specific NGOs, sparking vocal debate among lawmakers. The Justice Ministry did not respond to requests for the list.

The Justice Ministry bill in question, which returned to the committee after passing a first reading in the plenum, requires any NGO receiving more than half its funding from a foreign political entity identify itself as such in any publications and any meetings with public officials, and has been controversial because most of the organizations under the bill’s purview are likely to be leftwing.

Research by watchdog organization NGO Monitor indicates the suspicions are correct, finding 19 organizations that fit the conditions of the bill, according to their donations received in 2012-2014.

Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights, which is active in the West Bank, leads the pack, with 93.5 percent foreign government funding, amounting to more than NIS 15 million, according to NGO Monitor. Nearly all of the organizations on the list identify as human rights NGOs and are affiliated with the Left: B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Hamoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual, Adalah-The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, The Parents Circle, Breaking the Silence, Mossawa Center, The Public Committee against Torture, Gisha-Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, Education for Peace (affiliated with Peace Now), Comet-ME, Zochrot, Coalition of Women for Peace, Terrestrial Jerusalem, the Human Rights Defenders Fund, Emek Shaveh, and New Profile.

The watchdog found six other NGOs that did not pass the 50% mark.

MKs Miki Rosenthal (Zionist Union) and Michal Rozin (Meretz) argued with Slomiansky about his prohibition on giving the list to the committee. Rozin said the bill is “political persecution against human rights organizations. It is absurd that in a discussion of a transparency bill, the committee chairman will not reveal the names of the organizations to which the law will be applied.”

MK Omer Bar-Lev (Zionist Union) called for transparency of all donations and not just those from foreign political entities, saying he is “more concerned by donations from millionaires from around the world who want to influence what happens in Israel.”

Association for Civil Rights in Israel representative Debbie Gild-Hayo called for the legislation’s advocates to “stop hinting, and put the list of NGOs on the table. Whoever does not agree with the political majority in Israel is immediately delegitimized,” she argued.

NGO Monitor President Prof. Gerald Steinberg said donations of more than NIS 100m. per year from foreign governments “distort Israeli democracy and dangerously damage its sovereignty.”

But this should be mitigated by dialogue with lawmakers in Europe, many of whom oppose their government’s donations to political organizations.

Also on Wednesday, the Knesset approved in a preliminary reading the “V15 bill,” meant to make American- style Super PACs illegal. The measure proposed by MK Yoav Kisch (Likud) would limit political organizations’ ability to raise funds in an election year by making the limitations on NGOs involved in elections similar to those on a political party.

The legislation is nicknamed “V15” after an organization that campaigned against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the last election using advanced data methods to target voters door-to-door.

Yom Yerusalem : The Temple Mount is in the Hands of Zion

Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) 2016

Sunday, June 5, 2016

June 7th 1967 -The Temple Mount is in Our Hands"


In the late hours of the morning, the 55 brigade breached the old city traveling through the Lions gate. After half an hour, the brigade commander emotionally reported on his two-way radio, "The Temple Mt. is in Our Hands," and the Israeli fag was raised facing the Western Wall.

The Chief Military Rabbi, Major General Shlomo Goran, organized the evening prayers at the Western Wall for all those troops that freed the city. Emotions ran wild. "Hugs, shouts, confusion, men patting each other on the shoulders?.laughter, cries, and hugging once more," read Brigade Commander Gur. "I feel here, that this is my home. It is our dream! The Temple Mt.! Mt. Moriah, Abraham and Issac! The holy temple- the Maccabies, Bar Kochba, the Romans and Greeks; each with the same interests. But our emotions, are deeper than them all. We are here on the Temple Mt., our home!"
In the hours following, the Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and the Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Yitzchak Rabin arrived at the newly liberated Western Wall. Following their arrival, the renowned Israeli singer Noemi Shemar and the Nachal Brigade choir began singing "Jerusalem of Gold"- the song most identified with the Western Wall- to the great emotion of the Paratrooper Brigades assembled in the Old City. At that moment Shemer added a number of new verses to her famous song. She replaced the lines, "How have the wells of water dried out" and "There is no command of the Temple Mt." with "The wells of water have returned" and "A Shofar calls out on the Temple Mt."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72QC8EGnxTw


Jerusalem Day (Hebrew: יום ירושלים‎‎, Yom Yerushalayim) is an Israeli national holiday commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City in the aftermath of the June 1967 Six-Day War. The day is officially marked by state ceremonies and memorial services as well as controversial parades, which sometimes include vandalism, racism and violence. While the day is not widely celebrated outside Israel,[2] and has lost its significance for most secular Israelis,[3][4][5] the day is still very much celebrated by Israel's Religious Zionist community with parades and additional prayers in the synagogue. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel declared Jerusalem Day a minor religious holiday to mark the regaining of access to the Western Wall.

History

Jerusalem Day 2004 at theWestern Wall.

Under the 1947 UN Partition Plan, which proposed the establishment of two states in the British Mandate of Palestine – a Jewish state and an Arab state – Jerusalem was to be an international city, neither exclusively Arab nor Jewish for a period of ten years, at which point a referendum would be held by Jerusalem residents to determine which country to join. The Jewish leadership accepted the plan, including the internationalization of Jerusalem, but the Arabs rejected the proposal.

As soon as Israel declared its independence in 1948, it was attacked by its Arab neighbours. Jordan took over east Jerusalem and the Old City. Israeli forces made a concerted attempt to dislodge them, but were unable to do so. By the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War Jerusalem was left divided between Israel andJordan. The Old City and East Jerusalem continued to be occupied by Jordan, and the Jewish residents were forced out. Under Jordanian rule, half of the Old City's fifty-eight synagogues were demolished and the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives was plundered for its tombstones, which were used as paving stones and building materials

This state of affairs changed in 1967 as a result of the Six-Day War. Before the start of the war, Israel sent a message to King Hussein of Jordan saying that Israel would not attack Jerusalem or the West Bank as long as the Jordanian front remained quiet. Urged by Egyptian pressure and based on deceptive intelligence reports, Jordan began shelling civilian locations in Israel to which Israel responded on June 6 by opening the eastern front. The following day, June 7, 1967 (28 Iyar 5727), Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem.

Later that day, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan declared what is often quoted during Yom Yerushalayim:

This morning, the Israel Defense Forces liberated Jerusalem. We have united Jerusalem, the divided capital of Israel. We have returned to the holiest of our holy places, never to part from it again. To our Arab neighbors we extend, also at this hour—and with added emphasis at this hour—our hand in peace. And to our Christian and Muslim fellow citizens, we solemnly promise full religious freedom and rights. We did not come to Jerusalem for the sake of other peoples' holy places, and not to interfere with the adherents of other faiths, but in order to safeguard its entirety, and to live there together with others, in unity.

Chief of Staff Lt. Gen.Yitzhak Rabin in the entrance to the old city of Jerusalem during the Six Day War, with Moshe Dayanand Uzi Narkiss.

The war ended with a ceasefire on June 11, 1967.

On May 12, 1968, the government proclaimed a new holiday – Jerusalem Day – to be celebrated on the 28th of Iyar, the Hebrew date on which the divided city of Jerusalem became one. On March 23, 1998, the Knesset passed the Jerusalem Day Law, making the day a national holiday.

One of the themes of Jerusalem Day, based on a verse from the Book of Psalms, is "Ke'ir shechubra lah yachdav"—"Built-up Jerusalem is like a city that was joined together" (Psalm 122:3).

In 1977, the government advanced the date of Jerusalem Day by a week to avoid it clashing with Election Day.

Religious observance

Religious Zionists recite special holiday prayers with Hallel. Although Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik was reluctant to authorise its inclusion in the liturgy, other scholars, namely Meshulam Roth and others who held positions in the Israeli rabbinate, advocated the reciting of Hallel with its blessings, regarding it as a duty to do so. Today, various communities follow differing practices.

Some Haredim (strictly Orthodox), who do not recognise the religious significance of the State of Israel, do not observe Yom Yerushalayim. Rabbi Moses Feinstein maintained that adding holidays to the Jewish calendar was itself problematic.

40th anniversary celebrations

Logo of 40th anniversary celebrations, Jaffa Gate.

The slogan for Jerusalem Day 2007, celebrated on May 16,^[24] marking the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, was "Mashehu Meyuhad leKol Ehad" (Hebrew: משהו מיוחד לכל אחד‎‎, Something Special for Everyone), punning on the words "meyuhad" (special) and "me'uhad" (united). To mark the anniversary, the approach to Jerusalem on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway was illuminated with decorative blue lighting which remained in place throughout the year.

This is Mordechai Twersky reporting from Jerusalem :

What you are now about to hear is perhaps one of the most riveting recordings in the modern-day history of Israel . I refer to the dramatic sounds of Israeli Defense Forces entering and liberating Jerusalem ’s Old City and the Western Wall onJune 7^th, 1967 . You hear the sounds of gunfire. You hear the footsteps of Israeli soldiers, as they draw closer and closer and as General Uzi Narkiss instructs them and asks to be shown where the Western Wall stands. We hear a triumphant Brigadier General Shlomo Goren, later to become the Chief Rabbi of Israel , as he recites the memorial prayer and sound the shofar, as Israeli soldiers weep with sorrow over their comrades killed in combat.

Listen closely to this piece of history, which is housed in the archives of the Avi Yaffe Recording Studio in Jerusalem .

Colonel Motta Gur [on loudspeaker]: All company commanders, we’re sitting right now on the ridge and we’re seeing the Old City . Shortly we’re going to go in to the Old City of Jerusalem, that all generations have dreamed about. We will be the first to enter the Old City . Eitan’s tanks will advance on the left and will enter the Lion’s Gate. The final rendezvous will be on the open square above.

[The open square of the Temple Mount .]

[Sound of applause by the soldiers.]

Yossi Ronen: We are now walking on one of the main streets of Jerusalem towards the Old City . The head of the force is about to enter the Old City .

[Gunfire.]

Yossi Ronen: There is still shooting from all directions; we’re advancing towards the entrance of the Old City .

[Sound of gunfire and soldiers’ footsteps.]

[Yelling of commands to soldiers.]

[More soldiers’ footsteps.]

The soldiers are keeping a distance of approximately 5 meters between them. It’s still dangerous to walk around here; there is still sniper shooting here and there.

[Gunfire.]

We’re all told to stop; we’re advancing towards the mountainside; on our left is the Mount of Olives ; we’re now in the OldCity opposite the Russian church. I’m right now lowering my head; we’re running next to the mountainside. We can see the stone walls. They’re still shooting at us. The Israeli tanks are at the entrance to the Old City , and ahead we go, through the Lion’s Gate. I’m with the first unit to break through into the Old City . There is a Jordanian bus next to me, totally burnt; it is very hot here. We’re about to enter the Old City itself. We’re standing below the Lion’s Gate, the Gate is about to come crashing down, probably because of the previous shelling. Soldiers are taking cover next to the palm trees; I’m also staying close to one of the trees. We’re getting further and further into the City.

[Gunfire.]

Colonel Motta Gur announces on the army wireless: The Temple Mount is in our hands! I repeat, the Temple Mount is in our hands!

All forces, stop firing! This is the David Operations Room. All forces, stop firing! I repeat, all forces, stop firing! Over.

Commander eight-nine here, is this Motta (Gur) talking? Over.

[Inaudible response on the army wireless by Motta Gur.]

Uzi Narkiss: Motta, there isn’t anybody like you. You’re next to the Mosque of Omar.

Yossi Ronen: I’m driving fast through the Lion’s Gate all the way inside the Old City .

Command on the army wireless: Comb the area, discover the source of the firing. Protect every building, in every way. Do not touch anything, especially in the holy places.

[Lt.- Col. Uzi Eilam blows the Shofar.  Soldiers are singing ‘ Jerusalem of Gold’.]

Uzi Narkiss: Tell me, where is the Western Wall? How do we get there?

Yossi Ronen: I’m walking right now down the steps towards the Western Wall. I’m not a religious man, I never have been, but this is the Western Wall and I’m touching the stones of the Western Wall.

Soldiers: [reciting the ‘Shehechianu’ blessing]: Baruch ata Hashem, elokeinu melech haolam, she-hechianu ve-kiemanuve-hegianu la-zman ha-zeh. [Translation: Blessed art Thou L-rd G-d King of the Universe who has sustained us and kept us and has brought us to this day]

Rabbi Shlomo Goren: Baruch ata Hashem, menachem tsion u-voneh Yerushalayim. [Translation: Blessed are thou, who comforts Zion and bulids Jerusalem ]

Soldiers: Amen!

[Soldiers sing ‘Hatikva’ next to the Western Wall.]

Rabbi Goren: We’re now going to recite the prayer for the fallen soldiers of this war against all of the enemies of Israel :

[Soldiers weeping]

El male rahamim, shohen ba-meromim. Hamtse menuha nahona al kanfei hashina, be-maalot kedoshim, giborim ve-tehorim, kezohar harakiya meirim u-mazhirim. Ve-nishmot halalei tsava hagana le-yisrael, she-naflu be-maaraha zot,neged oievei yisrael, ve-shnaflu al kedushat Hashem ha-am ve-ha’arets, ve-shichrur Beit Hamikdash, Har Habayit,Hakotel ha-ma’aravi veyerushalayim ir ha-elokim. Be-gan eden tehe menuhatam. Lahen ba’al ha-rahamim, yastirembeseter knafav le-olamim. Ve-yitsror be-tsror ha-hayim et nishmatam adoshem hu nahlatam, ve-yanuhu be-shalom almishkavam [soldiers weeping loud]ve-ya’amdu le-goralam le-kets ha-yamim ve-nomar amen!

[Translation: Merciful G-d in heaven, may the heroes and the pure, be under thy Divine wings, among the holy and the pure who shine bright as the sky, and the souls of soldiers of the Israeli army who fell in this war against the enemies of Israel, who fell for their loyalty to G-d and the land of Israel, who fell for the liberation of the Temple, the Temple Mount, the Western Wall and Jerusalem the city of the Lord. May their place of rest be in paradise. Merciful One, O keep their souls forever alive under Thy protective wings. The Lord being their heritage, may they rest in peace, for they shalt rest and stand up for their allotted portion at the end of the days, and let us say, Amen.]

[Soldiers are weeping. Rabbi Goren sounds the shofar.  Sound of gunfire in the background.]

Rabbi Goren: Le-shana HA-ZOT be-Yerushalayim ha-b’nuya, be-yerushalayim ha-atika! [Translation: This year in a rebuilt Jerusalem ! In the  Jerusalem of old!]

https://www.facebook.com/ChiefRabbiMirvis/videos/886808208114981/?pnref=story