IDF chief says Israel must meet maritime threats
(JNS.org) The Israeli Naval Academy held its 130th graduation ceremony on Tuesday. Welcoming the new naval officers, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot said the past few years “have seen the Middle East change in a way that mandated the IDF and its troops change with it.”
“The sea is a significant part of Israel’s national and economic resilience, as it holds natural resources that allow the state to continue developing its strength,” Eizenkot said. “Nevertheless, it also harbors dangers and threats by enemies who wish to harm us. … We have to meet these maritime threats—it is the only way for us to realize the full mission of the Israel Defense Forces. The navy is pivotal to our success as a military and as a state.”
The next class of Israeli Naval Academy cadets will have the option of specialized submarine training, ahead of the arrival of new submarines.
Lt. N., who graduated on Tuesday, told Israel Hayom, “I realized I would be assigned to submarine duty only a year and four months after my training began. At the end of this course I may be certified to be stationed on a submarine, but I’m less familiar with my specific role, which is why I now have to go through specialized training.” The newly minted officer has been assigned to the INS Tanin, which is the newest addition to the Israeli Navy’s submarine fleet.
The Israeli Navy recently installed the AquaShield Diver Detection Sonar system, which makes it possible to identify individual divers underwater from a far greater distance off the coast. The new detection system is expected to prevent situations like one that transpired during Operation Protective Edge last summer, when a small group of Hamas naval commandos managed to approach the Israeli coast from the sea and went undetected by military surveillance until the group reached the shore.
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Israeli opposition leader’s speech cut off on TV as ‘elections propaganda’
(JNS.org) A speech by Zionist Union alliance head and Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog was cut off in the middle of a broadcast on Israel’s Channel 2 television network due to concern that Herzog’s remarks constituted elections propaganda.
“There’s no doubt Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks well, but let’s admit the truth: the speech we heard, impressive as it might have been, did not stop the Iranian nuclear program,” Herzog said on the Tuesday night broadcast regarding Netanyahu’s address to Congress, according to Israel Hayom. “It also won’t affect the deal being put together, either in terms of content or timetable. The painful truth is that after the applause, Netanyahu remained alone. Israel remains isolated, and the negotiations with Iran will continue without Israeli involvement.”
Herzog called Netanyahu’s speech “a serious blow to Israel-U.S. relations” that “won’t change the [Obama] administration’s position and will only widen the rift with our great friend and strategic partner, a schism that we will all pay the price for.”
Upon arriving back in Israel on Wednesday morning, Netanyahu said at Ben-Gurion International Airport, “After my short visit to the United States, I return to Israel knowing that many around the world heard what Israel has to say about the impending deal with Iran.”
“In my speech before the Congress, I presented a practical alternative, which would impose tougher restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program, extending Iran’s breakout time by years,” the prime minister said. “I also called on the P5+1 [nations] to insist on a deal that would link the lifting of those restrictions to Iran’s ceasing its sponsorship of terrorism around the world, its aggression against its neighbors, and its calls for Israel’s destruction. I heard encouraging responses from both Democrats and Republicans. They understood that the current proposal would lead to a bad deal and that the alternative is a better deal. Happy Purim.”
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After speech, Netanyahu holds bipartisan meeting with Senate leaders
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) After addressing Congress on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with a bipartisan group of U.S. Senate leaders.
At the start of the meeting, Netanyahu said, “I do want to thank the leadership of the Senate, Republicans and Democrats, both sides of the aisle, for inviting me here, giving me an opportunity to state Israel’s concern about an issue that could be the most important issue of our times. I believe it is.”
The prime minister added, “I was very moved by the attention and the responses to the speech from both sides of the aisle, and it’s very clear to me and it was clear in that hall to anyone who was there that the support for Israel is strongly bipartisan, that there is a very broad support of the American people and its representative for the Jewish state and I’m very, very grateful for that. Thank you, thank you.”
Netanyahu was invited to the meeting by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada). Other attendees included Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).
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Film defending Pope Pius XII’s Holocaust record criticized by Jews and Christians
(JNS.org) Jews and Christians are criticizing a new Italian film that portrays Pope Pius XII, who held the papacy during the Holocaust, in a more positive light than usual.
Pope Pius XII was known for ignoring the mass atrocities that were committed by the Nazis, and for failing to speak out publicly or to use the influence of his position to try to stop the extermination of Jews and others.
Shades of Truth, which has been negatively received by many viewers, recounts the story of a fictional American journalist who begins as a heavy critic of Pius but then changes his mind based on research in Rome, Europe, and Israel.
The current pontiff, Pope Francis, told a Spanish newspaper last year that Pius “has to be seen in the context of that era [in which he was pope].” The Vatican has also claimed that Pius actually worked behind the scenes to save thousands of Jews, but kept silent on the issue publicly, fearing that his words could lead to even more killings by the Nazis.
Yet the Vatican’s own newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, said that the new film—which refers to Pius as “the most misunderstood person of the 20th century”—is “naive,” “lacking credibility,” and a “frankly clumsy attempt” at defending the former pontiff, Reuters reported. Pagine Ebraiche, the Rome Jewish community’s online newspaper, called the film “a blundering soap opera of dubious quality, filled with stereotypes.”
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Israeli-made chipset could extend battery life for devices using 4G mobile networks
(JNS.org) The Israeli company Altair Semiconductor says that it has developed the capability for small electric devices to connect better to fourth generation (4G) mobile networks. The new technology could impact devices such as electricity meters or security alarms.
Currently, the batteries of devices that use 4G networks, which are known as LTE batteries, tend to run out of power quickly. According to Altair, a new chipset the company has designed makes sure that data flows with as much as 10 times less power and half the cost of using current LTE technology.
“We’re talking about repositioning LTE to serve down to the level of street light sensors, smart home gateways, vehicle telematics,” Eran Eshed, co-founder and vice president of marketing atAltair Semiconductor, told Reuters.
Eshed added that a smart meter can run for as long as 10 years if it is equipped with this chipset, and that wearable devices would be able to last for days before the battery runs out. The chipset is currently being presented to potential customers.
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Temple Mount Jewish prayer upheld in court decision on Yehuda Glick
(JNS.org) The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court announced Monday that it has upheld the right of Jews to pray at the Temple Mount in a case involving activist Yehuda Glick, a promoter of Jewish access to the holy site.
Although Israel gained eastern Jerusalem and its holy sites from Jordan during the 1967 Six Day War, the Temple Mount is being administered by the Islamic Waqf, a Muslim trust overseen by Jordan that limits non-Muslim visitation and bans Jewish prayer. Israel, however, provides security at the site.
In recent months, an increase in Jewish visitation has been led by activist groups calling for greater Jewish access to the Temple Mount.
While Israel’s Supreme Court has also upheld the Jewish right to prayer at the site in principle, the Jerusalem court’s new decision left security services with the authority to continue blocking non-Muslim prayer if they deem it to be a security concern.
Glick had brought a lawsuit against Israeli police for banning him from the site over videos showing him praying there. Last year, Glick was wounded in an assassination attempt by a Palestinian terrorist.
Judge Malka Aviv said, “There is nothing in the deeds of the plaintiff (Glick) that justified in any way the punishment that he received.” Glick was awarded NIS 500,000 (about $126,000) in damages and NIS 150,000 (about $25,000) in legal costs.
The police were ordered to “ensure that Jews are able to pray on the Temple Mount, and not to act sweepingly to prevent Jews from praying on the Temple Mount,” the ruling said.
Glick’s attorney, Aviad Visoly, said, “Essentially, the court took the ruling of the Supreme Court regarding the right of Jews to pray at the Temple Mount, and implemented it in practice,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
But doubts remain on whether this ruling would actually lead to Jewish prayer being allowed at the site in practice, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterating last year his commitment to maintaining the status-quo on the Temple Mount issue.
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