As Iran nuclear talks extended, Iranian leader repeats threat to destroy Israel
(JNS.org) A day before U.S. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf confirmed Tuesday that the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 nations were extended until July 10, an Iranian leader reiterated the Islamic Republic’s desire for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”
“The presence of the Israeli regime is temporary,” Iranian Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told the Hezbollah-linked Al Ahd news website. “Eventually one day this alien forged existence that has been forced into the body of an ancient nation and an historical region will be wiped off the map.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes the nuclear negotiations due to Iranian leaders’ threatening rhetoric towards the Jewish state, among other reasons, and said Monday that an agreement “will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal.”
The State Department’s Harf said that despite the nuclear talks’ extensions beyond the June 30 and July 7 deadlines, the negotiations have made “substantial progress.” But according to reports, a dispute over United Nations sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program is holding up the deal.
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Jewish Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub dies at 77
(JNS.org) Renowned Jewish movie producer Jerry Weintraub died Monday at age 77 of cardiac arrest. Weintraub is known for working on movies such as “The Karate Kid,” “Behind the Candelabra,” and “Oceans’s Eleven,” among others.
Before he was a movie producer, Weintraub managed famous singers such as as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand. He died in a hospital in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Several Hollywood and political personalities paid tribute to Weintraub on social media, such as actor George Clooney, actor and comedian Paul Reiser, and former president George H.W. Bush. In a statement, Bush said Weintraub “had a passion for life, and throughout the ups and downs of his prolific career it was clear just how much he loved show business. I used to tease him about being a ‘black belt name-dropper,’ but he really did seem to know everyone in showbiz—and we join his many friends in remembering and celebrating his singular life.”
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Israel remembers fallen soldiers of Operation Protective Edge
(JNS.org) Israel on Monday held a ceremony marking one year since last summer’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem.
“It was a moral and just campaign undertaken by a sovereign state to defend its citizens,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said at the ceremony.
“Men, women, children, and the elderly were exposed to the terror of death and the shock waves that follow,” said Rivlin. During the 50-day conflict with Hamas, 66 IDF soldiers and six Israeli civilians were killed.
Attending the ceremony were bereaved family members and IDF soldiers who fought in the Gaza war. The commander of the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion, Lt. Col. Shay Siman Tov, who sustained serious injuries in the operation, read the mourner’s kaddish from his wheelchair.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that Israeli commanders last summer kept the letters children wrote to them on the walls of their command center, saying that it “gave the IDF soldiers the extra strength to fight our enemies. They did so with utmost regard for the laws of war and the IDF’s value of purity of arms.”
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Low-cost European airline Ryanair announces first Israel flights
(JNS.org) Ryanair, one of Europe’s top low-cost airlines, on Tuesday announced its first Israel flights.
Starting in November, Ryanair, which is based in Ireland, will operate routes between three European cities—Budapest, Kaunas, and Krakow—and Eilat’s Ovda Airport.
There will be two weekly return flights to and from Eilat on each route. It is expected the routes will serve a combined 40,000 passengers annually. Tickets for the new flights go on sale July 8.
David O’Brien, Ryanair’s chief commercial officer, said, “Ryanair is pleased to announce our entry into the Israeli market. … We are continuing to negotiate with the Israeli authorities, and we look forward to growing our Israeli route network in the future.”
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Israeli desalination firm named one of world’s smartest companies
(JNS.org) IDE Technologies, an Israeli water desalination company, has been named by the MIT Technology Review as one of the world’s 50 smartest companies for 2015.
IDE was ranked 18th on the annual MIT Technology Review list. Topping the list was Tesla Motors. Rounding out the top five were Xiaomi, Illumina, Alibaba, and Counsyl.
“To make the list, a company must have truly innovative technology and a business model that is both practical and ambitious, with the result that it has set the agenda in its field over the past 12 months,” the MIT Technology Review said.
Regarding IDE, the MIT Technology Review said the company was “offering more affordable water desalination at a scale never before achieved.”
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Intel announces new Israeli start-up accelerator
(JNS.org) A new initiative by the microprocessor giant Intel will help aspiring Israeli entrepreneurs make their ideas a reality. On Monday, the company announced that as part of the Intel Ingenuity Partner Program (IPP), Intel would let Israeli entrepreneurs tap into the company’s business and marketing resources as well as its advanced technological know-how.
Nine Israeli companies will participate in the inaugural six-month cycle of the program, after which point they will get the opportunity to collaborate with Intel on various marketing ideas. Intel will also match the companies with mentors throughout the entire period, using the mentors’ expertise and ties within Israel’s high-tech industry to promote the start-ups’ projects. The research and development in the program includes telecommunications, big data, and robotics.
The companies presently taking part in the Intel IPP are DOV-E, Eagantu, Extreme Reality, Green IQ, Lexifone, Onysus, PowerTags, Robomow, and Safe Solution. As part of the program, the start-ups will have to provide a prototype of their invention or some other proof of concept.
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Netanyahu promises to help Greece as debt crisis worsens
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias in Jerusalem on Monday, promising to help Greece as its debt crisis worsens.
In a referendum on Sunday, a majority of Greek voters rejected the tough economic bailout conditions set by the European Central Bank (ECB)—giving a boost to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in his negotiations with the ECB, but stoking more fears that Greece’s banks could collapse, possibly resulting in a messy exit from the European Union.
Netanyahu commended Kotzias for following through on his visit to Israel despite the deepening crisis back at home.
“You come here at a critical time for Greece, and I appreciate the fact that you kept this visit despite some rather dramatic events in your country,” said Netanyahu.
While hailing Greece as one of the two foundations of Western democracy, along with Jerusalem, Netanyahu told Kotzias that Israel is “committed to help in any way we can to ensure your success.”
Greece and Israel have strengthened ties in recent years as both countries seek to counteract Turkey’s rise in the region.
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