Jewish news briefs: July 24, 2015

jns logo short version

Israeli envoy to the U.S. engages lawmakers in bid to stop Iran deal

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer on Thursday continued to meet with American lawmakers in an effort to secure their positions in opposition of the Iran nuclear deal.

Dermer hopes to recruit as many lawmakers as possible to oppose the agreement in an upcoming vote, which will follow a Congressional review period of as long as 60 days.

Over his nearly two years as ambassador, Dermer has met with more than 350 members of the House of Representatives and more than 85 members of the Senate.

“Over the next several weeks, he plans to meet with as many undecided members of Congress as possible—most of them Democrats,” an unnamed Israeli official said.
*

Israeli findings push first wheat cultivation back 11,000 years

(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) New findings at the archaeological site Ohalo II near the Sea of Galilee have revealed that wheat and barley had been sown there dating back 23,000 years, which is 11,000 years earlier than the estimated inception of organized agriculture.

Professor Ehud Weiss of the Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology Department at Bar-Ilan University and Dr. Ainit Snir led the team of archaeologists, botanists, and ecologists who made the breakthrough discovery, which was published in the July issue of the Plos One scientific journal.

Until now, historians have believed that humans began transitioning from hunter-gatherer societies to established agriculture communities some 12,000 years ago. The Israeli researchers based their startling new conclusion on three discoveries: the atypically high presence of domestic, rather than wild, wheat and barley dispersal units; a high concentration of proto-weeds (plants of the type known to flourish in fields planted with domesticated crops); and sickle blades that were used to cut and harvest grains.

Weiss explained that the plant remains from the site were unusually well-preserved because they had been charred and then covered by sediment and water, which sealed them in low-oxygen conditions.

“Due to this, it was possible to recover an extensive amount of information on the site and its inhabitants—which made this a uniquely preserved site, and therefore one of the best archaeological examples worldwide of hunter-gatherers’ way of life. Here we see evidence of repeated sowing and harvesting of later domesticated cereals,” Weiss said.
*

Israel donates helicopters to Jordan for protection against Islamic State

(JNS.org) Israel has donated retired American-made Cobra attack helicopters to Jordan’s air force in order to help the country defend itself against the Islamic State terror group.

“These choppers are for border security,” a U.S. official told Reuters.

The Israeli Air Force once had two Cobra squadrons (it renamed those helicopters Tzefa), with one being decommissioned in the mid-2000s and the other in 2013. Those squadrons were retired in favor of the more advanced U.S.-made Apache helicopters.

Manufactured by Bell Helicopter, the Cobras are single-engine attack helicopters that made up the backbone of the U.S. Army’s helicopter fleet during the Vietnam War and through the 1990s.

Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994 and maintain close government-to-government ties. Recently, with the Syrian civil war threatening to spill over into both countries, the Israeli- Jordanian relationship has grown closer, with Israel sharing intelligence and quietly aiding Jordan’s military.

*
One giant leap for Israel: Buzz Aldrin to make first visit to Jewish state

(JNS.org) Forty-six years after becoming the second man to walk on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin will take his first steps in the Holy Land later this year.

Aldrin, 85, will be attending the International Astronautical Federation’s (IAF) annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Jerusalem in October, the IAF announced Thursday.

Much like his mission to the Moon, Aldrin is following in the footsteps of former colleague Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon, who visited Israel in 2007 and met with children at the National Science Museum in Haifa. Armstrong died in 2012.

Founded in 1951, the IAF hosts the conference in various countries each year. The theme of this year’s conference is “Space—The Gateway for Mankind’s Future” and will draw the world’s leading space experts as part of various panel discussions and workshops.

“Many of Israel’s high-tech companies, with their diverse space industrial facilities, space technology, expertise, and know-how, have much to offer to the international space community,” the IAC’s local planning committee in Jerusalem said in a statement.

“Israel’s academia and research institutions represent the cutting-edge of research, technology, development, and space exploration, which will be available for IAC participants to experience, gain first-hand knowledge, and discover,” added the committee.
*
Study: many Diaspora Jews doubt Israel wants peace, but affirm IDF’s morality

(JNS.org) Diaspora Jews increasingly doubt that Israel wants peace with the Palestinians and are growing more uneasy about discussing Israel in their local communities, a new wide-ranging study has found.

According to a study by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) titled “Jewish Values and Israel’s Use of Force in Armed Conflict: Perspectives from World Jewry,” many Jews around the world “doubt that Israel truly wishes to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians, and few believe it is making the necessary effort to achieve one.”

The survey also found that it has become “increasingly difficult” for Jewish communities to discuss Israel “because of the bitter political disputes these discussions spark.”

“This difficulty may lead to the exclusion of Israel from Diaspora community agendas, and is an obstacle to communicating Israel’s actions and policies to the Jewish public within a sympathetic communal framework,” the study said.

But the study also found that many Diaspora Jews agree that Israel is in a difficult position and approve “of the way Israel and the IDF use force in asymmetrical confrontations.”

Additionally, many Diaspora Jews believe that the IDF has a “high moral caliber,” and most agree that the IDF is the “world’s most moral army.”

The JPPI offered a number of recommendations, including that Israel should take into account how its use of force affects relations between Diaspora Jews and the non-Jewish world. The institute suggested that Israel listen to criticism of its public relations efforts by Diaspora Jews, and argued the IDF’s image as a “moral army” should be cultivated and preserved by not undermining that image through statements or messages. Israel should foster greater interaction between IDF soldiers and Diaspora Jewish communities, said the JPPI, which conducted the survey through 40 discussion groups and seminars as well as questionnaires with Jewish communities around the world.
*
Holocaust survivor and ‘Schindler’s List’ producer gives Oscar to Yad Vashem

(JNS.org) Auschwitz death camp survivor Branko Lustig, who was one of the producers of Steven Spielberg’s award-winning 1993 movie “Schindler’s List,” this week presented the Academy Award he had received for his work on the film to Israel’s Jerusalem-based Yad Vashem Holocaust museum.

“I’m very honored, I feel this is a good [resting place] for the Oscar,” Lustig told Reuters. “I’m not parting with it, I am leaving it to the nation, for generations to come. … All Yad Vashem’s visitors will see it. At my home there is only my wife and my daughter.”

The 83-year-old Lustig was born in Croatia and survived both the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. The Yad Vashem ceremony was attended by Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who said the donated Oscar statue is a “beacon of light” and a reminder of the sacrifices made by non-Jews who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

“His decision to separate himself from the award which means so much to a producer, to a creator, and to send it to Yad Vashem for eternity is very meaningful,” said Yad Vashem’s chairman, Avner Shalev.
*
Israel lends California water expertise to help deal with drought

(JNS.org) Senior California state officials attended a conference hosted by the Milken Innovation Center at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies this week to learn Israeli-developed strategies that may help deal with California’s ongoing drought.

“Israel had a problem similar to the one California is dealing with 10 years ago,” Dr. Glenn Yago, a senior fellow with the Milken Institute’s Financial Innovation Lab, told Yedioth Ahronoth.

“The problem is still ongoing, but Israel now produces about 20 percent more water than the market requires. The use of water per capita in Israel is less than one-third of the amount consumed in California. This is a result of the establishment of desalination installations, the secondary use of water for agriculture, and also the citizens’ conduct,” said Yago.

The conference participants, he added, “were very excited about what we showed them, like our success in preserving and restoring the aquifers. They didn’t know it was even possible to drip irrigation pipes in some of the agricultural industries.”

Additionally, Israeli companies working on water management and purification—including Atlantium, Amiad, and TripleT—have been meeting with companies such as Leprino Foods, Costco, Coca-Cola, and other corporations situated in the western U.S., as well as with officials in California’s Department of Water, Department of Agriculture, and Governor’s Office.

“I think that Israel has been a pioneer in this field for a long time now,” said Prof. Jay Famiglietti, a senior water scientist at the University of California, Irvine. “The work with the irrigation was simply phenomenal. It’s a real game-changer. In California we are working with a drip irrigation technology, but we still have a long way to go. The technology and water management in Israel is at a very high level. I think this is a wonderful opportunity for us to share the most critical problems and cooperate with the Israelis for possible solutions.”

*
Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.