For first time, Israeli university offers degree in winemaking
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Hebrew University of Jerusalem plans to introduce a degree in winemaking in the coming academic year.
The program, recently accredited by the Israel Council for Higher Education, will offer viticulture, enology and winery-oriented business management studies. The course will be the first of its kind in Israel and cater to students with undergraduate degrees in life sciences and applied sciences.
The 18-month program includes traveling to Europe to attend professional workshops hosted by international experts. Graduates will also have the opportunity to intern in commercial wineries in Israel and abroad.
“This program seeks to puts Israel on the international map of winemaking,” said the program’s head, Professor Zohar Kerem, a world-renowned researcher in the fields of food chemistry and wine and olive oil quality. “The program is derived from other leading winemaking programs in the world, adapted to Israel. What’s unique for Israel is the fascinating mix of new and old worlds. We have everything in terms of the diversity of soil, vines, and climate regimes, alongside groundbreaking technologies, such as in the field of irrigation.”
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Olympic chiefs slam Lebanese team over clash with Israelis
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The International Olympic Committee on Sunday issued a stern warning to the head of the Lebanese delegation to the games over his refusal to share a bus to the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro with the Israeli team.
On Friday, Lebanese delegation head Salim al-Haj Nicola physically prevented Israeli team members from boarding their designated bus. They were ultimately provided with alternate transportation to Maracana Stadium.
Nicola was summoned for a hearing by the IOC on Sunday, and was reprimanded for his behavior.
IOC heads informed the Israeli delegation of the hearing and said they had made it clear that incidents of this nature “would not be tolerated.”
Nicola reportedly told the IOC that the incident had simply been “a misunderstanding.”
“I welcome the Olympic committee’s treatment of the shameful behavior and anti-Semitism demonstrated by the Lebanese delegation,” said Israeli Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev, who had expressed outrage over the incident.
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Campus anti-Semitism spike brings record attendance for CAMERA Conference
(JNS.org) More than 80 students from nearly 70 campuses will be in Boston, Ma. August 7-10 as part of a high-level training conference hosted by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) geared towards preparing students to respond to campus anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activism.
“Students are coming from as far away as England, Scotland and Canada to attend our training program,” Aviva Slomich, CAMERA’s international campus director, said in a statement. “This in itself shows that campus anti-Zionism is a global problem, affecting many students.”
The CAMERA conference comes at a critical time for Jewish and pro-Israel students. A recent report by the AMCHA Initiative found an “alarming spike in campus anti-Semitism” during the first half of 2016.
“Nearly 100 more incidents of antisemitism occurred on campus during the first six months of 2016 compared with the 1st six months of 2015,” according to the AMCHA Initiative’s mid-year study.
Students at the conference are expected to hear from a wide-range of pro-Israel experts as well as attend breakout sessions, interactive workshops and presentations geared towards helping them prepare for the upcoming year on campus.
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Abbas’s Fatah Party boasts of killing ’11,000 Israelis’ on Facebook
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah Party claimed on its official Facebook page that it has “killed 11,000 Israelis”
“For the argumentative … the ignorant … And for those who do not know history,” Fatah wrote on its Facebook page, continuing, “The Fatah movement killed 11,000 Israelis,” according to a translation by Palestinian Media Watch.
Additionally, Fatah also claimed to have “offered 170,000 martyrs,” and that hundreds of its followers were in “Israeli occupation jails.”
Despite being seen by many world leaders as the “moderate” alternative to its rival Hamas, the Palestinian terror group which controls the Gaza Strip, Israeli leaders have long accused Abbas and his Fatah Party of inciting violence and terrorism.
The claims by Fatah may be an attempt to boost its anti-Israel credentials ahead of the Palestinian municipal elections scheduled for October 8.
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Knife wielding man causes panic in crowded Tel Aviv market
(JNS.org) A man wielding a knife through Tel Aviv’s Shuk Hacarmel market on Friday afternoon caused a panic among Israeli shoppers, just days after a knife attack in central London in which an Israeli woman was also injured.
Market workers and visitors fled the area in panic. However, police arrived and arrested the suspect. No injuries were reported, though two witnesses were treated for shock. Reports indicate the man was known to authorities as someone with mental health issues, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Israelis are still experiencing tension due to a wave of Palestinian stabbing, car ramming and shooting attacks since October of 2015, though the number of attacks has subsided in recent weeks. However, on Wednesday, an Israeli woman was among those wounded in a knife attack in central London, in which an American woman was also killed. A Norwegian national of Somali origin, 19, was tased and arrested by police in Russell Square near the British Museum.|
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Australia suspends funding of charity accused of diverting money to Hamas
(JNS.org) The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has ceased all funding of programs by the Christian charity World Vision in the Palestinian territories, after Israel accused the head of the charity of diverting donated funds to the Hamas terror group.
In June, according to Israel’s English-language i24news news outlet, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency arrested Mohammad El Halabi, the director of the Gaza Strip branch of World Vision. On Thursday El Halabi was charged with diverting an estimated $7.2 million a year from the charity’s funds to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
The Shin Bet estimates that since Halabi took over as director in 2010, about 60 percent of World Vision’s annual budget in Gaza was diverted to Hamas and its military wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
The Shin Bet said in a statement that Hamas’s military wing recruited El Halabi in 2004 and gave him a “very focused mission: to penetrate an international aid organisation and exploit its resources”.
“Most of World Vision’s resources in the Gaza Strip – originating in aid money from western states such as the United States, England and Australia – were transferred to Hamas to strengthen its terrorist arm,” the agency said.
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