Palestinian students launch anti-Israel photo exhibit at Hebrew University
(JNS.org) Watan, a Palestinian student group at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, launched a new exhibit featuring photos whose captions are hostile to Israel, referring to Jerusalem as a “sewer of the Israeli settlements” and to Israeli soldiers as “the occupation army” and “the hunters of liberty.”
In the “Pictures From Across Palestine” exhibit, which was approved by the university, one image of the Negev Desert is captioned in Hebrew as “Mother Earth” and in Arabic as “Mother Palestine,” according to Israel Hayom.
Matan Peleg, director of the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu, called on Hebrew University “to re-examine its authorization of the exhibit and issue a statement that it will not tolerate violence or incitement of any kind.”
In response, Hebrew University said, “We allow all student activity as long as it is not illegal. However, the Watan student group did not submit the captions for approval. Therefore, we have removed them from the exhibit. Opinions expressed by student groups obviously do not reflect our position.”
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Israeli companies win five awards at Barcelona high-tech expo
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli companies took home five awards at the Mobile World Congress convention in Barcelona this week.
The annual Mobile World Congress is a conference for both industry giants and breakthrough start-ups to showcase their latest mobile technology. Among the winners was Wibbitz, awarded the prize for Best Mobile Publishing Product or Service for its unique text-to-video technology, which takes a selection of text and converts it into a movie based on the written content.
Tel Aviv-based PointGrab, whose application allows for advanced hand gesture recognition using a smartphone camera, won the Most Innovative Mobile App award.
LG Electronics was awarded the Most Innovative Device Manufacturer of the Year. Apple took home the award for the best tablet with its iPad Air, and HTC was given the award for best smartphone for its HTC-One series.
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Israeli forces kill Palestinian terrorist near Ramallah
(JNS.org) Israeli troops killed a wanted Palestinian terror suspect on Thursday morning near Ramallah after a firefight broke out during an attempted arrest, Israel Hayom reported.
Israeli security forces conducted an operation near Birzeit, north of Ramallah, to apprehend members of a terrorist cell that had carried out shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers. Forces surrounded the house of one of the suspects, who had barricaded himself. The Israeli troops called on him to surrender, but the man refused. The decision was made to enter the house and, after entry, soldiers shot and killed the suspect, who was holding an AK-47 rifle.
Overnight, IDF troops arrested 10 suspects in Judea and Samaria. All were taken in for questioning. Among those arrested were three men suspected of throwing Molotov cocktails and wounding three soldiers on Wednesday night near Nablus.
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Newsweek scraps ‘Top 50 Rabbis’ list before print relaunch
(JNS.org) Newsweek said it will stop publishing its “Top 50 Rabbis” list in 2014. The list, which has been published annually since 2007, ranked American Jewish rabbis based on their perceived influence.
The list was intended as a jest by media executives Michael Lynton and Gary Ginsberg. “[W]e thought: Wouldn’t it be fun, and a little bit mischievous, to put together a list of who these people are and rank order them?” Lynton told the Los Angeles Jewish Journal in 2013.
But Jewish communities across the U.S. started viewing the list seriously, as a true measurement of the Jewish leaders’ clout. Some websites launched alternative lists, such as MyJewishLearning’s “Top Rabbis” in 2012. Other newspapers, and members of the Jewish community, heavily criticized each year’s rankings.
“‘The List’ started to be over-legitimized. People simply took it too seriously. And opinions grew more virulent and befuddling on both sides,” Ginsberg, Lynton, and Jewish writer Abigail Pogrebin wrote in a letter, the Forward reported.
Newsweek canceled its print magazine in 2012. After being purchased by the online news company IBT Media last year, Newsweek will relaunch its print edition in March, without the “Top 50 Rabbis” list.
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After marathon debate, UCLA student government rejects Israel divestment
(JNS.org) After a marathon debate that started Tuesday night and stretched into Wednesday morning, the student government at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) student government rejected a divestment resolution targeting Israel.
UCLA’s Undergraduate Students Association Council voted 7-5 against the resolution following nearly 12 hours of speeches, presentations, and deliberations.
The resolution, which was organized by members of the anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), called on the University of California system to divest from specific companies that the resolution claims are complicit in the “human rights abuses of the Palestinians.” The resolution singled out companies such as Caterpillar, General Electric, and Hewlett-Packard for divestment.
According to the Daily Bruin, nearly 500 people turned out to speak at the council meeting. The speeches lasted nine hours, until 4 a.m.
Two more hours of presentations by SJP and the UCLA pro-Israel student group Bruins for Israel followed the speeches, and then there were deliberations by the student council.
Matan and Tamir, two Israel Defense Forces soldiers who are touring the southwestern United States as part of the “Israeli Soldiers’ Stories” program of the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs, attended the marathon student council debate.
“As Israelis, we have heard about these types of anti-Israel events before, but this was the first time we got to witness it. We were personally disgusted and shocked by the amount of lies coming from the other side (pro-divestment students),” Matan told JNS.org.
The soldiers, whose last names could not be published for security reasons, also said they were taken aback by the amount of hate that was coming from the pro-divestment students during their speeches.
“The [pro-divestment] students were filled with just so much hate,” said Matan. “I think they even scared some of the [student] council members with their rabid hate of Israel.”
Matan added, “We were just really happy we have a chance to speak and tell our personal stories [as Israeli soldiers] and impressed by how intelligent and positive the pro-Israel students were, despite being greatly outnumbered.”
The vote at UCLA comes on the heels of another defeat for Israel divestment at nearby University of California, Riverside. On Feb. 13, that school’s student government—in a narrow 7-6 vote, with one abstention—rejected a divestment resolution presented by SJP members.
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Temple Mount debate spurs Jordanian legislators’ call for end to peace treaty with Israel
(JNS.org) Almost 50 Jordanian legislators called for an end to the Jordan-Israel peace treaty over an Israeli Knesset debate concerning the sovereignty of the Temple Mount.
On Tuesday, Likud MK Moshe Feiglin held a special debate in the Knesset regarding limitations of Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, the Jerusalem Post reported.
As a result of the debate, 47 Jordanian legislators signed a petition calling for an end to the Jordan-Israel peace treaty. Other Jordanian lawmakers called for the country to expel the Israeli ambassador to Amman and to recall Jordan’s ambassador, the Jordan Times reported.
According to the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty, Israel recognizes Jordan’s special role in the administration of the Muslim Holy Sites on the Temple Mount and grants custodianship to Jordan over the Muslim Waqf, which administers the site.
While Jews are permitted limited access to the Temple Mount, they are forbidden to worship at the site. Recently, riots by Muslims on the Temple Mount have erupted over the Jewish presence there.
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Report: Egypt’s El-Sisi will not run for president
(JNS.org) Egypt’s powerful defense minister General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will not run for president, according to an official Egyptian government source, ending widespread speculation that he will seek the office.
“He is expected to continue in his post until all the issues regarding the election laws are resolved,” the government source told Reuters.
El-Sisi, 59, was recently promoted to the rank for field marshal, the highest military rank in Egypt, which many had seen as precursor for retiring from the military, a necessary step for becoming president.
On Monday, Egypt’s entire cabinet, led by Prime Minister Hzem el-Beblawi, abruptly resigned without explanation. But many of the ministers have been reappointed under new interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding Egypt’s government, El-Sisi remains a widely popular figure for his role in the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi and the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. The upcoming presidential election is seen as a major milestone in the Egyptian military’s transition to civilian rule.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org