New Israeli forum to fight academic boycotts
(JNS.org) The Committee of University Heads in Israel on Tuesday announced the establishment of a forum to fight academic boycotts of Israel.
“This type of boycott is a dangerous process that is contrary to the spirit of research,” said committee chairman and Hebrew University of Jerusalem President Professor Menachem Ben-Sasson, Israel Hayom reported.
The forum will examine and map out the boycott phenomenon, and plans to work with other countries to minimize the damage boycotts cause.
“This is a growing phenomenon with the sole goal of harming Israel,” Ben-Sasson said.
Professor Zvi Ziegler of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and chairman of Israel’s Inter-University Senate has been named to head the forum.
“We see the importance of information about cases of discrimination against Israeli researchers, including [academic] articles being rejected for illegitimate reasons,” he said.
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Haaretz peace conference takes place under rocket fire
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) As the Israel Defense Forces’ Operation Protective Edge got underway in Gaza, the Haaretz newspaper hosted a peace conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday attended by a number of senior Israeli political and defense officials.
“There is no compromise with shelling when there is danger hanging over children’s heads,” President Shimon Peres said at the event.
Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett prompted continuous boos from the audience, despite attempts by the conference organizers to restore quiet.
“No one in this room will lecture me about wanting peace,” he said. “No one in Israel wants peace more than me. We have been in this land for thousands of years, since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Judges, through King David and King Solomon and the Hasmoneans. A people cannot be ‘occupiers’ of their own nation.”
Bennett, who attended the conference without a security detail, reported that he was punched in the back after his speech. Aides and hotel guards extracted him from the scene. Bennett aides said he would not file a police complaint.
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Hamas terrorists try to infiltrate Israel by sea, rocket hits Jerusalem
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed five Hamas terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israel by sea near Kibbutz Zikim, north of the Gaza border.
The Hamas terrorists, who were part of a naval commando unit, were being tracked by the IDF, which engaged them in a gunfight upon their landing on the beach. One Israeli soldier sustained minor wounds during the engagement, the IDF said.
More than 117 rockets struck Israel during a 24-hour period from Monday night to Tuesday night, with 29 of them intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, according to the IDF. One of the rockets hit Jerusalem, and rocket sirens sounded in Tel Aviv as well as other areas in central Israel throughout the day on Tuesday.
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Israel and Japan sign R&D cooperation agreement
(JNS.org) Israel signed a research and development (R&D) cooperation agreement with Japan for the first time on Sunday. The agreement will allocate funding to projects jointly initiated by Japanese and Israeli companies and research centers.
“We continue our efforts to strengthen economic ties with the countries of East Asia, one manifestation of which is the agreement for parallel support of industrial R&D carried out jointly between Japan and Israel,” said Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, the Jerusalem Post reported. “This agreement represents a breakthrough achievement and a dramatic change in Japanese policy on economic relations with Israel.”
According to Israel’s Foreign Trade Administration, in 2013 Israeli exports to Japan totaled $762 million, while imports to Israel from Japan totaled $1.4 billion. In both cases, the figures were slightly down from 2012, mostly due to a devaluation of the Japanese yen currency. Meanwhile, more than 6,000 Japanese businesspeople attended Israeli economic events in the fields of technology, defense, and cyber security in Tokyo, said Eitan Cooperstein, Israel’s economic attache in that city.
Meanwhile, Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi is currently leading a business delegation to Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Japan in May.
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JNS news stories are published in San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.