Israeli firm sells 6 drones to Switzerland for $250 million
(JNS.org) The Swiss parliament on Monday approved the purchase of six Hermes 900 drones, at a cost of $250 million, from the Israeli manufacturer Elbit Systems.
While the parliamentary decision passed with a 30-12 majority, the minority argued against the drone because it was used by the IDF during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer.
Swiss Defense Minister Ueli Maurer, however, said his country did not purchase the drone from Israel or the IDF, but from a private firm, and that the drones were to be used exclusively for intelligence-gathering purposes.
Meanwhile, Tuesday saw record numbers of people attend the international AUS&R (Autonomous Unmanned Systems & Robotics) drone expo in Rishon Lezion, Israel. Forty Israeli companies displayed their products to some 3,000 visitors from Israel and around the globe.
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First female Israeli ambassador to Arab country takes post
(JNS.org) Israel’s new ambassador to Jordan, Einat Shlain, presented her credentials to Jordan’s King Abdullah II at a ceremony at the Basman Palace in Amman on Monday.
Shlain is the first woman to serve as an Israeli ambassador to an Arab country. She has worked for the Israeli Foreign Ministry for more than two decades. In past roles, she served as head of the international division at the Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Research Center and as a Middle Eastern affairs adviser at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC.
The Jordan News Agency reported that Abdullah received the credentials of eight new ambassadors to Jordan on Tuesday. In addition to Israel, the new ambassadors were from Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates.
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Google fixes algorithm that claimed Jews run Hollywood
(JNS.org) Google fixed issue in which the Internet search engine answered “Jews” when users posed the question, “Who runs Hollywood?”
The notion that Jews run Hollywood is a familiar anti-Semitic refrain. Google’s direct answers service is based on an algorithm that draws answers from various websites and provides simple responses to questions. But an algorithm has no ability to recognize hurtful or racist content, hence the anti-Semitic result.
Users were quick to point out the gaffe, prompting Google to change its algorithm. A Google spokesperson told The Guardian that the direct answer was being removed and explained that a website propagating the misguided theory that Jews run Hollywood had been linked to by many others, giving it perceived “authority” under the company’s page-rank algorithm.
The spokesperson said, “We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google.”
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Norwegian city councilman: cut ties with Nablus over Palestinian terror glorification
(JNS.org) A local politician in Stavanger, Norway, called on his municipality to sever its sister city partnership with Nablus over the latter’s glorification of Palestinian terrorism.
In the aftermath of a recent report by Palestinian Media Watch that Nablus named a city square after terrorist Naif Abu Sharakh, Stavanger Councilman Mats Danielsen told the Rogalands Avis newspaper, “Our friendship cities should share our values, norms, and customs. This is proof of the contrary. Our sister Nablus honors terrorists.”
In 2003, Sharakh was behind a double suicide bombing that killed 23 Israelis. A monument honoring Sharakh in the West Bank city of Nablus is labeled “Palestine,” but includes the territory of all of Israel. The monument, said Danielsen, is “a clear sign that the terrorist was working to remove Israel to make room for a Palestinian state. This would have meant that our second sister city Netanya [in Israel] is a legitimate target for terrorists who want to kill Jews.”
Concerns over Palestinian terrorism spawning from Nablus led the city council of Boulder, Colo., to reject Nablus’s bid to become Boulder’s sister city in June 2013.
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