Buffet: Israel “a nation of entrepreneurs”
(JNS.org) Dubbed the “start-up nation” for its culture of innovation and a book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer that used that term, Israel received praise along those lines this week from world-famous billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who on Wednesday completed his acquisition of Israel’s Iscar tool-making company.
“Israel should continue to do what it’s doing,” Buffett said in an interview with Israel Hayom. “You are a nation of entrepreneurs with amazing abilities. Israel must continue to provide them with the best and most comfortable work climate. That is the government’s responsibility: to create a comfortable climate for entrepreneurs.”
Buffett, who acquired 80 percent of Iscar in 2006, acquired final 20 percent from the Wertheimer family for $2.05 billion on Wednesday.
“Israel is a great place to invest because of its people,” Buffett told Israel Hayom. “There is no other place in the world where you find people with these qualities, as well as with the motivation and the ability to focus that you see at Iscar.”
Iscar will remain in Israel following Buffett’s acquisition, said Eitan Wertheimer, chairman of the International Metalworking Companies (IMC) group, with whom Iscar is affiliated. IMC is part of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett’s holding company.
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Netanyahu: ‘Israeli-Palestinian conflict isn’t about territory’
(JNS.org) During a meeting with Israeli Foreign Ministry officials on Wednesday, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he still backs the principles of his famous 2009 Bar Ilan University address, including the establishment of a Palestinian state that recognizes Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict isn’t about territory, but rather the very existence of a Jewish state,” Netanyahu said, Israel Hayom reported.
During the 2009 speech, Netanyahu for the first time publicly declared his willingness to accept “a demilitarized Palestinian state side by side with the Jewish state.”
Speaking about U.S. efforts to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Netanyahu said Israel has no preconditions for renewing talks with the Palestinians. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, however, has demanded a freeze in Israeli construction beyond the “Green Line,” the 1949 armistice line that served as a de facto border for Israel before its victory in the 1967 Six Day War, as a precondition for the restart of peace negotiations. In November 2009, Netanyahu implemented a 10-month Israeli construction freeze, which did not lead to a peace agreement.
“The root of the conflict isn’t territorial,” Netanyahu reiterated. “It began long before 1967. You saw what happened when we left Gaza [in 2005]. We evacuated every settlement and what did we get? Missiles. The unwillingness of the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people is the root of the conflict. If we reach a peace agreement, I want to know that the conflict won’t continue, that there won’t be more Palestinian demands later.”
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Obama launches Jewish American Heritage Month
(JNS.org) U.S. President Barack Obama released a statement in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, taking place throughout May, noting, “Jewish immigrants from all over the world wove new threads into our cultural fabric with rich traditions and indomitable faith, and their descendants pioneered incredible advances in science and the arts. Teachings from the Torah lit the way toward a more perfect Union, from women’s rights to workers’ rights to the end of segregation.”
“Jewish Americans continue to guide our country’s progress as scientists and teachers, public servants and private citizens, wise leaders and loving parents. We see their accomplishments in every neighborhood, and we see them abroad in our unbreakable bond with Israel that Jewish Americans helped forge. More than 350 years have passed since Jewish refugees first made landfall on American shores. We take this month to celebrate the progress that followed, and the bright future that lies ahead,” Obama continued.
“No matter who you are, where you come from, or what faith you practice, all of us have an equal share in America’s promise,” he added.
Obama is reportedly considering appointing Jewish candidates to high-level positions in his administration. Deputy National Security Adviser Mike Froman is being considered for the post of United States Trade Representative, and Chicago businesswoman and activist Penny Pritzker is in the running for commerce secretary, according to Reuters.
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Scottish university’s Jewish society holds charity ball
(JNS.org) A Scottish hotel canceled a planned annual charity ball by the Jewish Society and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity at St. Andrews University in Fife, Scotland, after receiving phone and email threats from radical anti-Israel groups, including the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC). Jewish students at the university managed to hold the event at another location at the last minute.
The St. Andrews Golf Hotel received the threats from anti-Israel activists on the grounds that students were going to fundraise at the event for the Jewish National Fund and Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The activists also indicated plans to disrupt the event, and the hotel management, judging that it would not be able to guarantee the safety of anyone involved, backed out of the event.
“Despite the adverse circumstances of the venue pulling out the day before due to allegedly aggressive phone calls and emails from individuals supporting the SPSC, the [university’s] Jewish Society was able to secure an alternative venue,” said Joel Salmon, the president of the St. Andrews Jewish Society, according to the Jerusalem Post. “The St. Andrews Jewish Society will not cave in to intimidation or bullying. We will always protect our members and shall continue to provide events to enrich Jewish life in St Andrews,” he added. SPSC declined to comment.
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Greece’s neo-Nazis blast Samaras’ planned AJC speech
(JNS.org) Greece’s neo-Nazi political party, the Golden Dawn, posted an article on its website condemning Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras for a planned visit to Washington, DC, next month, during which he will address the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Global Forum.
Golden Dawn, which currently holds 18 seats in Greece’s national parliament, maintains that “Zionists” control American and Greek politics. A cartoon accompanied the article, showing Prime Minister Samaras under a bloody AJC logo in front of a Jewish man, evoking the Nazi cartoons of the pre-Holocaust era. On a wall within the picture, U.S. President Barack Obama is similarly portrayed as a stereotypical religious Jew.
“Golden Dawn does not even attempt to camouflage its ideology of hate. Indeed, Golden Dawn is crystal clear, and, nearly 70 years after the Holocaust, represents an insidious outlook that cannot be ignored today,” AJC Executive Director David Harris said in a statement.
“AJC enjoys long-standing and fruitful relations with Greece—with the government, civil society, the Orthodox Church, Greek American leaders, and, of course, the Jewish community in Greece. We are truly honored that Prime Minister Samaras, with whom we stay in close touch, will address our Global Forum. He will reach a large global audience eager to hear from him and show their support for Greece’s bright and prosperous future – a future in which the Golden Dawn will, we hope, fade into the oblivion it so richly deserves,” Harris added.
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