Israeli military builds new ‘command pit’ to combat cyber threats
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is expected to complete construction of a new cyber defense “command pit” in the coming weeks, as part of the military’s efforts to enhance its cyber capabilities and transition to becoming fully digitalized.
The announcement was made last week by Brig. Gen. Danny Bren, commander of the Lotem (Telecommunications and Information Technology) unit of the IDF Teleprocessing Branch.
“Israel is the only democratic country whose enemies wish to destroy it both physically and cybernetically, and they say so openly,” Bren told reporters.
“This is what we must contend with, simultaneous to defending against cybernetic terrorism and cyber threats that many other countries face,” said Bren. “The IDF is doing all it can to meet the challenges, physical and cybernetic, and the Teleprocessing Branch plays a significant role in that.”
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Israeli film on female IDF soldiers to be adapted into U.S. comedy series
(JNS.org) BBC America will adapt an acclaimed Israeli film into an American TV comedy series, according to a list of future BBC America projects announced in the Variety publication.
A comedy about a unit of female Israeli soldiers at a remote desert base, “Zero Motivation” will be developed for Amy Poehler’s Paper Kite Productions. It will be written by Tami Sagher (“Girls,” “Inside Amy Schumer”) and jointly produced by Natasha Lyonne and Israeli filmmaker Talya Lavie, who created “Zero Motivation,” Variety reported.
“Zero Motivation” premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, where it received two awards. In Israel, it was nominated for 12 Ophir Awards (the awards of the Israeli Film Academy) and won six of them, including best director.
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Peace cannot be coerced, Netanyahu says ahead of French summit
(JNS.org) Ahead of the June 3 French peace summit meant to address the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that peace cannot be coerced and that the conference may actually harm future prospects for peace.
The foreign ministers of the United States, Russia, and 28 European Union countries will meet in Paris for the summit, but representatives from neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority will be present.
“If the countries gathering this week in Paris really want to advance peace, they must join my call to [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] to enter into direct negotiations,” Netanyahu said at the graduation ceremony of Bar-Ilan University’s faculty of medicine in Safed.
“That is the only path to peace—there is no other,” he said. “The path to peace does not pass though international committees that are trying to coerce an agreement, radicalize Palestinian demands and in doing so, distance peace.”
The prime minister insisted that Israel will continue to seek peace.
“The path to peace passes through direct negotiations between the two sides, without preconditions,” he said. “That is how it was in the past when we made peace with Egypt and with Jordan, and that is how it must be with the Palestinians. We will not stop looking for paths to peace.”
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Israel is ‘eternal enemy’ of Greeks and Christians, Greek lawmaker says
(JNS.org) Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos has asked the country’s Justice Ministry to take action against a lawmaker who made anti-Israel comments in Greece’s parliament earlier this week.
Christos Pappas, a member of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, called Israel an “eternal enemy of Greece and Orthodoxy” during a debate on the ratification of Greece’s international agreements with other countries, according to the Kathimerini newspaper.
“The State of Israel implements genocidal methods and is a regional troublemaker,” Pappas said, asking how “a state like Israel could possibly have relations with Greece, which is the cradle of civilization and humanism.”
Kammenos called Pappas’s comments racist and xenophobic, and asked for the parliament session’s debate minutes to be sent to the Justice Ministry.
Golden Dawn, Greece’s third-largest political party, is known for the use of Nazi symbols and its members’ Holocaust denial.
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For Jerusalem Day, Netanyahu hails Israel’s ties to Temple Mount and Western Wall
(JNS.org) Ahead of this year’s celebration of the Israeli holiday of Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) on June 5, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said that Israel’s ties to the Temple Mount and Western Wall do not need justifications or apologies.
“It’s so absurd, so ridiculous; I can’t get over it,” Netanyahu said in a special Knesset meeting, according to the Jerusalem Post. “Do people claim the Egyptians aren’t connected to the pyramids in Giza? It’s ridiculous.”
Netanyahu was criticizing the recent United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) resolution that used language which ignores the historic Jewish connections to the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, and eastern Jerusalem. The prime minister reiterated that the Jewish ties to Jerusalem and its holy sites date back to King David’s time and through the First and Second Temple eras.
Additionally, Netanyahu discussed Arab violence and incitement relating to the Temple Mount.
“Violence will not deter us or put our control over Jerusalem in doubt,” he said, adding, “Jerusalem deserves quiet. We cannot let anyone spark extremism.”
Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israel will maintain the Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian “status quo” agreement for the Temple Mount, which includes a ban on Jewish prayer at the holy site.
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Pope Francis tells Israeli musician to ‘never react’ when provoked
(JNS.org) Pope Francis told an Israeli musician to “never react” when provoked by religious divisions.
During a meeting at the Vatican with several active YouTube creators from various countries, the pope made the remark in response to Israeli musician Ofir Jacob’s question about how to make religious divisions “disappear.”
“You as a Jew can remember the first pages of the Bible. After the creation, immediately one brother kills his brothers,” Pope Francis said, referencing Cain’s murder of Abel and calling that act a crime of “jealousy and envy, the trend to divide.”
“So when provoked, you should never react. Is better to look as a fool than react when you are provoked,” said the pontiff.
Jacob is a member of the Anna RF, an Israeli electro-ethnic-reggae band. The meeting with Pope Francis was organized by the Argentina-based church foundation Scholas Occurentes and Google, which owns YouTube.
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