Obama administration opposes proposed funding boost for Israeli missile defense
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Obama administration on Tuesday announced its opposition to a Congressional proposal for a $455 million increase in funding for Israel’s missile defense program in the 2017 U.S. budget.
A statement published on Tuesday by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget said the Obama administration “opposes the addition of $455 million above the FY 2017 Budget request for Israeli missile defense procurement and cooperative development programs.”
Last month, the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $600 million for Israeli missile defense in the 2017 fiscal year—$113 million more than the previous fiscal year and $455 million above the Obama administration’s request.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) said in a statement that it was “deeply disappointed” in the Obama administration’s opposition to the proposed funding increase.
“On a bipartisan basis, Congress has increased funding above administration requests this year, as it has done for well over a decade,” AIPAC said. “These cooperative programs—including the Arrow, David’s Sling, and Iron Dome—are critical for Israel’s defense against a growing array of missile threats and make an important contribution to U.S. missile defense programs. We applaud Congress for consistently supporting these key programs, and urge their full funding in both the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization and Appropriations Acts.”
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, “There is no cut in U.S. aid. The matter is an internal dispute between Congress and the White House over the size of annual increases to the missile defense program. Prime Minister Netanyahu is working to anchor such increases as part of the discussions on an agreement on aid for the next 10 years. Security aid for missile defense will not be cut; rather, it will be increased. The attempt to turn the dialogue with the U.S. into a political battering tool in Israel is improper and all expressions of panic are out of place.”
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Netanyahu: Israel will help NATO states with ‘collective struggle’ against terror
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Three weeks ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Warsaw, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem on Tuesday with a group of ambassadors from NATO member states and called for a “collective struggle” against terrorism.
Before the start of Tuesday’s meeting, Netanyahu told the ambassadors, “I look forward to this opportunity to discuss our common interests, based on our common values. I want to thank NATO for inviting Israel to open an office in your headquarters in Brussels. I called Secretary General [Jens] Stoltenberg immediately to express my appreciation and I want to inform you that we’re in the process of opening the office as soon as possible. We attach great importance to that. Israel has much to contribute to NATO. I believe NATO has much to contribute to Israel. We’ve already begun that process, but I think we can extend and increase our cooperation.”
Referring to the threat posed by terrorism throughout the world, Netanyahu said, “Paris, Brussels, London, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bali, Mumbai, New York, San Bernardino, and now Orlando, and so many other cities, have been struck by the same evil. Terror knows no bounds, and that is why our cooperation in the battle against terrorism must know no bounds as well.”
“One day ISIS kills gays, the next day Yazidis, and then Jews and Muslims and Christians,” said the prime minister. “They have no bounds. Terror, the indiscriminate, systematic attack on innocent people, must always be confronted and must always be fought, and that doesn’t change. In any case, it doesn’t depend on the identity of the victims. It depends on the nature of the act. The act is evil and is perpetrated by people with evil designs, and we, the people of the civilized world, have to band together to defeat it. We stand ready to help NATO in this collective struggle. We are prepared to share our intelligence and our experience to help in this common effort.”
Orlando shooting victims remembered at Tel Aviv event
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) About 100 members of Israel’s LGBT community held a memorial event on Tuesday in honor of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. The event took place at Evita, a gay nightclub in Tel Aviv.
“Seven years ago, two streets away from here, a man dressed in black walked by planning to murder innocent people,” said Imri Kalman, co-chairman of Aguda – The Israeli National LGBT Task Force, at the memorial. Kalman was referring to the 2009 shooting at Bar Noar, a gay youth center, in which two people were murdered and at least 15 others wounded.
“Seven years later, another man in another country set out to kill as many people as possible,” Kalman continued. “What causes a person to want to do such a thing? Homophobia—fear! Fear that turns into such cruel hatred….The Bar Noar murderer, who is still walking free; the murderer who killed Shira Banki (the 16-year-old girl who was stabbed to death at the 2015 Jerusalem gay pride parade), of blessed memory; and the Pulse murderer are all one and the same murderer, just with different faces.”
Keith Mines, political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Israel, added that people must not get used to these attacks and must not become indifferent to them.
Actress Asi Levi asked that everyone hope for “a better world, without baseless hatred—let’s make that a reality.”
Meanwhile, in Orlando on Tuesday, thousands of people gathered a few miles from the scene of the deadly attack for a memorial ceremony. The names of all 49 victims were read aloud at the event, and participants lit candles and laid flowers at a makeshift memorial monument set up on site.
Israeli company creates antibacterial fabric
(JNS.org) The Israeli company Nano Textile has invented a technology capable of making any fabric capable of killing bacteria. The technology prevents bacteria growth on natural and synthetic fibers, which helps prevent the spread of infections acquired in hospitals and reduces cross-contamination between medical staff and patients.
Developed by Prof. Aharon Gedanken from the Department of Chemistry at Bar Ilan University in Israel and funded by about $17 million from the European Union’s FP7 program, the technology works by embedding zinc-oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles into the fabric. ZnO, which has antibacterial properties, is even capable of eradicating antibiotic resistant bacteria such as MRSA. ZnO particles are created inside a solution and transferred onto the fabric through a chemical reaction. The process is cost-effective because it changes the fabric’s appearance and still allows the fabric to withstand up to 65 wash cycles at 92 degrees Celsius, and up to 100 wash cycles at 75 degrees Celsius—much higher standards than what are required in medical facilities.
Patented in both the U.S. and Israel, the technology is still awaiting approval in Asia and Europe. The process of making the fabric is outlined in a new article published in the scientific journal Cellulose.
“The main advantages of the technology is that it can apply anti-bacterial properties to any kind of readymade fabric, the treatment does not at all alter the fabric’s color, and the entire process is extremely cost-effective,” said Prof. Aharon Gedanken, the Israeli business news outlet Globes reported. “In a hospital setting, for example, our technology can be used for inserting anti-bacterial characteristics to staff uniforms, patients’ pajamas, linen, blankets, and curtains, in order to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality and in parallel reduce hospitalization costs.”
“After establishing proof-of-concept, we are now in the process of raising the necessary capital to begin operations. The potential for our antibacterial fabric technology reaches far beyond medical applications, as it is relevant to a variety of industries such as airplanes, trains and luxury cars in the transportation industry; babywear, sports clothing and undergarments in the clothing industry, restaurants and hotels in the entertainment and tourist industries,” said Nano Textile President Lilac Mandeles.
Trump: won’t allow radical Islam to target Jews, Christians, LGBT community
(JNS.org) In a statement following Sunday’s terrorist shooting at the Orlando LGBT nightclub Pulse, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that as president he will refuse “to allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, Jewish people, are targets of intimidation and persecution by radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence.”
“This is not just a national security issue. It is a quality of life issue. If we want to protect the quality of life for all Americans—women, children, gay and straight, Jews and Christians, then we need to tell the truth about radical Islam and we need to do it now.We need to tell the truth also when how radical Islam is coming to our shores. With these people, folks, it’s coming,” Trump said in a speech on the topic of national security on Monday in New Hampshire.
Trump also called on Americans to “tell the truth about radical Islam,” and repeated his campaign’s position that the U.S. should pause immigration from countries where there’s ”a proven history of terrorism,” this time shying away from referring to all Muslims.
Trump’s remarks come amid new reports that the Islamic State terror group is encouraging its followers to carry out more attacks in the United States during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to Arabic media.
“The infidel crusaders, lackeys of the Jews, should prepare for the holy month of Ramadan, which, for them, will be a month of disasters—especially in Europe and America,” threatened Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani in a recorded message a month before the Muslim holiday, according to Israel Hayom.
On Monday, a suspected Islamist attacker stabbed a French police commander and his partner to death, an attack claimed by Islamic State. The Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency reported Monday that the terror group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed in a U.S. drone strike in the northeastern Syrian city of Raqqa, Reuters reported.
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U.K.’s Ken Livingstone rejects anti-Semitism a month after Labour scandal
(JNS.org) Former London mayor Ken Livingstone, who controversially told BBC Radio in May that Hitler “was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing 6 million Jews,” took on a new tone by condemning anti-Semitism on Tuesday in a written statement to the U.K. House of Commons Home Affairs Committee ahead of an appearance before the committee the same day.
“I detest racism and condemn anti-Semitism,” wrote Livingstone, who was among the various Labour party members suspended over anti-Semitic rhetoric last month, reported the Evening Standard. “Indeed my political career has totally opposed any such views concerning any religious or ethnic group.”
Livingstone also criticized the “rise of physical and verbal attacks in London motivated by racism and faith hate” in recent years, particularly the “utterly deplorable” doubling of anti-Semitic hate crimes from 2010 to 2015.
“Racism serves as the cutting edge of the most reactionary movements. An ideology that starts by declaring one human being inferior to another is the slope whose end is at Auschwitz. I totally reject such a view of Jews, black people or any other group,” he also wrote.
Livingstone also wrote that “trigger events” in the Middle East can cause a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the U.K.
Brazil backtracks on support for UNESCO measure denying Jewish ties to holy sites
(JNS.org) Brazil has become the second country to admit it made a mistake by voting in favor of the recent United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) resolution that denies Jewish ties to the Western Wall and Temple Mount holy sites.
The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country tried to “soften the terms of the original proposal” that was “partial and unbalanced,” but after failing in that effort, voted in favor of the resolution.
“However, the fact that the decision does not make express reference to the historical ties of the Jewish people to Jerusalem, particularly to the Western Wall, the holiest shrine of Judaism, is an error, which makes the text partial and unbalanced,” the Foreign Ministry said.
France has also said that its initial vote in favor of the UNESCO measure was mistaken.
“Brazil reiterates its full recognition of these bonds and its position in favor of the free access of believers of the three religions, Christianism, Islamism, and Judaism, to the holy sites of the Old City of Jerusalem, as well as its support for the existing agreements between Israel and Jordan on the administration of the city,” said the Brazilian statement.
Brazil pledged to “review its vote if the deficiencies pointed out in the decision are not corrected in future assessment of the subject by UNESCO.”
Although Brazil-Israel relations have been somewhat tense following Brazil’s refusal to accept Israel’s nomination of former Israeli settlement movement leader Dani Dayan as the Jewish state’s envoy to Brazil, the country recently voted in a new president, Michel Temer, who is thought to be more friendly toward Israel than his predecessor Dilma Rousseff.
German bank closes anti-Israel BDS account
(JNS.org) Germany’s second-largest bank, Commerzbank, has reportedly closed an account affiliated with the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The Jerusalem Post, citing a “highly reliable source,” reported that the bank notified the account holder of the closure more than a month ago. This is the first known instance of a German bank censuring a pro-BDS account.
Commerzbank spokesman Michael Machauer said the bank could not identify the account holder nor discuss the closure “because of data protection and bank secrecy laws.” But the Jerusalem Post’s report raised the possibility that the account belongs to the pro-BDS website “Der Semit,” which lists its account as being based in a small town in the German state of Hesse. Commerzbank’s headquarters are located in Frankfurt, the largest city in Hesse.
Israeli Public Security Minister, Gilad Erdan said Commerzbank’s decision was “the right thing to do.”
“The BDS campaign, which seeks the destruction of Israel, is discriminatory, anti-Semitic, and anti-peace, and often has connections to extremist and terrorist groups,” Erdan told the Jerusalem Post. “I call on other banks to follow Commerzbank’s example, particularly those with connections to official state bodies which claim to oppose BDS. I will continue to work to expose the true face of the BDS extremists and their supporters, and to ensure that they face the full consequences of their actions.”
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