Israel Matters!

Netanyahu at AIPAC: Palestinians Must Join Israel on the Side of Peace and HopePeace will begin when PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told AIPAC’s 2014 Policy Conference recently. “Abbas must recognize the Jewish state,” Netanyahu, the last major speaker of the three day, 14,000-person event, said. “In doing so, he’d be telling the Palestinians that, while we have a territorial dispute, the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own is beyond dispute. “Recognize it. No excuses. No delays. It’s time,” he told the audience. “The Palestinians need to stop denying history.” click Israel Matters! 79 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal.

Scarlett Johansson Quits Oxfam International Over Israel-based SodaStream Criticism; To Visit IsraelAmerican actress Scarlett Johansson has released a statement about the controversy surrounding her role as the first-ever brand ambassador of the Israeli company SodaStream, describing the firm as “building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine,” and making clear that she would not be stepping away from it. Her public comments were made after she came under fire for the endorsement deal - which included a TV ad screened during the Super Bowl - from the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.click Israel Matters! 78 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal.

US Secretary of State Kerry Frustrated by Palestinians’ Refusal to Recognize ‘Jewish’ IsraelDemands that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state have become a major stumbling block in Secretary of State John Kerry’s search for a settlement to the Middle East’s most enduring conflict.click Israel Matters! 77 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal.

IDF Provides Humanitarian Aid to Civilians in Syria and PhilippinesThe Israel Defense Forces has been providing humanitarian aid to Syrians living near the border, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon revealed recently during a tour of the frontier. According to Ya’alon, Israel has sent water and food, including baby food, across the border, and has been helping the Syrians prepare for winter.“Given the fact that these villages are besieged and have no access to anyplace else, we are helping for humanitarian reasons,” the defense minister said. The food is being transferred to the Syrian villages via the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force. Sometimes, however, IDF soldiers lay aid packages just across the border and the village residents collect them.click Israel Matters! 76 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal.

Israel, U.S. In Dispute Over Iran DealThe United States has vowed that it would not cave in to Iran in negotiations over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program despite charges from Israel and France that negotiators were proposing to let Iran maintain its nuclear capacity. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro vowed that President Obama would not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons and that the United States would not sign on to a “bad deal” at negotiations with Iran.click Israel Matters! 75 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal.

At U.N., Netanyahu Warns of Iranian Nuclear ThreatIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to shred the credibility of Iran’s new president, using his annual speech at the United Nations to cast the Iranian as a man who could not be trusted and to press the international community to keep up sanctions to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. Clearly concerned that the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, had succeeded in portraying himself as a friendly and pragmatic leader during his visit to New York, Mr. Netanyahu focused the majority of his 33-minute address on Mr. Rouhani. He described Mr. Rouhani as a beguiling figure who used reassuring words to mask malevolent intentions.click Israel Matters! 74 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal.

Kerry Reassures Israel on Deal to Rid Syria of Chemical WeaponsU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry assured Israel a U.S.-Russian deal to remove Syria’s chemical weapons would be effective, addressing concern that a lack of resolve would embolden Iran in its nuclear drive. “We cannot have hollow words in the conduct of international affairs, because that affects all other issues, whether Iran or North Korea or others,” Kerry said after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.click Israel Matters! 73 to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal.

Netanyahu: “Europe Wants to Erect New Berlin Wall in the Middle of Jerusalem”Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently held a series of talks with European leaders and European Union officials to protest, and hopefully defer, the EU’s decision to impose a de facto funding ban on Israeli institutions operating beyond the pre-1967 borders, which includes Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.click Israel Matters! 72b to read the complete issue. Will open with the free Adobe Reader or equal.

Waze Deal Primes Israel’s “Silicon Wadi” for Wave of InvestmentGoogle has acquired the mobile map developer Waze Inc. in one of the most lucrative outcomes for an Israeli technology startup. The purchase is poised to fuel a wave of investment and entrepreneurship in the country. Waze was bought for about $1.1 billion, making it one of a handful of companies with roots in Israel to fetch more than $1 billion. The company has offices in Ra’anana, Israel, where it was founded, and Palo Alto, California.click Israel Matters! 71 to read the complete issue.

Physicist Stephen Hawking Joins Academic Boycott Against IsraelStephen W. Hawking, the physicist and cosmologist, has pulled out of a highprofile conference to be held in Israel during June in order to support an academic boycott of Israel. Hawking, who is also a cosmologist, astronomer, and mathematician, is the author of books including the best-seller, “A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes.”click Israel Matters! 70 to read the complete issue.