FW: Today's News Summaries - Celebrating Israel

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May 11, 2016, 1:10:40 AM5/11/16
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Subject: Fw: Today's News Summaries - Celebrating Israel
Date: Wed, 11 May 2016 05:07:44 +0000





From: Unity Coalition for Israel <voi...@unitycoalitionforisrael.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 2:56 PM
To: pvprea...@webtv.net
Subject: Today's News Summaries - Celebrating Israel
 
Unity Coalition for Israel
Editor's Note: Tuesday May 10, 2016
 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ISRAEL!
Israel Turns 68

Heavy Metal Hatikva
A rocking 6-string salute to Israel.
aish video - 01:39 (May 10, 2016) 

Israel: Defying the Odds
Amazing facts about Israel.
aish video – 02:38 (April 13, 2010) 


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Israel's Memorial Day remembers hundreds of Americans who served
Michele Chabin


usatoday.com, May 09, 2016

(Photo: Abir Sultan, EPA)
JERUSALEM — Julie Landau and his family will gather on Wednesday at the grave of his son, Yair, an Israeli soldier killed in action in 1982 at age 23.

Two weeks before Americans mark their own Memorial Day, people in Israel will mark their own Memorial Day. Those being remembered include 350 North Americans or their children and spouses, seven more than last year, according to the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel.
Landau, who moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Jerusalem in 1969, is one of the hundreds of bereaved American and Canadian citizens whose loved ones died in the service of Israel’s military or in Israel-based terror attacks.
Restaurants and places of entertainment will close, hundreds of thousands will flock to military cemeteries and people all over the country will stand for a moment of silence as two air-raid sirens wail....

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Women warriors: female fighters in the IDF
Yoav Zitun


ynetnews.com, May 08, 2016

Five active-duty female soldiers spoke with Ynet about the growing role that women play in the IDF, as well as their experiences and hopes: from reacting to stabbing incidents to how they're treated by male soldiers.

The wave of terror that began last October has highlighted the operational presence of female soldiers serving on the front lines in a fight against terrorism.
These women are not just the soldiers and Border Policewomen who are a direct target from "lone-wolf" terrorists, but also are those who form an integral part of IDF operations in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the tense border with Gaza.

Heroines against the Intifada. L-R: Lt. Shahaf Shwartz, Cpt. Paz Rokach, Lt. Ofir Asulin, Cpl. Linoy Ben Yitzhak and Sgt. Yael Sandler (Photo: IDF Spokesperson)
Female soldiers take part in arrest raids at the heart of the West Bank, are the first to rush to the scene of a stabbing incident, strengthen the security presence in dangerous areas, stand strong against angry mobs, and serve as the eyes of the IDF on the Gaza border, keeping watch and making sure that Hamas operatives don't sneak into Israel.
Five female combat soldiers came together to discuss the key roles they play in battle, and the complex realities they face in Gaza and the West Bank.
Ynet spoke to Cpt. Paz Rokach, 24, a medical officer in the Binyamin Division, which operates in and around Ramallah; Lt. Shahaf Shwartz, 23, who served as an operations officer for the Golani Brigade during Operation Protective Edge; Sgt. Yael Sandler, 21, a lone soldier from California who assisted in rescuing two Oketz soldiers who accidentally entered the Qalandia Refugee Camp two months ago; Lt. Ofir Asulin, a Field Intelligence officer who was injured in a stabbing incident at a gas station on route 443; and Cpl. Linoy Ben Yitzhak, who identified three terrorists planting three IEDs on the northern border of Gaza.
What does it mean to be a female combat solider in 2016? Are there still noticeable differences, or can we declare the integration of women into the army to be a success?
“There are certain things that men are better at,” said Cpt. Rokach. “That said, when a woman really wants something, she can accomplish anything.”
Lt. Schwartz added, “Physically, I feel I can perform any task, and that the experience I gained makes it all possible. I've had to carry heavy objects, and I did it well.”
Sgt. Sandler confirmed that like other female soldiers, “I do everything that the men do. It's all in the mind. As female combat soldiers, we march for miles when going on arrest raids, including those dealing with back pains. We're strong. I would have tried to join the Givati or Golani Brigades if I could have.”...

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Israel


wikipedia.org, May 10, 2016
Israel (/ˈɪzreɪəl/ or /ˈɪzriːəl/; Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל‎ Yisrā'el; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل‎ Isrāʼīl), officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל‎ Medīnat Yisrā'el [mediˈnat jisʁaˈʔel] ( listen); Arabic: دولة إِسْرَائِيل‎ Dawlat Isrāʼīl [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]) is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of t he West Bank and Gaza Strip[8] to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest. It contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area.[9][10] Israel's financial and technology center is Tel Aviv[11] while Jerusalem is the proclaimed capital, although Israeli sovereignty over it is internationally unrecognized.[note 1][12][13]
On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine. This specified borders for new Arab and Jewish states and an area of Jerusalem which was to be administered by the UN under an international regime.[14][15] The end of the British Mandate for Palestine was set for midnight on 14 May 1948. That day, David Ben-Gurion, the executive head of the Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel", which would start to function from the termination of the mandate.[16][17][18] The borders of the new state were not specified in the declaration.[15][19] Neighboring Arab armies invaded the former British mandate on the next day and fought the Israeli forces.[20][21] Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states,[22] in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula (1956–57 , 1967–82), part of Southern Lebanon (1982–2000), Gaza Strip (1967–2005; still considered occupied after 2005 disengagement) and the Golan Heights. It extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank.[23][24][25][26] Efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed. Israel's occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is the world's longest military occupation in modern times.[note 2][28]

[NOTE:  UCI does not consider these "occupied territories" since these areas were rightfully won by Israeli military forces and designated as Israeli lands based on International agreements.]

CLICK HERE for more information

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68 Reasons To Respect, If Not Love, Israel On Its 68th Birthday
Robert Sarner


forward.com, May 09, 2016

Getty Images
This week, as Israel celebrates the 68th anniversary of its hard-won independence, it’s worth celebrating the unlikely success story of this embattled little country, amid all its imperfections.
Like other countries, Israel is a work in progress. Blemishes abound and Israelis are the first to criticize and question their own shortcomings: political corruption, a dysfunctional electoral system, the extortion and blackmail of the ultra-Orthodox parties, the rampant economic iniquities, the status of Israeli Arabs, the treatment of Ethiopian immigrants, the situation of Palestinians in the West Bank, the plight of African refugees. The problems are longstanding and a searing indictment of Israeli leadership.
But show me another country on the planet that, within such a relatively short time and against such daunting odds, has done what Israel has achieved since its inception in 1948. So, in honor of its birthday, here are 68 reasons to respect, if not always love, the world’s one and only Jewish country.
1) Israel’s Save A Heart organization performs life-saving heart operations for children from around the globe — including many Palestinians — free of charge.
2) With its freedom of worship, Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the number of Christians is increasing.
3) Israel is the only country in the world that has more trees today than it had 50 years ago.
4) Israeli bank notes have Braille on them for the sight-impaired.
5) Israel has more museums per capita than any other country, including the world’s only one underwater.
6) Israel has its own day-long festival of love, called Tu B’Av.
7) Relative to its population, Israel has absorbed more immigrants than any other country, with newcomers from more than 100 countries.
8) Voicemail technology was developed in Israel.
9) The IDF is a leader in saving people trapped by natural and man-made disasters. On short notice, its search and rescue unit has operated in many countries (including Mexico, Kenya, India, Turkey and the U.S.) following earthquakes, train wrecks, collapsed buildings and terrorist attacks.
10) Israel is home to the world’s only theater company comprised entirely of deaf and blind actors....

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Turning Israel's desert into a teaching experience
Viva Sarah Press


israel21c.org, May 09, 2016
...Food security for the world
In 1994, Israeli farming communities began hiring Thai farmhands. The newcomers were amazed to see a desert in bloom and started asking how the magic happens.
“Nearly 25 percent of the world’s population lives in poverty and we have the knowhow to help. We realized there was an opportunity to create a school and share our knowledge of high-tech farming practices,” says Arnon.
Established with the mission of bringing in students from underdeveloped regions, AICAT operates within the Central Arava Regional Council and has partnerships with the KKL-JNF, Partnership2Gether, MASHAV and CINADCO-The Center for International Agricultural Development Cooperation within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“We never imagined that we’d go on to become an international school with over 1,000 students per year,” says Arnon. The majority of students (70%) are male.
“Because of JNF and AICAT, we’re getting the knowledge and experience we need to rebuild our country,” said Binod Ghimire, an AICAT student from Nepal.

AICAT students learning from an Israeli farmer. Photo: courtesy
Each participant is assigned to an area farmer for the school year. “The farmers become their mentors, their inspiration, their family away from home,” says Arnon.
The students earn a salary while learning information they can later apply in their home communities.
“They arrive as students but they go back as entrepreneurs,” Arnon says. “Farmers and farming lands are diminishing but the world is growing. We need more farmers and entrepreneurial farmers especially. An entrepreneur is someone who looks at the land and finds solutions that will be good for all the community.”
Arnon notes that even small projects can be entrepreneurial. One Thai student persuaded his parents to install a water pump and farm a section of land that had never been used before. “To pump water, for us, isn’t innovative. We’ve been doing it for years. But for them, it is,” she says.
AICAT helps with business plans and keeps in touch with its alumni. Word-of-mouth recommendations – as well as successes in international locales – have created more demand than AICAT can accommodate....

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Motorola Solutions to seek out Israeli start-ups at new innovation center
David Shamah


timesofisrael.com, April 15, 2016
Tech giant looks to develop cyber-security, mobile products in Jewish State, where it has had a presence since creation of state.

Motorola Solutions Chairman and CEO Greg Brown (left) shakes hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, April 13, 2016. (Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO)

Active in Israel for over half a century, Motorola Solutions, the non-cellphone “twin” of the legendary electronics firm, announced that it was opening an innovation center in Israel.
The company already has several hundred employees at a research and development center in the Tel Aviv area, which aims at finding and developing deals with Israeli start-ups, the company said.
At the announcement of the new facility Wednesday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Motorola Solutions Chairman and CEO Greg Brown, who said that the center would seek out start-ups and technology in the areas of cyber-security, big data analytics, mobile tech and the Internet of Things tech.
“You’re in the right place, in the right country, in the right business,” said Netanyahu. “That’s a very good match. I hope that other multinational companies in the development of technologies come to Israel — because they’ll benefit.”...

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