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Jewish Journal

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September 22, 2011

U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem warns travelers of violence

Leave a Comment / Israel, News, Palestinian Statehood Bid /

The U.S. Consulate General has banned its personnel from visiting the Old City of Jerusalem due to fears of violence.

In an emergency message sent to Americans registered with the consulate who are visiting or living in Israel, the consulate also urged U.S. citizens to avoid “areas of traditional conflict during this time.”

The letter, dated Sept. 21, said that the consulate would prohibit its official mission personnel from visiting the Old City of Jerusalem on Friday.

“This prohibition is due to the potential for demonstrations and large gatherings inside the Old City that day,” the letter says.

While it does not specify why there is this potential, it is likely because Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on that day is due to speak before the United Nations General Assembly and present a request to make Palestine the 194th member of the United Nations to the U.N. Security Council.

“The U.S. Consulate General reminds U.S. citizens that even peaceful marches and demonstrations can turn violent with little or no warning,” the letter warns. 

“U.S. citizens in Jerusalem are encouraged to exercise caution and take appropriate measures to ensure their safety and security, and to report any suspicious or unusual activity immediately to Israeli authorities. U.S. citizens should, as always, maintain a low profile in public.”

U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem warns travelers of violence Read More »

Israelis paying a honey of a price

Leave a Comment / Food, Israel, Leisure, News /

The price of Israeli honey is soaring because of “outrageous” customs duties that prevent imports and therefore competition, according to a new study.

The Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies in a study released Wednesday recommends eliminating high tariffs on honey to increase the amount of imported honey and the number of countries from which it is imported. Meanwhile, the market share of Israel’s Kibbutz Yad Mordechai honey is over 50 percent.

The cost of Israeli honey rose 26 percent between 2005 and 2010, the independent, nonprofit economic policy think tank’s study said.

According to the study, Israeli honey costs 3 1/2 times as much as in the United States and is twice as expensive as in Britain. Canada, Mexico, Argentina and China offer honey for export at 15 percent of the price of Israeli honey.

The Israel Honey Production and Marketing Board claims that the figures in the report are wrong and untruthful, Haaretz reported, and has threatened to take legal action against the institute.

Institute economist Keren Harel-Harari said that 40 percent of the annual consumption of honey in Israel takes place at holiday time this month, mainly on the Jewish New Year, and that Israelis will consume 1,500 tons of honey in one month, valued at about $16.2 million.

Meanwhile, pomegranates in Israel are being marked up to between 200 percent and 330 percent during the holiday season according to farmers, Haaretz reported.

Israeli farmers produced 20 percent more pomegranates this year over last year, at about 40,000 tons, the paper wrote. About 16,000 tons are exported.

The farmers say they are selling the red fruit for under a dollar a kilogram, but that retailers are selling them for between $2.50 and $3.50 a kilogram.

Pomegranates have become more popular because of its reputation for healthful properties.

Israelis paying a honey of a price Read More »

Hoop it up: Israeli rhythmic gymnast medals at worlds

Leave a Comment / News, Sports, Worldwide /

Neta Rivkin with a bronze became the first Israeli to win a medal in international rhythmic gymnastics competition.

Rivkin, 20, won a historic medal for Israel in rhythmic gymnastics at the World Championships in Montepelier, France. Her bronze medal, which she won for her Spanish-style hoop routine during the apparatus finals, was the first ever won by an Israeli rhythmic gymnast at a worlds or Olympics. She also placed sixth in the ball finals.

The gymnast, who ranked just behind the current Olympic champion Evgenia Kanaeva and Daria Kondoakova, both of Russia, was obviously elated.

“There are no words to describe what I’m feeling now,” Rivkin said after the medal ceremony. “Words cannot describe my joy.”

Rivkin is attempting to gain a spot representing Israel in the 2012 Olympics in London. She already competed at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Rivkin’s is only the second medal for Israeli gymnastics, both artistic and rhythmic, in world championship competition. In 2009, Alexander Shatilov won the bronze medal on the floor exercise.

This is Rivkin’s hoop routine in the qualification round of competition.

Hoop it up: Israeli rhythmic gymnast medals at worlds Read More »

Kahane grandson barred from West Bank

Leave a Comment / Israel, News /

Israel has barred the grandson of Meir Kahane from entering the West Bank for at least three months. 

The Israel Defense Forces issued the order Thursday against Meir Ettinger at Jerusalem’s French Hill junction. Ettinger associates told Haaretz that Ettinger was banned for his involvement in a self-defense course for residents of illegal West Bank outposts that encourages them to be more violent.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Ettinger was served the order over concerns of an escalation of violence in the West Bank in the wake of the Palestinians’ statehood bid this week in the United Nations.

Kahane grandson barred from West Bank Read More »

Mullen: Egyptian leaders committed to peace

Leave a Comment / News, Worldwide /

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Jewish audience that Egypt’s leaders are committed to maintaining the peace with Israel.

“In every conversation with my Egyptian counterparts, they always reassert—without my asking—that they want to retain the peace with Israel,” Mullen said Tuesday at an event organized in support of the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital in Washington.

Israeli leaders have been unnerved by the intensity of anti-Israel protests in Cairo in recent weeks and the failure of Egyptian authorities to contain them. Egypt is being run by an interim military government as it heads toward elections following the overthrow of the Hosni Mubarak dictatorship earlier this year.

Mullen, who is due to retire in two weeks, appeared at the event with New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Mullen: Egyptian leaders committed to peace Read More »

Palestinians protest Obama speech in Ramallah rally

Leave a Comment / News, Palestinian Statehood Bid, Worldwide /

Palestinian protesters denounced President Obama during a rally in Ramallah outside the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The dozens of protesters at Thursday’s demonstration objected to Obama’s opposition to a Palestinian statehood bid in the United Nations, which is expected to come Friday in the Security Council.

Protesters, including schoolchildren, waved anti-Obama signs and chanted about their future state. One sign read that Obama is “with killers, occupation and against victims, freedom.”

The rally was held following Obama’s address Wednesday to the United Nations General Assembly in which he called for bilateral negotiations in order to create a Palestinian state. Also Wednesday, Obama said in a meeting with Abbas that the United States would use its veto in the Security Council to block the unilateral formation of a Palestinian state.

Palestinians protest Obama speech in Ramallah rally Read More »

Netanyahu, Lieberman praise Obama’s U.N. speech, but Palestinians pan it

Leave a Comment / Is Featured?, Israel, News, Palestinian Statehood Bid /

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked President Obama for his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, but the Palestinians criticized the address.

Netanyahu met with Obama at the United Nations on Wednesday afternoon after the president’s speech and reportedly expressed his appreciation for the address. The speech was praised as well by Israel’s hawkish foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

“I congratulate President Obama, and I am ready to sign on this speech with both hands,” Lieberman said at a news conference.

Some officials with the Palestine Liberation Organization criticized the president’s speech, which was seen as a rebuke of its effort to seek U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood.

“Listening to him, you would think it was the Palestinians who occupy Israel,” Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the PLO delegation in Washington, told Israel’s daily Haaretz. “He presented a double standard when he disassociated the Arabs’ fight for their freedom in the region from the Palestinian freedom fighters, who deal with the occupation for 63 years.

“What we heard is precisely why we are going to the U.N.,” she added, apparently referring to the speech’s expressions of support for the Arab Spring.

The speech was also criticized by the secretary-general of the PLO’s executive committee, Yasser Abed Rabbo.

Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian negotiator, said at a news conference that the Palestinians would give the U.N. Security Council time to consider their request for full U.N. membership before taking the matter to the General Assembly. They are expected to submit their request to the Security Council on Friday.

“The U.N. is the only alternative to violence,” Shaath said at the news conference, according to reports. “It will be very costly to us and the Israelis. Our new heroes are Gandhi, Mandela and Martin Luther King.”

In his U.N. speech, Obama said the differences between Israelis and Palestinians must be bridged through negotiations between the two parties.

“Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations,” he said.

Obama also noted Israeli suffering from terrorism and said that the “Jewish people have forged a successful state in their historic homeland.” He said that Israel deserves normal relations with its neighbors and called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Obama administration has indicated that it would veto any Security Council resolution recognizing Palestinian statehood. The Palestinians, however, would be likely to win a vote in the General Assembly, which would not by itself grant them U.N. membership but could upgrade their status at the world body to a non-member observer state.

Netanyahu, Lieberman praise Obama’s U.N. speech, but Palestinians pan it Read More »

Islamic center near Ground Zero opens

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /