ACT NOW for ISRAEL: Flush ‘LUSH’ Cosmetics!

LUSH Cosmetics has quietly closed its Beverly Hills, California location several months after a group known as “Join the Boycott LA” (www.JTBLA.com) organized a protest outside the store to expose the company’s support of PLO extremism. LUSH, with headquarters in the UK and stores in over 40 countries around the world, is using its customers’ money to support the PLO’s extremist “One World Campaign”.

This virulently anti-Israel organization portrays Israel as an “illegal” occupier committing crimes against “Palestine” and grossly exaggerates the suffering in Gaza, placing responsibility solely on the Israelis.

Back in June 2011, United with Israel received widespread support when it reported that purchasing LUSH cosmetics helps to delegitimize Israel and strengthens her enemies such as Hamas and other terror organizations. While we are happy to report that the Beverly Hills store was closed, much more work needs to be done. We commend the courageous efforts of JBTLA who has worked tirelssly to expose LUSH’s anti-Israel bias.

We encourage you to visit the JTBLA website at http://www.jtbla.com/.

There is much more work to be done. We urge you to ACT NOW FOR ISRAEL by sending an email to customercare@lush.co.uk to protest their anti-Israel extremism.



According to the manager of LUSH Cosmetics in Brent Cross, London, LUSH supports the PLO since “Israel is the stronger party” [in LUSH's perception] – as if being the stronger party justifies the intentional targeting and killing of innocent Israeli civilians! Apparently, “right and wrong” does not enter into LUSH’s “ethical” calculation. LUSH’s support of extremists anti-Israel groups is unacceptable and therefore JTBLA urges you NOT to purchase LUSH products until this is corrected.

Click here to view the list of LUSH outlets in the USA. http://www.lushusa.com/shop/find/list/

Watch the video below which shows a group of Israel supporters who met in California to stage a protest against LUSH Cosmetics, due to its support of extreme anti-Israel propaganda. They let LUSH know that Israel supporters will NOT purchase their products until the situation is corrected.


Click To View Video

Once again, we urge you to stand for what’s right by sending an email to customercare@lush.co.uk to PROTEST their extreme anti-Israel agenda. 

Please spread this boycott by ‘SHARING’ this article with your family and friends.

MORE ABOUT LUSH COSMETICS AND THE ANTI-ISRAEL
“ONE WORLD CAMPAIGN”

It has come to our attention that LUSH, a leading luxury handmade cosmetics company, gives a percentage of its profits to an anti-Israel organization called “OneWorld”. Upon visiting the OneWorld website (http://freedomoneworld.org/), it is very clear that they are supported by extreme anti-Israel groups that are sympathetic to terrorist activity against the State of Israel. For example, one of the supporting groups is called “Friends of al-Aqsa”. Visiting their website speaks for itself: http://www.foa.org.uk/.

Therefore, each purchase of a LUSH product supports extreme anti-Israel activity including boycotts – and perhaps even terrorist activity – against the only democracy in the Middle East.



The hypocrisy of this situation is quite staggering considering that LUSH prides itself on supporting “ethical campaigns”, including numerous human rights issues, yet it has stores in Saudi Arabia, a blatant human rights abuser. And it does not have a store in Israel, a champion of human rights.

We WILL NOT stand for this hypocrisy and must take a stand in preventing additional monies from supporting anti-Israel and pro-terror activities of OneWorld.

It is “interesting” that LUSH listed their support for OneWorld on their UK website, but not on their US website, where sympathy for Palestinian terrorist groups is much lower.
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We suggest that the following actions be taken:
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1. Avoid LUSH products as long as they support http://freedomoneworld.org
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2. Forward this article to your family and friends (using the “Tell-A-Friend” and ‘SHARE’ buttons below)


3. Post the following on your Facebook page: “If you purchase LUSH cosmetics, you are supporting anti-Israel extremist groups”. Tell people the TRUTH about where their money is going.
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4. Demand that LUSH immediately withdraws its support for the OneWorld organization. Click here to contact LUSH by phone: http://www.lushusa.com/shop/customers/contact-us/

5. Send an email to customercare@lush.co.uk to PROTEST their extreme anti-Israel agenda.

Click ‘LIKE’ if you support our efforts in exposing the TRUTH about anti-Israel companies that support extremist,  anti-Israel groups, who sympathize with terrorists.

Please ACT NOW for ISRAEL by clicking ‘Tell-A-Friend’ and ‘SHARE’ to spread the word.

Jay-Z invests in Duracell Powermat

Rap icon new spokesperson for Israeli wireless charging product technology

Culture icon and hip hop superstar Jay-Z has invested in Israeli wireless technology company, Duracell Powermat, and has signed on as the new face of the company.

Duracell Powermat, a joint venture between Procter & Gamble and Israel’s Powermat, was announced in September of 2011. Duracell, a brand of batteries manufactured by P&G, has also invested in Powermat.

Powermat is a wireless technology that allows electronic devices like mobile phones, mp3 players, gaming devices and cameras to wirelessly charge by placing them on the powermat.

“I believe in the future of wireless energy and I believe that Duracell Powermat is the company to bring on the revolution,” said Jay-Z. “I’m partnering with Duracell Powermat because they’re providing the solutions for the future.”

“We are proud to work with such an inspiring icon, whose music and success speaks to an entire generation all over the world. Our common vision and voice will pave the way for the upcoming wireless power revolution,” said Ron Rabinowitz, CEO of Duracell Powermat.

“Jay-Z is power personified. He inspires millions of people all over the world on a daily basis with his music and his story,” said Ran Poliakine, CEO of Powermat Technologies. “There is no better face or voice that can move people to adopt a new paradigm in power delivery.

Jay-Z follows in the footsteps of another star, Leonardo DiCaprio who recently made an investment in another Israeli technology company, Mobli.

Just don’t expect Jay-Z to use his old persona to sell the Powermat. Since his wife Beyonce gave birth to their daughter Blue Ivy last week, Jay-Z has reportedly turned into a softie. So don’t expect to hear the slogan “Powermat – It’s power to the people, b*tches.”

Source: Shalomlife.com

Palestinians hope to learn desert farming at the Israeli institute Arava

The Arava International Center for Agricultural Training hosts several hundred agricultural university students each year.

A West Bank agricultural development team is hoping to form a partnership with Central and Northern Arava Research and Development by sending Palestinian agricultural students to learn desert farming techniques from Israeli experts.

Arava Research and Development, based at the arid Yair Research Station near Hatzeva, which The Jerusalem Posttoured on Tuesday, is an agricultural hub for scientists and farming experts who experiment with techniques to grow crops in extreme desert conditions.

Funded jointly by the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund and the government, the research unit explores methods to grow products in sandy and saline water conditions, and contains a variety of produce in its greenhouses, including sweet peppers, strawberries and ornamental fish.

The station also hosts several hundred Asian agricultural university students for 10 months each year, coming from Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, to partake in a work-study program called Arava International Center for Agricultural Training.

For the first time, a Palestinian group – which visited the facility on the same day as the Post – is requesting to give students this same type of learning experience, according to Hanni Arnon, the program’s director.

“We are trying to see how we can create a joint venture with these guys, in order to send Palestinian students – in university or just finishing high school – to get training here in the same way as Asian students,” said Ibrahim Barakat, member of the board of directors of the Ramallah and Gaza based firm Harvest Export, which provides Palestinian agricultural cooperatives and individual farmers with the opportunities to export their produce.

Harvest Export is working in conjunction with The Portland Trust, a British nonprofit for promoting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, to seek out investors for such a program and then attract and guide interested students, Barakat said.

“It’s introducing a new way of looking at agriculture – shying away from the normal stuff that we produce,” said Hani Dajani, managing director of the al-Birehbased Portland Trust.

By learning to employ some of the same techniques that the Arava farmers use, Palestinian agriculturists in the Jordan Valley can learn to expand their variety of produce and export their wares overseas, according to Dajani.

The program would aim to give skills to smaller, individual Palestinian farmers and then eventually open a facility parallel to that of Yair in the Jordan Valley so that when students return from their Arava training, they have a place to continue their research closer to home, Barakat added. “I want to invest in young people,” he said.

Arava Research and Development director Eilon Gadiel said he hoped that the partnership would succeed, noting that while the climates of the Arava and the Jordan Valley are not quite the same, many of the same farming skills apply to both places.

Not only would a joint program between Arava Research and Development and a Palestinian cohort bring new agricultural expertise to the West Bank, it could also foster a wave of better relations between two peoples, both Barakat and Dajani stressed. An exchange of knowledge and communication could only serve to benefit both populations, Gadiel agreed.

“Exchanging information between the two parties is healthy and can bring peace,” Barakat said.
Dajani added: “It’s trying to entice peace through economic development.”

Arava Research and Development will be hosting an “Open Day” agricultural exhibition for the general public at its Yair Station site next Wednesday and Thursday, February 1-2.

Source: Jpost.com

LIVE Talk Radio from Israel – Tuesday Nights!

LIVE FROM ISRAEL!  TUESDAY NIGHTS 5:00PM – 7:00PM (EST)

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Straight from the heart of Jerusalem comes the only English talk show on broadcast radio in the State of Israel. News, interviews, culture and ideas mixed with positivity and pride in the free, fruitful, and flourishing Jewish homeland. 



Yishai and Malkah Fleisher, two well-known internet radio personalities, made the leap to broadcast radio on the new Galey Yisrael station in Israel, blazing a trail to create content for the growing segment of the Israeli public that speaks English. You won’t want to miss it!

This new and exciting weekly radio show is sponsored in partnership with United with Israel!

BOOKMARK THIS PAGE SO THAT YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE SHOW EVERY WEEK!

We will be broadcast LIVE FROM ISRAEL every Tuesday Night from 5:00pm – 7:00pm (EST)

Click below to listen live every Tuesday!

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Click ‘LIKE’ if you are interested in LIVE English Audio and Video Broadcasts from Israel! 

Please “Spread the Word” and ‘SHARE’ this program with your family and friends!

Students For Israel release “IsraelLoves”

SFI (Students For Israel) are a group of Israeli students, bringing you love from around the campuses- the Hebrew University, the Technion and IDC Herzliya.

This video is their homage for the #Israelloves twitter campaign.

Check them out at:
www.sfi.org.il

 

Click To View Video

Obama says ‘Homeland’ a must see

Facebook might have been one of the biggest stories of 2011, but don’t count on friending the First Daughters anytime soon. 

In their only print interview of the holiday season, President Obama and the First Lady tell PEOPLE they don’t allow daughters Sasha and Malia on Facebook. Not that it’s been a hard decision to enforce, says the President.

Their theory is, “Why would we want to have a whole bunch of people who we don’t know knowing our business? That doesn’t make much sense.” But when the First Lady points out that Malia is only 13 and Sasha 10 right now, the President laughs and adds, “We’ll see how they feel in four years.”

The Obamas, who let the family dog Bo sit in on the Dec. 5 interview (only after removing his distracting jingle-bell collar), also revealed that must-see TV in the White House divides along gender lines.

“For the girls and me, Modern Family, that’s our favorite show,” the President says, adding that he’s “a little darker” in his TV habits, listingBoardwalk Empire and Homeland as his must-sees, other than sports. 

“Yes,” said the First Lady with a laugh, “we don’t watch TV with him.”

And lest anyone think the private residence of the most powerful man in the world comes with all the latest gadgets and gizmos, President Obama says the technologically antiquated second-floor family quarters only recently saw a DVR installed. “We’re a little bit behind,” he tells us dryly.

For the full Obama interview and the rest of PEOPLE’s annual roundup of all the hot stars, weddings, splits, babies and news of the year, pick up the special year-end double issue, on newsstands Friday

YouTube Space Lab Gives Teen Brainiacs Chance of a Lifetime

For most high school students, a winning experiment in a science fair means a blue ribbon and maybe some extra credit in biology. That’s so 20th century. Thanks to an amazing initiative launched by YouTube and Lenovo, the science fair is not only global, but out of this world. An international competition called “YouTube Space Lab” invites young adults 14-18 to submit their proposals for a science experiment to be conducted on board the International Space Station.  Naturally, the submissions, complete with full scientific method, were submitted via YouTube.


Click To View Video

After sifting through thousands of videos, a pair of Israeli teens’ video has been chosen among the finalists! Ariel Berko and Yoav Levi currently attend Rogozin High School in Kiryat Ata. Their plan? Looking at how gravity affects reproduction in yeast. It may sound oddly specific, but there’s much to be learned here. If humanity is ever to become a space-faring race, little things like the effects of gravity on a cell’s ability to engage in sexual reproduction could have profound effects.

While the Israeli team is among the 60 finalists, to make it to the final judge’s selection, that number needs to be whittled down with public voting, so make sure to support Ariel and Yoav by heading on over to YouTube Space Lab’s site and clicking “vote” next to their video!

For the intellectually curious, you can see their full video below. And then please explain it to us, because these teenagers are way out of our league.


Click To View Video

Eilat Mountains Photoshoot ft Model Tal Mahin | FashionTV – FTV

http://www.FTV.com/videos ISRAEL – Model Tal Mahin looks stunning in this photoshoot taking place at the Eilat Mountains in Israel. She walks the barren landscape in high boots and stares pensively at the scene through thick lashes. Her clothes are from the label Status. 

Model: Tal Mahin
Hair: Zenzura Liron & Zvika
Makeup: Maya Raz & Diana Alkazov to Il Makiage
Clothes: Status Moda


Click To View Video

Bar Rafaeli and Gilad Shalit show up to tonight’s Maccabi Tel Aviv Vs. Barcelona Basketball game

Both Bar Rafaeli and Gilad Shalit showed up to tonight’s Euroleague game between Maccabi Tel Aviv game! It’s a big one! check out the promo:

Click To View Video

 ואוו איזה משחק מחכה לנו! מכבי אלקטרה ת"א תארח את ברצלונה הגדולה והאקס צ'אק אידסון לאחד הקרבות היותר גדולים של הכדורסל האירופאי. צפו בפרומו שיוקרן בהצגת השחקנים, רגע לפני שריקת הפתיחה.

עריכה: אור טרוינר

High-tech investments set 11-year record

IVC reports Israeli or Israel-affiliated companies raised $2.14 billion from foreign, Israeli investors – highest amount since dot-com crash

In 2011, 546 Israeli or Israel-affiliated high-tech companies raised a total of $2.14 billion from Israeli and foreign VC investors, according to a report by the Israel Capital Venture Research Center (IVC) and KMPG.

This is the highest amount raised in the past 11 years since the dot-com crash last decade.

The figure reflects an increase of nearly 70% as measured against the $1.26 billion raised by 391 companies in 2010, and a 91% increase as compare with the $1.12 billion raised in 2009.

IVC and Money Tree released different figures due to the fact that IVC includes a larger number of companies in its calculations, including companies that are indirectly connected to Israel such as those founded by Israelis or Israeli activity in Silicon Valley.

According to IVC, the average investment per company was $3.92 million in 2011; $3.23 billion in 2010; and $2.51 in 2009.

A total of 124 Israeli high-tech companies raised $569 million from Israeli and foreign VC investors on the fourth quarter of 2011, constituting a 9% raise as compared with $522 million raised by 137 companies in the previous quarter and a 65% leap from the $344 million raised by 100 companies in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The average amount per round per company was $4.59 million for the fourth quarter of 2011, as compared with $3.81 in the previous quarter and $3.44 million in the same quarter the year before.

Foreigners are coming

In the fourth quarter of the previous year, 77 companies raised more than $1 million each. Five of the companies raised over $20 million, 13 companies raised $10-20 million each, and 17 companies raised between $5 million and $10 million each.

In 2011, the amount raised by Israeli companies in financing rounds for foreign investors alone was $785 million or 37% – the highest in the past decade. For comparison’s sake, in 2010 only $269 million were raised from foreign investors (21% of the investments) and in 2009 – $ 205 million (18%).

In the fourth quarter of 2011, foreign investments amounted to $218 million – an 8% decline from the $236 million in the previous quarter, which had the highest amount of foreign investments in the past decade.

Source: Ynetnews.com

Israel at the Oscars: A Retrospective

Earlier today, Hollywood’s phones were ringing off the hook as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for this year’s Oscars, which will take place February 26th. One of the filmmakers who got the coveted call this morning was Joseph Cedar, acclaimed Israeli director whose film “Footnote” was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. No Israeli film has ever won.

Could this be the year Israel takes home an Academy Award? Since 1964, when Israel first began submitting films for consideration, ten Israeli films have been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

Even more impressive, for four of the last five years, an Israeli film has been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2008, it was Beuafort, also directed by Joseph Cedar, telling the story of some of the last IDF soldiers stationed in an outpost prior to the end of the Second Lebanon War. Beuafort‘s nomination in 2007 was the first for an Israeli film since 1984. In 2009, Waltz with Bashir won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film but not the Oscar. And in 2010, Ajami was also nominated for the Oscar.

And now, Footnote has the chance to win the Academy Award for Jospeh Cedar, and bring tremendous pride to Israel’s thriving film industry. As is always the case with the Oscars, nothing is a shoe-in, and this year, competition is extremely tight with wonderful films from Canada, Belgium, Poland, and Iran also nominated. The Iranian film, “A Separation” recently won the Golden Globe, which of course is often times a precursor to an Oscar. In addition to its nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Iranian writer-director Ashghar Farhadi’s film also earned a nod for Best Original Screenplay.

Will Footnote be an Oscar surprise? We’ll be tuning in to watch when the Oscars air on Sunday, February 26th on ABC.


Click To View Video

Small City Is Home to Israel’s Unlikely Top Team

KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel — This city is one of Israel’s smallest, a hardscrabble place with a population of 23,000 that is less than two miles from the Lebanese border and through the decades hasrepeatedly found itself caught in the crossfire of Arab-Israeli strife.

In 1974, Kiryat Shmona was the scene of a terrorist attack in which 18 Israelis, many of them children, were killed. Rockets have clobbered the town during cross-border fighting. Underground shelters are as familiar to the city as traffic lights. And jobs can be scarce.

Yet somehow, Kiryat Shmona’s professional soccer team has become the runaway leader of Israel’s top league, has captured a separate tournament that concluded this week and has begun to turn perceptions of this often-beleaguered community upside down.

For now, the king of soccer in this country is a team that plays in a 5,500-seat stadium, has a diverse 23-man roster that includes six Israeli Arabs and is still adjusting to the curiosity it is creating.

When The New York Times recently contacted Adi Faraj, the club’s 26-year-old press officer, about doing an article about the team, he was initially convinced the phone call was a hoax.

“Why would The New York Times want to write about us?” he said.

But as its remarkable run of victories mounts, more and more attention will come its way. On Tuesday, a sizable contingent of the city’s residents traveled south to Petah Tikva to watch its team take on a traditional Israeli power — Hapoel Tel Aviv — in the final of the Toto Cup, the first major tournament of the season.

In a grueling contest, Kiryat Shmona surrendered a late goal that tied the score but prevailed in a penalty-kick shootout.

More impressively, the club has an 11-point lead at the top of Israel’s 16-team Premier League, putting it on course for its first league championship and, remarkably, a qualifying spot in the world’s richest and most prestigious soccer club competition, the Europe-based UEFA Champions League.

If Kiryat Shmona gets that far, it will become one of the smallest clubs to qualify for the Champions League and will find itself, at least technically, alongside powerhouse clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid. For comparison, think, perhaps, of a community college somehow showing up in the N.C.A.A. Division I basketball bracket in March.

That this long-shot team — officially known as Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona — has been able to get this far has already shaken up Israeli soccer, which is normally dominated by clubs from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, with their bigger budgets.

Beyond that, the team has given a city that has often felt marginalized and neglected a sense of pride.

“Today, it’s like a dream,” Almorg Moryoussef, a 23-year-old student, said as he stood outside Ironi Stadium in Kiryat Shmona last Saturday as the team prepared to play Ironi Nir Ramat HaSharon and local fans — nicknamed the Blue Lions — gathered with drums and banners.

“This is the very first time since Kiryat Shmona was established that the city was in the news not because of the connection with missiles, attacks and war, but football,” he said.

The team’s rise can largely be traced to one man — Izzy Sheratzky, a millionaire from Tel Aviv who made his money in Global Positioning System devices that help track stolen cars and who founded the club 10 years ago.
Sheratzky, a native Israeli, began investing heavily in Kiryat Shmona after being moved by images of its being pounded by Katyusha rockets 13 years ago. Eventually, he decided to buy two local clubs and merge them with a dream of taking his new team to the highest level of European soccer.

“In 1999, I saw the wars and the Katyushas and many bombs,” he said in an interview last Saturday an hour before his team took the field. “Many people left Kiryat Shmona. The situation was very bad. There was no work and there was the bombs. I decided to take care of Kiryat Shmona and to help them.”

At first, Sheratzky looked to the city’s immediate needs: a soup kitchen for the poor, a children’s dental clinic, an English-language school. But he concluded that the city’s residents needed something else to bolster their morale, namely soccer. He bought the two teams, one in Israel’s fourth division, the other in the fifth, and began thinking big.

“We were 11th in the fourth league and now I hope we take the championship, and maybe next year I am coming to London for the Champions League!” he said, laughing.

When Sheratzky first arrived, the players thought his talk of rising through the divisions and of one day winning the Champions League was fanciful at best, deluded at worst.

Full Story Via New York Times

Kfir - Think Camouflaged!

A new IDF video describes the Kfir Brigade, the youngest Infantry Corps brigade in the Israel Defense Forces.

 

 

Kfir Brigade is the youngest Infantry Corps brigade in the Israel Defense Forces.

Recruits to the Kfir Brigade are trained in chemical warfare, urban combat, advanced weaponry and fighting from armored vehicles. The brigade specializes in high profile counter-terror operations, arrests of terrorists, patrols, manning checkpoints and regular security activities.

 
Click To View Video

After a half year’s training, Kfir soldiers receive a camouflaged beret.

According to the IDF, a “Camouflaged” soldier is “a fiery combat soldier, who doesn’t give up, [and] who follows his commanders.”

The brigade’s slogan is “Kfir – Think Camouflaged!”