Israeli PM says soldiers defending themselves in Gaza flotilla raid

WATCH THE VIDEO AND JUDGE WHO THE AGGRESSORS REALLY ARE:



OTTAWA - Israel's prime minister says soldiers who boarded a ship bringing supplies to the blockaded Gaza strip were only defending themselves.

Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli soldiers were mobbed as they boarded one of six ships in an aid flotilla.

Netanyahu, who is cutting short his scheduled visits to Ottawa and Washington to deal with the crisis, said the soldiers had no choice but to defend their lives.

"They deliberately attacked the first soldiers who came on the ship," he said. "They were mobbed, they were clubbed, they were beaten, stabbed. ...

"Our soldiers had to defend themselves, defend their lives, or they would have been killed."

He said the boarding came as the Israeli navy was checking for any rockets, missiles or explosives that might have been headed for Gaza and destined to be fired into Israel.

Netanyahu, who began a two-day official visit to Canada on Sunday, was defending the pre-dawn raid which killed at least 10 pro-Palestinian activists.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100531/national/netanyahu_cda_visit



During a search aboard the maritime vessel Mavi Marmara, IDF forces uncovered a cache of weapons including many knives, slingshots, rocks, smoke bombs, metal rods, improvised sharp metal objects, sticks and clubs, 5KG hammers, firebombs and gas masks in case IDF forces fired riot dispersal means at the activists as they violently attacked the soldiers.

These weapons were used against Israeli Navy personnel as they attempted to board the ship. 7 soldiers were injured during the incident, which included activists taking two pistols from the soldiers and firing at them.

Barak: Flotilla organizers to blame - IDF Soldier: 'It felt like a lynch'

The IDF released footage of the Monday raid on the "Free Gaza" flotilla, which depicted the activists upon the ship attacking soldiers with various weapons, including a large metal pole and other metal objects.

In the IDF takeover, at least 15 activists were killed and dozens were injured.

In a brief interview with the soldiers who were aboard the ships, one soldier said that the attack "looked like the Ramallah lynch."

Earlier Monday armed Navy ships escorted boats from the Gaza protest flotilla to Ashdod, hours after IDF soldiers and activists clashed in a fatal raid.

International activists aboard the ships opened fire on IDF soldiers who boarded the ships to prevent them from breaking the Israeli-imposed sea blockade, the IDF said Monday.

According to the IDF, the international activists “prepared a lynch” for the soldiers who boarded the ships at about 2 a.m. Monday morning after the soldiers called on them to stop, or follow them to the Ashdod Port several hours earlier.



http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=177019

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a press conference on Monday that while he was sorry for lives lost, the organizers of the Gaza-bound protest flotilla were solely responsible for the outcome of the fatal IDF raid earlier in the day. Fifteen activists were killed and dozens wounded in the violent clashes.

Barak said that the soldiers tried to disperse the activists aboard the ship peacefully but were forced to open fire to protect themselves.

He called the flotilla a provocation, specifically called the IHH, an Islamic aid organization, "extremist supporters of terror."

The defense minister also called on Arab and Palestinian leaders not to let this "provocation by irresponsible people" ruin the progress made in proximity peace talks.

Netanyahu supports operation
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,speaking in Canada where he is currently on an official visit, said he 'fully supported the IDF operation'.

Ashkenazi: Soldiers acted in self defence
IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday that the violence aboard the Mavi Marmara, one of the ships of the Gaza-bound protest flotilla, was instigated by those aboard the ships and that soldiers who opened fire were defending themselves.

Ashkenazi noted that the Mavi Marmara, the only ship on which violence took place, was different than the other five ships of the flotilla. He said that five ships carried humanitarians and peace activists but the Mavi Marmara was sponsored by the extremist organization the IHH and those aboard acted in "extreme violence."

Navy chief praises soldiers 'bravery'
Israeli Navy commander Vice-Admiral Eliezer Marom said Monday that IDF soldiers that raided Mavi Marmara acted with "perseverance and bravery."

Marom said that the soldiers lives were in danger and that they fired their weapons in self defense. He added that given the situation, many more than ten people could have been killed if the soldiers had not acted with the proper sensitivity.

Ayalon: Flotilla was 'an armada of hate and violence'
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said that the flotilla of ships "was an armada of hate and violence."

Speaking at a Jerusalem press conference on Monday morning. "It was a premeditated and outrageous provocation" and its organizers had ties to global Jihad, al Qaida and Hamas, said Ayalon.

"Their intent was violent, their methods were violent and their results were unfortunately violent," Ayalon said.

"Israel regrets the loss of life and did everything it could to avoid this outcome," Ayalon stressed, adding that Israel had offered to transport the humanitarian cargo on board the ship to Gaza.

"The organizers on the ship did not heed the calls of our forces this morning to peacefully follow them and bring a peaceful closure to this event," said Ayalon, iterating that the successful arrival of the flotilla in Gaza would have created "a corridor of arms smuggling."

The Foreign Ministry has convened a noon meeting of all ambassadors in the country. The Turkish ambassador was requested to arrive half-an-hour early for a private conversation.

Political echelons, security and police hurried to respond on Monday to deadly clashes that took place earlier in the day between Navy commandos and members of a Turkish flotilla bound for Gaza.


Livni offers help with diplomatic crisis
Kadima chair Tzipi Livni called Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to offer her help in dealing with the diplomatic crisis Israel was likely to face in the aftermath of the violent incident.

Livni's party mate Kadima Council head Haim Ramon attacked Netanyahu's government for mishandling the Gaza flotilla affair.

In Canada, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was getting constant updates on the clashes, a foreign ministry spokesman told Army Radio. Netanyahu is in Canada as part of a trip that has him slated to meet Tuesday with US President Barack Obama.

The IDF and police were preparing for the possibility of demonstrations and violence among Palestinians as well as Israeli-Arabs on Monday, amid reports of up to 15 dead.

Northern District police chief Cmdr. Shimon Koren completed an evaluation of the security situation in the North on Monday morning, and ordered a high state of alert and instructed police officers to be ready "for the possibility of any scenario or attempt to cause a disturbance."

Also Monday morning, Israeli NGO Gush Shalom was set to demonstrate in support of the "Free Gaza" convoy, according to an email circulated by the group.

The demonstrators intend to converge outside the center in Ashdod where the detained international aid activists are supposed to be held.

Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch cancelled a planned appearance at an anti-violence march in Lod scheduled for Monday. The march will go ahead as planned.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=176998

What Israel can teach us about security

Cathal Kelly

While North America's airports groan under the weight of another sea-change in security protocols, one word keeps popping out of the mouths of experts: Israelification.

That is, how can we make our airports more like Israel's, which deal with far greater terror threats with far less inconvenience.

"It is mind boggling for us Israelis to look at what happens in North America, because we went through this 50 years ago," said Rafi Sela, the president of AR Challenges, a global transportation security consultancy. He has worked with the RCMP, the U.S. Navy Seals and airports around the world.

"Israelis, unlike Canadians and Americans, don't take s--- from anybody. When the security agency in Israel (the ISA) started to tighten security and we had to wait in line for – not for hours – but 30 or 40 minutes, all hell broke loose here. We said, `We're not going to do this. You're going to find a way that will take care of security without touching the efficiency of the airport.'"

Despite facing dozens of potential threats each day, the security set-up at Israel's largest hub, Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport, has not been breached since 2002, when a passenger mistakenly carried a handgun onto a flight. How do they manage that?

The first layer of actual security that greets travellers at Ben Gurion is a roadside check. All drivers are stopped and asked two questions: How are you? Where are you coming from?

"Two benign questions. The questions aren't important. The way people act when they answer them is," Sela said.

Once you've parked your car or gotten off your bus, you pass through the second and third security perimeters.

Armed guards outside the terminal observe passengers as they move toward the doors, again looking for odd behaviour. At Ben Gurion's half-dozen entrances, another layer of security is watching. At this point, some travellers will be randomly taken aside, and their person and their luggage run through a magnometer.

"This is to see that you don't have heavy metals on you or something that looks suspicious," said Sela.

You are now in the terminal. As you approach your airline check-in desk, a trained interviewer takes your passport and ticket. They ask a series of questions: Who packed your luggage? Has it left your side?

"The whole time, they are looking into your eyes – which is very embarrassing. But this is one of the ways they figure out if you are suspicious or not. It takes 20, 25 seconds," said Sela.

Lines are staggered. People are not allowed to bunch up into inviting targets for a bomber who has gotten this far.

At the check-in desk, your luggage is scanned immediately in a purpose-built area. Sela plays devil's advocate – what if you have escaped the attention of the first four layers of security, and now try to pass a bag with a bomb in it?

"I once put this question to Jacques Duchesneau (the former head of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority): say there is a bag with Play-Doh in it and two pens stuck in the Play-Doh. That is `Bombs 101' to a screener. I asked Duchesneau, `What would you do?' And he said, `Evacuate the terminal.' And I said, `Oh. My. God.'

"Take (Toronto's) Pearson (airport). Do you know how many people are in the terminal at all times? Many thousands. Let's say I'm (doing an evacuation) without panic – which will never happen. But let's say this is the case. How long will it take? Nobody thought about it. I said, `Two days.'"

A screener at Ben Gurion has a pair of better options.

First, the screening area is surrounded by contoured, blast-proof glass that can contain the detonation of up to 100 kilos of plastic explosive. Only the few dozen people within the screening area need be removed, and only to a point a few metres away.

Second, all the screening areas contain `bomb boxes.' If a screener spots a suspect bag, he/she is trained to pick it up and place it in the box, which is blast proof. A bomb squad arrives shortly and wheels the box away for further investigation.

"This is a very small, simple example of how we can simply stop a problem that would cripple one of your airports," Sela said.

Five security layers down: you now finally arrive at the only one which Ben Gurion airport shares with Pearson – the body and hand-luggage check.

"But here it is done completely, absolutely 180 degrees differently than it is done in North America," Sela said.

"First, it's fast – there's almost no line. That's because they're not looking for liquids, they're not looking at your shoes. They're not looking for everything they look for in North America. They just look at you," said Sela. "Even today with the heightened security in North America, they will check your items to death. But they will never look at you, at how you behave. They will never look into your eyes ... and that's how you figure out the bad guys from the good guys."

The goal at Ben Gurion is to move fliers from the parking lot to the airport lounge in 25 minutes tops.

And then there's intelligence. In Israel, Sela said, a coordinated intelligence gathering operation produces a constantly evolving series of threat analyses and vulnerability studies.

"There is absolutely no intelligence and threat analysis done in Canada or the United States," Sela said. "Absolutely none."

But even without the intelligence, Sela maintains, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab – who allegedly tried to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day – would not have gotten past Ben Gurion's behavioural profilers.

So. Eight years after 9/11, why are we still so reactive?

Sela first blames our leaders, and then ourselves.

"You can easily do what we do. You don't have to replace anything. You have to add just a little bit – technology, training," Sela said. "But you have to completely change the way you go about doing airport security. And that is something that the bureaucrats have a problem with. They are very well enclosed in their own concept."

And rather than fear, he suggests outrage would be a far more powerful spur to provoking that change.

"Do you know why Israelis are so calm? We have brutal terror attacks on our civilians and still, life in Israel is pretty good. The reason is that people trust their defence forces, their police, their response teams and the security agencies. They know they're doing a good job. You can't say the same thing about Americans and Canadians. They don't trust anybody," Sela said. "But they say, `So far, so good.' Then if something happens, all hell breaks loose and you've spent eight hours in an airport. Which is ridiculous. Not justifiable."

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/744426--what-israel-can-teach-us-about-security

Missy Elliot to make Israeli debut

Elliot to perform on July 15 at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds.

One of America’s top female rap/R&B artists, Missy Elliot, will perform for the first time in Israel on July 15 at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, with warm up provided by our own Hadag Nahash.

Together with producer Timbaland, ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliot proved to be an authentic hit maker even before her 1997 debut Supa Dupa Fly was released to mass acclaim, thanks to songs written for Aaliyah and Mariah Carey.

Breaking barriers for women in rap, the one-woman hip-hop machine maintained a string of hit albums and singles throughout the next decade, including collaborations with Pink, Busta Rhymes and Lil Kim.

Her albums include Da Real World (1999), Miss E...So Addictive (2001), Under Construction (2002), This Is Not A Test (2003) and The Cookbook (2005).





http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Music/Article.aspx?id=176857

Forbes Names Israel’s Shari Arison As One of the World’s Greenest Billionaires

We know that billionaires with their minds and hearts in right place, can do right by the planet.

Taking notice, Forbes business magazine has looked beyond its regular annual billionaires list and has plucked out Israel’s banking and cruiseline heiress Shari Arison as one of the world’s greenest.

Greenest billionaires, that is.

Shari joins Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla, Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Germany’s billionaire Aloys Wobben, among others.

With a personal net worth of a cool $3.4 billion, Shari –– whose eco-spriritual website Essence of Life I used to write for –– may be taken for a bit of quack in Israel, but not in my books. She’s a huge believer that sustainability and profitability go hand in hand.

Shari’s family name is most well-known around the world for Carnival Cruise lines, established by her father Ted in the United States. She’s published a memoir Birth: When the Spiritual and the Material Come Together where she spells out how businesses should benefit both the investor and the broader community.

Good ideas are a dime a dozen. What’s she done? Shari has developed businesses around this philosophy, and maintains that the companies’ bottom line is her driver. She is now planning on making her public construction company, Shikun & Binui 100% sustainable via using solar power, water desalination and recyclable materials, within the next five years, according to Forbes.

We faithful followers of Green Prophet already know that her water company Miya, launched in 2007 aims to reduce leaks in underground water pipes in cities and urban areas. And we just wrote a story about Brazil and Israel, and Miya looks like it will be part of the collaboration between countries.

We’re rooting for you, Shari! If you’d like to read more about Shari’s green vision, Businessweek has a good profile on Shari from 2009.

http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/04/22/20192/forbes-shari-arison/

Shari Arison (born 1957) is an Israeli-American businesswoman and Israel's wealthiest citizen. She is the owner of several businesses, the largest among them Bank Hapoalim. According to Forbes, she is the richest woman in the Middle East, and the only woman to be ranked in the region's top 20 richest people in 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shari_Arison

Ted Arison - Israeli businessman

Ted Arison (1924 – October 1, 1999) was an Israeli-American businessman who co-founded Norwegian Cruise Lines in 1966 with Knut Kloster and founded Carnival Cruise Lines in 1972.

Born in Tel Aviv in the then British Mandate of Palestine, he fought in the Jewish Brigade of the British Army during World War II. He moved to the United States in the early 1950s and created Carnival Cruise Lines in 1972 in which he made his fortune.

Later, he established the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts based in Miami. He brought professional basketball to South Florida with the forming of the Miami Heat in 1988, and established the philanthropic Arison Foundation in Israel and the United States.

In 1990, he returned to Israel and founded Arison Investments. In 1997 he headed a consortium that purchased the controlling share in Bank Hapoalim for more than $1 billion -- the largest privatization deal in Israel's history.

His children include Micky Arison and Shari Arison.

Kathy Ireland in Israel

Kathleen Marie "Kathy" Ireland (born March 20, 1963) is an American former-model, actress, entrepreneur, CEO and designer of her eponymous brand product marketing company, Kathy Ireland Worldwide.

Life and career

Ireland was born in Glendale, California, the daughter of John, a labor union organizer, and Barbara Ireland, who worked in charity. At age 17, Ireland was "discovered" by an agent for the Elite Model Management company, and by the time she graduated from high school, she was working steadily as a model.

Sports Illustrated

Starting in 1984, Ireland was featured in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for 13 consecutive years, with her final appearance in 1996. In addition to her long tenure within the pages, Ireland appeared on the cover of the annual issue three times, a feat tied by Christie Brinkley and Cheryl Tiegs and surpassed only by Elle Macpherson (with six or more appearances). Ireland was the cover model for the first time on the 25th Anniversary Swimsuit Edition, which became SI's best selling swimsuit issue to date. She returned to the cover in 1992 and in 1994. In her third appearance, she was accompanied by Rachel Hunter and Elle Macpherson; notably, both Hunter and Ireland were pregnant at the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Ireland

Israel A Source of Snow

http://www.ide-tech.com/

Company Profile

IDE Technologies Ltd. is a pioneer and world leader in water technologies. The company specializes in the development, engineering, production and operation of advanced desalination as well as innovative industrial solutions.

Leading the world in clean water solutions.

* Today: IDE is a world leader in the desalination industry. With more than 45 years of know-how and experience, IDE delivers end-to-end project solutions for its customers throughout the world. Leveraging superior thermal and membrane technologies, IDE specializes in the delivery and operation of various desalination and water treatment solutions.

* Tomorrow: IDE is developing a growing portfolio of economic green water treatment solutions for industry and municipalities - especially in the areas of industrial stream concentration/purification and wastewater treatment. In creating customized, end-to-end solutions for its customers, IDE leverages its proprietary technologies and skills in project management, operations, support and financing, all built through 45 years of leadership in the water industry.

* In addition: IDE continues to apply its advanced technologies in the areas of industrial evaporation and heat exchange, resulting in unique breakthrough solutions in the fields of snow and ice production, mine cooling, thermal energy storage and district heating.

Putting It All Together For Our Customers

IDE takes a comprehensive, end-to-end approach to assure the success of its projects and the satisfaction of its customers.

* Cutting-Edge, Economic Technologies: IDE's propiretary technologies and internally-developed processes are the fruit of 45 years of continuous innovation, based firmly in know-how built from work in the field. We customize these technologies to create optimized solutions applicable to the specific needs of each customer and each project.

* Project Management: IDE has built its reputation on the successful management of complex projects, including engineering, plant-building and more. IDE prides itself on its record for completing projects within budget and on time.

* Finance: IDE's financial capabilities help customers create nad execute sophisticated, achievable financing plants targeting the international financial community.

* Ongoing Operations: IDE is available to take over ongoing plant operations, service and maintenance responsibility under a variety of O&M, BOT and other frameworks.

Today IDE is jointly and equally owned by ICL (Israel Chemical Ltd.) (TASE: ICL) and the Delek Group (TASE: DLEKG OTCQX: DGRLY). ICL is a global minerals and specialty chemicals company with an annual turnover of approximately US$6 billion (2008). The Delek Group is one of Israel’s largest holding groups with an annual turnover of US$12 billion (2008).

Haiti Quake - Day 6 - No one but the Israelis

Haiti Day 6 - No one but the Israeli's have come to help any of our patients that are dying.


CNN Elizabeth Cohen interviews makeshift medical tent personnel on January 18, 2010.

Asking Harvard Medical Dr. Jennifer Furin, "Have the American's set up a field hosptial?"

"Currently, not yet."

Cohen: "The Israeli's came from the other side of the world..."

Furin: "It's a frustrating thing that I really can't explain..."