Israel Now and Then

Click To View Video

Mark Twain reported after a visit to Israel, check out what he has to say.

Its truly fascinating to see Israel now and then.

Enjoy!

Bin Laden Is Dead, Obama Says

President Obama announced the killing of Osama bin Laden at the White House on Sunday.

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, President Obama announced.

In a late-night appearance in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Obama declared that “justice has been done” as he disclosed that American military and C.I.A. operatives had finally cornered Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, who had eluded them for nearly a decade. American officials said Bin Laden resisted and was shot in the head. He was later buried at sea.

The news touched off an extraordinary outpouring of emotion as crowds gathered outside the White House, in Times Square and at the ground zero site, waving American flags, cheering, shouting, laughing and chanting, “U.S.A., U.S.A.!” In New York City, crowds sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Throughout downtown Washington, drivers honked horns deep into the night.

“For over two decades, Bin Laden has been Al Qaeda’s leader and symbol,” the president said in a statement broadcast around the world. “The death of Bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat Al Qaeda. But his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that Al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad.”

Bin Laden’s demise is a defining moment in the American-led fight against terrorism, a symbolic stroke affirming the relentlessness of the pursuit of those who attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. What remains to be seen, however, is whether it galvanizes Bin Laden’s followers by turning him into a martyr or serves as a turning of the page in the war in Afghanistan and gives further impetus to Mr. Obama to bring American troops home.

How much his death will affect Al Qaeda itself remains unclear. For years, as they failed to find him, American leaders have said that he was more symbolically important than operationally significant because he was on the run and hindered in any meaningful leadership role. Yet he remained the most potent face of terrorism around the world, and some of those who played down his role in recent years nonetheless celebrated his death.

Given Bin Laden’s status among radicals, the American government braced for possible retaliation. A senior Pentagon official said late Sunday that military bases in the United States and around the world were ordered to a higher state of readiness. The State Department issued a worldwide travel warning, urging Americans in volatile areas “to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations.”

The strike could deepen tensions with Pakistan, which has periodically bristled at American counterterrorism efforts even as Bin Laden evidently found safe refuge on its territory for nearly a decade. Since taking office, Mr. Obama has ordered significantly more drone strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan, stirring public anger there and prompting the Pakistani government to protest.

When the end came for Bin Laden, he was found not in the remote tribal areas along the Pakistani-Afghan border where he has long been presumed to be sheltered, but in a massive compound about an hour’s drive north from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. He was hiding in the medium-sized city of Abbottabad, home to a large Pakistani military base and a military academy of the Pakistani Army.

The compound, only about a third of a mile from the academy, is at the end of a narrow dirt road and is roughly eight times larger than other homes in the area, but had no telephone or Internet connections. When American operatives converged on the house on Sunday, Bin Laden “resisted the assault force” and was killed in the middle of an intense gun battle, a senior administration official said, but details were still sketchy early Monday morning.

The official said that military and intelligence officials first learned last summer that a “high-value target” was being protected in the compound and began working on a plan for going in to get him. Beginning in March, Mr. Obama presided over five national security meetings at the White House to go over plans for the operation and on Friday morning, just before leaving Washington to tour tornado damage in Alabama, gave the final order for members of the Navy Seals and C.I.A. operatives to strike.

Mr. Obama called it a “targeted operation,” although officials said one helicopter was lost because of a mechanical failure and had to be destroyed to keep it from falling into hostile hands.

In addition to Bin Laden, three men were killed during the 40-minute raid, one believed to be his son and the other two his couriers, according to an American official who briefed reporters under White House ground rules forbidding further identification. A woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant, the official said, and two others wounded.

“No Americans were harmed,” Mr. Obama said. “They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.” Muslim tradition requires burial within 24 hours, but by doing it at sea, American authorities presumably were trying to avoid creating a shrine for his followers.

The whereabouts of Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, were unclear.

Bin Laden’s death came nearly 10 years after Qaeda terrorists hijacked four American passenger jets, crashing three of them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington. The fourth hijacked jet, United Flight 93, crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside after passengers fought the militants.

“This is important news for us, and for the world,” said Gordon Felt, president of the group, Families of Flight 93. “It cannot ease our pain, or bring back our loved ones. It does bring a measure of comfort that the mastermind of the September 11th tragedy and the face of global terror can no longer spread his evil.”

The mostly young people who celebrated in the streets of New York and Washington saw it as a historic moment, one that for many of them culminated a worldwide manhunt that started when they were children.

Some climbed trees and lampposts directly in front of the White House to cheer and wave flags. Cigars and noisemakers were common. One group started singing, “Osama, Osama, hey, hey, hey, goodbye.”

Maureen Hasson, 22, a recent college graduate working for the Justice Department, came down to Lafayette Square in a fuchsia party dress and flip-flops. “This is full circle for our generation,” she said. “Just look around at the average age here. We were all in middle school when the terrorists struck. We all vividly remember 9/11 and this is the close of that chapter.”

Sam Sherman, 18, a freshman at George Washington University originally from New York, also rushed down to the White House. “The feeling you can’t even imagine, the feeling in the air. It’s crazy,” he said. “I have friends with parents dead because of Osama bin Laden’s plan, O.K. So when I heard this news, I was coming down to celebrate.”

Mr. Obama said Pakistan had helped develop the intelligence that led to Bin Laden, but an American official said the Pakistani government was not informed about the strike in advance. “We shared our intelligence on this compound with no other country, including Pakistan,” the official said.

Mr. Obama recalled his statements in the 2008 presidential campaign when he vowed to order American forces to strike inside Pakistan if necessary even without Islamabad’s permission. “That is what we’ve done,” he said. “But it’s important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to Bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding.”

Relations with Pakistan had fallen in recent weeks to their lowest point in years. Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, publicly criticized the Pakistani military two weeks ago for failing to act against extremists allied to Al Qaeda who shelter in the tribal areas of North Waziristan. Last week, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, head of the Pakistani Army, said Pakistan had broken the back of terrorism on its territory, prompting skepticism in Washington.

Mr. Obama called President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan to tell him about the strike after it was set in motion, and his advisers called their Pakistani counterparts. “They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations,” Mr. Obama said.

The city of Abbottabad where Bin Laden was found has had other known Al Qaeda presence in the past. A senior Indonesian militant, Umar Patek, was arrested there earlier this year. Mr. Patek was protected by a Qaeda operative, a clerk who worked undercover at the main post office, a signal that Al Qaeda may have had other operations in the area.

The Pakistani military cordoned off the roads and alleys leading to the compound Monday. But residents of the middle-class area who were reached by phone said they had not been suspicious about the residents of the house, despite its size and the fact that very few people ever seemed to leave the compound.

As the operation’s start approached, many American officials at the United States consulate in Peshawar, the capital of the northwest area of Pakistan, were told suddenly to depart last Friday, leaving behind only a core group of essential staff. The American officials said they had been told to leave because of fears of kidnapping but were not tipped off to the operation.

Analysts said Bin Laden’s death amounted to a double blow for Al Qaeda, after its sermons of anti-Western violence seemed to be rendered irrelevant by the wave of political upheaval rolling through the Arab world.

“It comes at a time when Al Qaeda’s narrative is already very much in doubt in the Arab world,” said Martin S. Indyk, vice president and director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. “Its narrative was that violence was the way to redeem Arab honor and dignity. But Osama bin Laden and his violence didn’t succeed in unseating anybody.”

Al Qaeda sympathizers reacted with disbelief, anger and in some cases talk of retribution. On a Web site considered an outlet for Qaeda messages, forum administrators deleted posts by users announcing Bin Laden’s death and demanded that members wait until the news was confirmed by Qaeda sources, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors radicals.

Even so, SITE said, sympathizers on the forum posted messages calling Bin Laden a martyr and suggesting retaliation. “America will reap the same if the news is true and false,” said one message. “The lions will remain lions and will continue moving in the footsteps of Usama,” said another, using an alternate spelling of Bin Laden’s name.

In the United States, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy organization, said it welcomed Bin Laden’s death. “As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, Bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam,” the group said in a statement. “In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and Al Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide.”

Mr. Obama called to inform his predecessor, George W. Bush, who started the war against Al Qaeda after Sept. 11, yet was frustrated in his efforts to capture Bin Laden “dead or alive,” as he once put it. Mr. Bush released a statement saying, “this momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001.”

“The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” he added.

Mr. Obama used similar language and warned that the war against terrorists had not ended. “We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies,” he said. “We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to Al Qaeda’s terror, justice has been done.”

The president was careful to add that, as Mr. Bush did during his presidency, the United States is not at war with Islam. “Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims,” Mr. Obama said. “Indeed, Al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/osama-bin-laden-is-killed.html

Netanyahu Congratulates Obama on Bin Laden Killing

Osama Bin Laden Terrorist Killed By USA Forces in Pakistan

Click To View Video

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent Israel’s congratulations to U.S. President Barack Obama on the liquidation of terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden.

“The State of Israel shares the American nation’s joy on this historic day,” Netanyahu told Obama. “This is a ringing victory for justice, freedom and the values shared by all democratic nations fighting determinedly shoulder to shoulder against terrorism.”


Click To View Video

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, “This is an important achievement for the United States in the worldwide fight against terrorism. The U.S.showed determination and operational daring in this action. Once again, we see that the struggle against terrorism is shared by the world’s leading democracies, and it will be won via a joint and multi-pronged effort.”

Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni commented, “This changes the equation in the free world’s fight against terrorism, led by the United States, and is a proof that an uncompromising and extended effort on behalf of the free world’s values, on different fronts and in various places around the world, will succeed.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon praised the American government and its armed forces for killing Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. "As someone who was Israel's Ambassador to the U.S.during the formative years of the War on Terror,” Ayalon said in a statement, “I can testify how hard the administrations in Washington worked to bring Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders to justice. This is a vital psychological tipping point in the War on Terror, and will send a clear message to terrorists and extremists everywhere that they are not immune."


Click To View Video

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143835

Spotlight on Texas & Israel at 2011 Cleanovation Conference

A special 1-day conference featuring the best Israeli as well as US companies in the feild of cleantech & sustainable technologies. With over 100 companies from here and abroad attending, Israel stands out as a global innovator in the world of water technologies, smart-grid technologies and many other cleantech related technologies. Many of these companies will be showcasing their most ground breaking and cutting edge solutions along with sharing their visions for the future of clean technologies.

Cleanovation has emerged as one of the most important clean technology events for decision makers and thought leaders from around the globe. Topics include energy efficiency, water storage, security and conservation, wastewater treatment, smart-grid and more. The Government of Israel Economic Mission in partnership with the Texas-Israel Chamber of Commerce will host Cleanovation in Houston on September 14, 2011 at the ZaZa Hotel.

To register for this event please click here. More than 300 participants are anticipated to attend, among them will be leaders from Fortune 100 companies, Public Sector companies, and select emerging growth companies; many having headquarters in Texas or Israel. Early committed attendees include GE Energy, Nokia Siemens Networks, Waste Management, Shell GameChanger, CPS Energy, Silicon Valley Bank, IDE, Miya Water, Israel Cleantech Ventures, AT&T Services, U.S. Army Environmental Office, Elbit Systems, Texas Institute, Pike Research, Alvarion, Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, Environmental Defense Fund and more… Last year’s success may be viewed here.

Texas-Israel Cleanovation Conference

When: Wednesday, September 14, 2011.

Where: Hotel ZaZa, Houston

What: A special 1-day conference featuring the best Israeli as well as US companies relevant to the feild of cleantech and sustainability.

Industries: cleantech, renewable energy, sustainable energy, water technologies, energy storage, energy efficiency, wind power, solar power and more

Website: http://texasisrael-cleantech.org/cleanovation-conference-2011/

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebCleanovation2011/IsraelEconomicMission/prweb8337424.htm

Tamar Guy - Israel America Chamber Talks About Texas Israel Chamber Cleanovation Conference


Click To View Video

Zionism The Truth A Music Video Documentary

Zionism The Truth A Music Video Documentary

Click To View Video

---

Zionism

Zionism (Hebrew: ציונות‎, Tsiyonut) is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state and address threats to its continued existence and security. In a less common usage, the term may also refer to 1) non-political, Cultural Zionism, founded and represented most prominently by Ahad Ha'am; and 2) political support for the State of Israel by non-Jews, as in Christian Zionism.

Zionism does not have a uniform ideology, but has evolved in a dialogue among a plethora of ideologies: General Zionism, Religious Zionism, Labor Zionism, Revisionist Zionism, Green Zionism, etc. However, the common denominator among all Zionists is the claim to Eretz Israel as the national homeland of the Jews and as the legitimate focus for the Jewish national self-determination (as shown, among others, by Gideon Shimoni). It is based on historical ties and religious traditions linking the Jewish people to the Land of Israel.

After almost two millennia of existence of the Jewish diaspora without a national state, the Zionist movement was founded in the late 19th century by secular Jews, largely as a response by Ashkenazi Jews to rising antisemitism in Europe, exemplified by the Dreyfus Affair in France and the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire. The political movement was formally established by the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl in 1897 following the publication of his book Der Judenstaat. At that time, the movement sought to encourage Jewish migration to the Ottoman Palestine.

Although initially one of several Jewish political movements offering alternative responses to assimilation and antisemitism, Zionism grew rapidly and became the dominant force in Jewish politics with the destruction of Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe where these alternative movements were rooted.

The movement was eventually successful in establishing Israel on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyyar 5708 in the Hebrew calendar), as the homeland for the Jewish people. The proportion of the world's Jews living in Israel has also steadily grown since the movement came into existence. Today roughly 40% of the world's Jews live in Israel. These two outcomes represent the historical success of Zionism, unmatched by any other Jewish political movement in the past 2,000 years.

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

Jamie Lynn Sigler on Taglit-Birthright Israel

Click To View Video

"Everyone assumes I'm Italian," says Jamie Lynn Sigler, 26, with a sigh, pausing over her hummus lunch at the open-air market in Jaffa, one of the stops on her Birthright Israel tour. "Even kids on the trip keep asking, 'Are you Jewish?' "

Sigler, who played the daughter of Mafia kingpin Tony Soprano on the acclaimed HBO show "The Sopranos," grew up in a Jewish home in Jericho, N.Y., going to Hebrew school and having a bat mitzvah.

Her father's family immigrated to America from Greece and Poland. Her mother, who is Puerto Rican, converted to Judaism. But it was only touring in Israel, during her recent visit to the country, that she said she felt a true spiritual and emotional connection to her roots.

"It's one of the most beautiful, inspiring places I've ever been to," Sigler said. "I now have a greater understanding and motivation about preserving my Jewishness."

Among the highlights she noted were riding camels in the desert, dining on roast lamb in a Bedouin tent and exploring the back alleys of Jerusalem's Old City. Sigler said she was especially moved during her visits to the Western Wall, where she was surprised by her tears, and to Yad Vashem, where the Holocaust and its history suddenly felt deeply personal.

"I started to think, 'What if I was there, what if I had been ripped away from my family?'" she told JTA.

Sigler said Israel had been a fairly abstract concept before the trip, with her images limited to the coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict portrayed in the media. Her group was accompanied part of the time by a small group of Israeli soldiers. Through them, Sigler said she heard about a much different life than the one she and her friends lead in America. She was taken by their sacrifices and the pride they have in their country and history. She further noted that the trip gave her a greater understanding to preserve her Jewish identity and, after talks with Israeli soldiers who were also participants on the trip, she expressed solidarity towards the efforts of the young soldiers.

"It's so different but so inspiring to be part of that," said Sigler, her face dominated by a pair of large designer sunglasses. "I would want to move here and join the army" too. As a Birthright alumna, Sigler speaks of how the trip has transformed her relationship to Judaism and Israel, and now advocates for Birthright in speaking engagements and interviews around the US.

http://www.jesna.org/day-30-jamie-lynn-sigler

Discover The Beauty Of Jerusalem

Discover The Beauty Of Jerusalem HD

Click To View Video

Israel Tourism Holy Land Come Home to Jerusalem

Click To View Video

Israeli, British ambassadors raise funds for survivors

President Shimon Peres, left, with British Ambassador Matthew Gould and his wife Celia in Jerusalem.

Matthew Gould, Ron Prosor issue letter aimed at raising millions which will help victims by setting up eight new social clubs and revamping existing ones.

Britain’s ambassador to Israel and Israel’s ambassador to Britain launched a joint appeal to the Jewish community in the UK on Sunday to help Holocaust survivors in both countries.

Britain’s Matthew Gould and his Israeli counterpart, Ron Prosor, issued a letter aimed at raising £2 million (about NIS 11m.), most of which will help the victims of Nazis persecution living in the Jewish state by setting up eight new social clubs and revamping existing ones.

A tenth of the money will go to the British charity Jewish Care, to help Holocaust survivors in the UK.

“This is a very personal mission for me,” Gould said. “Many of my family died in the Holocaust. I believe that we have a special duty to look after survivors, and to give them the dignity and comfort that they deserve.”

Prosor and Gould said venues for social gatherings help combat the loneliness that plagues many survivors in their old age.

Around 1,500 survivors are expected to frequent the new clubs, which will be set up by the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel, together with the Welfare and Social Services Ministry.

The ambassadors’ appeal has won the support of groups from across the social spectrum of British Jewry, including Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, United Synagogue, the Movement for Reform Judaism, Liberal Judaism, the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues, the Spanish and Portuguese Jews Congregation, and a number of prominent members of the Haredi community.

A website has been set up for the initiative – www.holocaustsurvivorsappeal.org.

Ben-Gurion University: Reaching Out to the Future

Click To View Video

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev:
Reaching Out to the Future

BGU team helps create emergency preparedness website

The “Crisis Communication Scorecard,” website was created by Israeli research team led by Dr. Reich from BGU’s Department of Communication.

Incorporating battle-tested Israeli know-how, a Ben-Gurion University of the Negev research team has developed a website to improve emergency preparedness, by helping coordinate effective communications with medical and rescue services.

The “Crisis Communication Scorecard,” website was created by an Israeli research team led by Dr. Zvi Reich from BGU’s Department of Communication Studies, in collaboration with a group of European researchers.

In a statement released by BGU on Sunday, Dr. Reich said “during crises, effective communication with the public becomes a matter of life or death, and the capacity to do so becomes a national security resource. Therefore, it’s critical to equip the spokespeople with effective tools, such as this one, which is largely based on Israeli experience, which will enable them to coordinate with the medical and rescue services.”

BGU said the tool is meant for police and rescue services, as well as city and government bodies in charge of crisis management.

In addition to BGU, the program was developed by research teams from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, the University of Tartu in Estonia, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Emergency Services College in Finland – largely through funding from the the European Community.

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=218721&R=R2

Ben-Gurion University


Click To View Video

This video is participating in a video-contest of commercials to the university. It was made in a stop-motion method using stills images. The rules were to make a 1 minute commercial
Music (edited) : Lamb - Angelica.
Sharon's website: http://www.sharon-music.info/