Archives For Israel

Palestinian national soccer team star booted for signing with Israeli squad

Ron Cantor —  May 28, 2020 — Leave a comment

An Arab-Israeli soccer player was kicked off the Palestinian national soccer team, on which he had played for years, after an uproar from his own people when he signed with an Israeli team on Sunday.

Signing with an Israeli soccer league is an amazing opportunity for Abdallah Jabar, 27. But news of his contract evoked immediate and nasty comments from Arabs on social media and an announcement he will be kicked off the Palestine national team. 

“People went mad, they really went mad,” Jabar told Channel 13. “As an Arab Israeli, I am amazed. Over there, they say we aren’t really Palestinians and here they say we aren’t really Israelis.”

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In Israel, Personal Stories
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She’s back! Rep. Ilhan Omar says Israel has too much influence on Trump

Ron Cantor —  May 28, 2020 — Leave a comment

Ilhan Omar, the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic freshman representative from Minnesota, has widened her criticism to include Saudi Arabian influence on the Trump administration so she is not singled out as standing only against the Jewish state.

She has accused both countries of relying on financial influence to bring about their preferred outcomes, she said in an interview with London’s Sunday Times.

“We know the amount of money and influence and connection that the Saudis have with the administration is really the reason that everything destructive they do is nullified,” she said. “And that really is no different to what’s happening with Israel.”

“There’s an alarming connection to the really destructive policies Israel is proposing and how much of it is being rubber stamped by this administration,” she continued. “And how much of it is being urged by Americans who have connection and influence with this administration.”

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In Israel, Politics
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Iran bans all use of Israeli technology — law could set country back decades

Ron Cantor —  May 28, 2020 — Leave a comment

The Iranian parliament unanimously passed a law that bars use of any product that was invented in Israel or uses Israeli technology — and good luck with that as experts estimate it could set the Islamic nation back 50 years.

This boycott of Israel is enforceable by authorities. The regime called cooperation with Israel “equal to enmity towards God and corruption on earth,” and “activities of the Israeli software platforms in Iran and using its hardware and software products are forbidden.”

“Based on the first article of the bill, all Iranian bodies are required to use the country’s regional and international capacities to confront the Zionist regime’s measures,” said Iranian parliamentary spokesman Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini.

Saul Singer, who co-authored “Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle,” said Iran “would make North Korea look advanced and cosmopolitan.” 

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In Israel, Middle East Updates, Politics
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Netanyahu goes on trial to protests for and against the PM

Ron Cantor —  May 28, 2020 — Leave a comment

With bombast, protests for and against, and a media frenzy, a sitting prime minister has gone on trial for the first time in the history of Israel.

Just days after signing an agreement sealing his position as prime minister for the next year and a half, Benjamin Netanyahu went on trial for fraud, bribery, and breach of trust charges after a four-year investigation.

“For more than a decade the left has failed to do this at the ballot box,” Netanyahu said. “In recent years they have found a new trick — police and prosecutors have joined the ‘Anyone but Bibi’ gang to drum up these delusional and fabricated cases, this delusional trial. They aim to bring down a strong prime minister from the right and to keep the right away from power for many years.”

The trial started Sunday with a circus-like atmosphere both outside the courtroom and within. Months leading up to the moment, Netanyahu tried every angle he could to delay the trial or pass legislation that a sitting prime minister has immunity against charges, while his opponents tried to pass a law that someone who has been indicted cannot be prime minister. 

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In Israel, Middle East Updates, News, Politics
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Israeli chess players compete against Arab team in ‘historic’ event

Ron Cantor —  May 24, 2020 — Leave a comment

Arab teams and individual players have been known to forfeit their matches against Israelis in protest of the Jewish state while some countries have even banned Israeli players from participating tournaments hosted in their countries. 

But in an astounding bit of news, and thanks to coronavirus which forced most events to go online, Israeli chess players recently competed in a tournament against a team made up of Arab players including representatives of Syria, Algeria and Tunisia — countries that have no diplomatic ties with Israel.

This probably would not have happened had the tournament occurred on the soil of one of these countries, however, some 65 Israeli and Arab players competed against each other in what has been called a “historic occasion,” by an Israeli activist Lior Aizenberg, a chess player who has been battling these and boycotts in the chess world. 

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In Israel
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