Hamas has secret foreign investments worth hundreds of millions - report

(Photo By: Atia Mohammed/Flash90)

By: Yonah Jeremy Bob - October 28, 2021

Hamas is concealing secret foreign investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars in seemingly legitimate businesses, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Furthermore, if the West cracked down on these investments and the countries facilitating them, some of the Gaza-based terrorist group’s destructive activities could be impaired, according to the Double Cheque website and former Mossad officials.

Intelligence information indicates that from the early 2000s until 2018, Hamas controlled some 40 commercial companies in Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Algeria and Sudan, Double Cheque reported.

Most of the companies involved are in the real-estate and infrastructure sectors. Through the companies, Hamas manages huge projects and has a reliable way to conceal around $500 million in assets, the article said.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Israel’s Vertical Field Launches Vertical Farms In Russia And Ukraine

(Photo By: Courtesy)

By: NoCamels Team - November 1, 2021

Israel’s Vertical Field, a developer of smart vertical growing solutions for fresh produce, announced on Thursday that it has partnered with major retail chains in Russia and Ukraine. As part of the partnership, the company will set up vertical farms inside Magnit, one of Russia’s largest food retailers, and Varus, the Ukrainian supermarket chain.

The first of these vertical farms have already opened this month in Dnipro, Ukraine and Krasnodar, Russia, and are providing a steady harvest of fresh and healthy greens, which are sold at the retail stores, the company’s announcement said.

“Produce will reach the shelf in a matter of minutes, immediately after being harvested from the vertical farm, and customers will clearly see where the greens came from. This technology is environmentally friendly, optimizes processes, and improves product quality,” Vyacheslav Krasnoyarov, director for in-house production at Magnit retail chain.

Read More: NoCamels

3 Jewish baseball players are key figures in the 2021 World Series

(Photo By: Getty Images via JTA)

By: Jacob Gurvis - October 27, 2021

JTA — The World Series is upon us, and there are likely more Jewish players in this year’s edition than there have been in decades.

The American League champion Houston Astros, who ousted Chaim Bloom’s Boston Red Sox last week, feature star slugger Alex Bregman. The National League champion Atlanta Braves boasts an impressive duo of Jewish players: pitcher Max Fried and outfielder Joc Pederson.

(The Astros did not include Jewish backup catcher Garrett Stubbs on their roster. Had Stubbs been added, this would probably be the most Jewish World Series ever.)

For Bregman and Pederson, it is a rematch of the infamous 2017 World Series, when Bregman’s Astros beat Pederson’s former team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, while using illegal sign-stealing techniques that led to high-profile suspensions. Pederson hit three home runs during the series, and Bregman added two of his own.

Read More: Times of Israel

Porsche, Goodyear invest in Israeli smart car firm Tactile Mobility

(Photo By: Porsche)

By: Ricky Ben-David - October 27, 2021

Tactile Mobility, a Haifa-based company that provides smart cars with the ability to “feel the road,” said Wednesday that it raised $27 million as part of a Series C funding round led by Israeli car importer Delek Motors, with strategic investment from Goodyear Ventures and Porsche Ventures, the venture capital arms of US multinational tire manufacturing company Goodyear and German automaker Porsche (part of the Volkswagen Group), respectively.

Founded in 2012, Tactile Mobility develops software that uses built-in non-visual sensors in smart and autonomous cars, analyzing input such as wheel speed, wheel angle, revolutions per minute, and gear position to help it “feel” the vehicle-road dynamic — the intersection between the road and the vehicle and the conditions of the road beneath its tires — like human drivers do.

Porsche previously invested in Tactile Mobility in 2019 alongside Union Tech Ventures, the technology investment arm of the Union Group. Last year, Porsche and Tactile Mobility joined forces to equip Porsche cars with the company’s software. This was followed by a similar deal with BMW Group.

Read More: Times of Israel

Swords, gold & shipwrecks: Israeli waters keep on revealing treasures

(Photo By: A. Yurman/Leon Recanatii Institute for Maritime Studies of the University of Haifa)

By: Rosella Tercatin - October 19, 2021

In December 2010, a once-in-a-century storm swept the eastern Mediterranean. Incredibly strong winds and waves as high as 17 meters hit Israel, causing a considerable amount of damage and important changes to its coastline.

For all the problems that the storm caused above sea level though, it also had a deep impact on the underwater landscape, with huge quantities of sand disappearing or shifting.

This development initiated one of the longest and most prolific periods in Israeli marine archaeology, to the point that new discoveries made possible by that event over a decade ago are still happening today, as noted by Jacob Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Mosaic floors found in what may be biblical Bethsaida’s lost Church of Apostles

(Photo By: Mordechai Aviam/Courtesy)

By TOI Staff - October 23, 2021

Archaeologists in northern Israel have uncovered mosaic floors in the ruins of a building they believe is the lost Church of the Apostles, in the biblical village of Bethsaida on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Christians believe the legendary basilica was built on the location of the onetime home of Jesus’s apostles Peter and Andrew.

During excavations over this summer by the Kinneret Institute for Galilee Archeology at Kinneret College and Nyack College — led by Prof. Mordechai Aviam and Prof. Steven Notley — the mosaic floor of the supposed church from the Byzantine period was discovered.

Archaeologists had announced the discovery of the purported church building in 2019, and have been working at the site since.

Read More: Times of Israel

'Hitler was right' posters plastered on California synagogue

(Photo By: Courtesy)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff - October 22, 2021

Antisemitic posters were placed in front of the Shalom Le Israel synagogue in Carmichael, California, on Wednesday, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office told ABC 10.

Posters from the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nation depicting Adolf Hitler with the words "Hitler was right" were put on a menorah and on the front of the synagogue.

Sacramento County police responded to a call from members of the congregation at 5:50 PM local time on Wednesday, according to local news ABC 10. Authorities are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

German military planes fly over Jerusalem for 1st time since WWI in show of ties

(Photo By: Israel Defense Forces)

By: Judah Ari Gross - October 17, 2021

Israeli Air Force and German Luftwaffe aircraft performed a flyby over the Knesset in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon as a display of the close cooperation between the two countries and their militaries, the Israel Defense Forces said.

This was the first time that German aircraft have flown over Jerusalem since World War I.

“The flyby expresses the strong partnership and connection between the air forces and the countries, as well as the commitment to continued cooperation in the future,” the IDF said.

Earlier on Sunday, the heads of the IAF, Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin, and the Luftwaffe, Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz, visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.

Sunday’s flyby was a continuation of a commemorative effort that began last August, when Israeli jets flew over the Dachau concentration camp and the Fuerstenfeldbruck airfield, where 11 Israeli Olympic athletes were killed by Palestinian terrorists in 1972.

Read More: Times of Israel

Plant used in ‘Cleopatra’s scent,’ Temple rite found on ancient Jerusalem seal

(Photo By: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David)

By: TOI Staff - October 21, 2021

An amethyst seal engraved with what is thought to be the earliest depiction of a plant used for incense in the Second Temple — and for perfume by Cleopatra — has been found in Jerusalem.

The 2,000-year-old amethyst seal, which was designed to be worn as a ring, has an engraving of a bird next to a branch of what appears to be the expensive biblical persimmon used to make the fragrance.

The seal — depicting the plant known variously as biblical persimmon, bosem or balsam, or even the Balm of Gilead — was discovered at the Foundation Stones of the Western Wall, according to a statement released Thursday.

Read More: Times of Israel

Largest solar energy field in US to be built by Israeli company

(Photo By: Moshe Shai/Flash90)

By: Jerusalem Post Staff - October 15, 2021

The construction of Mammoth Solar, an Israeli solar energy project that will become the largest solar field in the United States, has begun following its groundbreaking on Thursday, attended by Israel's Ambassador to the US and the UN Gilad Erdan.

Built by the Israeli company Doral Energy in Indiana, the Mammoth Solar project will produce 1.3 gigawatts of clean, solar energy.

"The Mammoth Solar project is a milestone in the Israel-US relationship," said Erdan in the groundbreaking of the project.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Antisemitism is reaching ‘younger audiences’ via social media, new study shows

(Photo By: Wachiwit/iStock)

By: AFP - October 15, 2021

LONDON, United Kingdom — Antisemitism is being repackaged and disseminated to a younger generation of social media users through platforms like Instagram and TikTok, according to an analysis published on Wednesday.

Antisemitic tropes are “rife across every social media platform,” but companies are failing to act, UK group Hope Not Hate, Germany’s Amadeu Antonio Foundation and the Expo Foundation in Sweden said.

Hate speech remains more prolific and extreme on sites such as Parler and 4chan, but is being introduced to young users on mainstream platforms, the groups said in a joint report.

Read More: Times of Israel

CUFI Co-Executive Directors Named to Algemeiner’s ‘J100’

(Photo Credit: Christians United For Israel)

By: CUFI Staff - October 13, 2021

NEW YORK/SAN ANTONIO – On Tuesday, The Algemeiner announced that Diana Hagee and Shari Dollinger, the co-executive directors of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the nation’s largest pro-Israel organization, were included in the newspaper’s annual ‘Jewish 100’ list of the 100 individuals with the greatest positive influence on Jewish life.

Hagee was unable to attend gala due to a prior commitment but expressed her deep gratitude for the honor.

“My husband and I have dedicated our lives to standing with Israel and the Jewish people. It is because of God’s grace, Pastor Hagee’s vision, Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg’s (of blessed memory) courage and the exceptional commitment of millions of Christians across the country to their Biblical mandate to stand with the Children of Israel that CUFI has become the organization it is today. I am very grateful for the honor bestowed upon me and my partner Shari Dollinger, and give all glory to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for the influential organization CUFI has grown to be.” Hagee said.

Read More: CUFI.org

'Astronauts' simulate Mars environment in Israel’s Mitzpe Ramon

(Photo By: Marek Shanitman)

By: Aaron Reich - October 10, 2021

A team of “astronauts” has come to the Mitzpe Ramon Crater to launch the AMADEE-20 Mars analog mission, simulating the environment of the Red Planet.

The mission is the latest Mars analog mission launched by the Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) and is being done in partnership with the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and the D-MARS habitat.

It features a team of analog astronauts from 25 different countries, with the Mission Support Center operating out of Austria. These “astronauts” will live together in a habitat in the Ramon Crater designed to replicate the conditions of Mars.

Rather than fully recreating the Martian atmosphere, however, what is most important about the habitat is how the “astronauts” get into character.

Read More: Jerusalem Post

Israeli-American Joshua Angrist among trio to win Nobel Prize in Economics

(Photo By: Video Screenshot)

By: TOI Staff - October 11, 2021

Israeli-American Joshua Angrist, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is one of three winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics for their work on drawing conclusions from unintended experiments, or so-called “natural experiments,” it was announced Monday.

David Card of the University of California at Berkeley was awarded one half of the prize, while the other half was shared by Angrist and Guido Imbens from Stanford University.

Angrist is an expert on labor economics and the economics of education, and has also made contributions to the field of econometrics.

Read More: Times Of Israel

Merkel pays last visit to Yad Vashem as German chancellor

(Photo By: Koby Gideon/GPO)

By: JNS - October 11, 2021

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Yad Vashem in Jerusalem on Sunday, together with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Yad Vashem directorate chairman Dani Dayan and Yad Vashem council chairman Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau. The visit, Merkel’s sixth to the center, will be her last as chancellor.

Merkel visited the “Flashes of Memory: Photography during the Holocaust” exhibition and the Museum of Holocaust Art, according to a statement from Yad Vashem. She later observed the Shoah Legacy Campus currently under construction and viewed objects from Hamburg, her birthplace, which are to be exhibited there.

After the tour, Merkel met with Holocaust survivor Henry Foner, before concluding her visit by participating in a state memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance.

Following the ceremony, the chancellor requested personal time in the Holocaust history museum, according to Yad Vashem.

Read More: JNS

Religious and secular Israeli teens find common ground

(Photo By: Courtesy of Be a Mensch Foundation)

By: Abigail Klein Leichman - September 23, 2021

Many organizations work to defuse tensions and promote understanding between Israel’s 74% Jewish majority and 21% minority Arab population.

But few address the big divide between secular Jews and the 13% minority of ultra-Orthodox (haredi) Jews.

A poll published in February by Hebrew University’s aChord Social Psychology for Social Change Center revealed that nearly 37% of secular Israelis between 16 and 18 hold negative stereotypes of ultra-Orthodox Israelis. (In contrast, about 20% hold negative stereotypes of Arabs.)

While 23% of the secular youth expressed hatred toward haredi Jews, only 7% of haredi Jews expressed hatred toward secular Jews. And more than 70% of respondents from both groups said they want relations between them to improve.

Hard feelings often arise from the fact that most haredi Israelis do not serve in the military or National Service, as most secular and centrist Orthodox Israelis do. The Covid epidemic only heightened the animosity, with each group pointing to examples of the other violating public-health guidelines.

But the underlying problem is that it is easier to hate or fear “the other” if you have never had a conversation with them and you only see that they dress and behave differently.

Read More: Israel21c

Amazon, Google Under Fire for Sponsoring Event With Anti-Israel Activist Linda Sarsour

(Photo By: John Moore/Getty)

By: Cl

A scheduled speaking appearance by Muslim political activist Linda Sarsour at the upcoming Web Summit has some Jewish human rights groups calling for event sponsors like Google and Amazon to pull out.

Billed as the largest tech event in the world, the Web Summit, where Sarsour is set to speak along with about 500 others, will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, from November 1 to 4. Topics to be addressed at the four-day conference run the gamut, from emerging technologies, sustainability and venture capitalism to news, advertising and investing. Besides Google and Amazon, partnering sponsors include Siemens, Cisco Systems, the European Commission and the WebOps platform Pantheon.

Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist who has allegedly promoted anti-Israel policies and been accused of making anti-Semitic statements, rose to prominence in 2017 as co-chair of the national Women's March before a controversial departure. She is known for her support of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which promotes boycotts, divestment and economic sanctions against Israel.

Read More: Newsweek

Museum unveils 14th century hand-painted scroll depicting ancient Israel

(Photo By: Courtesy Israel Museum)

By: Jessica Steinberg - October 8, 2021

The Israel Museum unveiled the Florence Scroll on Wednesday, a hand-painted scroll from the 14th century which is now displayed unrolled to its full length inside the glass vitrine of a museum gallery.

The nearly 11-meter parchment is the focus of “Painting a Pilgrimage,” the exhibit depicting the pilgrimage of a medieval Egyptian Jew from Cairo to the Land of Israel, the earliest known visual travelogue of the Holy Land.

It’s a scroll dominated by the cherry red, leaf green and ochre yellow lines that make up its 130 illustrations, displaying holy sites located from Egypt to Lebanon and offering one painter’s idea of what the region looked like 700 years ago.

Read More: Times of Israel

Retail giant Gap acquires Israeli AI analytics company CB4

(Photo By: Abir Sultan/Flash90)

By: Ricky Ben-David - October 5, 2021

US apparel giant Gap has acquired Israeli AI company CB4, a developer of predictive analytics tools that offer data-driven insights and recommendations for retail businesses like grocery and retail chains.

The agreement was announced late Monday. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed but Israeli business daily Calcalist estimated the deal at approximately $150 million.

Headquartered in New York with offices in Tel Aviv, CB4 launched its operations in 2014 with a $6 million Series A round, followed by a $16 million Series B in 2019. Its investors include Sequoia Capital and Pereg Ventures, a New York-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage US and Israeli startups in the B2B data space.

Read More: Times of Israel

Archaeologists find 2,700-year-old toilet in luxurious palace in Jerusalem

(Photo By: Yoli Schwartz/IAA)

By: Rossella Tercatin - October 5, 2021

A private toilet dating back to some 2,700-years was uncovered in a luxurious palace in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Tuesday.

"A private toilet cubicle was very rare in antiquity, and only a few were found to date, most of them in the City of David,” said archaeologist Yaakov Billig, director of the excavation on behalf of the IAA. “In fact, only the rich could afford toilets. A thousand years later, the Mishnah and the Talmud raised various criteria that defined a rich person, and Rabbi Yossi suggested that to be rich is ‘to have the toilet next to his table’.”

The cubicle was hewn in the stone. The toilet seat, with a hole in the center, was designed to be very comfortable. Under a toilet, a tank stood, where remains of pottery, animal bones and human waste were collected. Experts hope that they will offer insights on dietary habits during the First Temple Period.

Read More: Jerusalem Post