Fifty lone soldiers and over 200 young professional Olim celebrated “Thanksgivukkah” at a festive event organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh and White City Shabbat.

Revelers celebrated the once-in-a-lifetime double holiday of Chanukkah and Thanksgiving at the landmark Goren Synagogue in Tel Aviv with a three-course meal replete with traditional holiday foods including latkes and turkey.

After the meal, Tel Aviv’s deputy mayor Asaf Zamir led the Chanukkah candle-lighting ceremony. This event was also sponsored by the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption, The Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth L’Israel, JNF and the FIDF as a part of Nefesh B’Nefesh’s ongoing social events for its Olim and Lone Soldiers.

As a gesture of showing thanks and in order to promote acts of kindness towards those less fortunate, dinner guests were encouraged to donate lightly worn clothes for the event’s clothing drive.

“We are excited to have teamed up with White City Shabbat on this exceptional holiday event. This was a great opportunity for young professionals and lone soldiers to enjoy a traditional festive meal and express their thanks together with fellow Olim from around the country,” said Benji Davis, Events & Programs Coordinator at Nefesh B’Nefesh.

White City Shabbat is a volunteer-run portal for Jewish life in Tel Aviv that hosts a range of intercommunity events, including its hugely successful monthly Shabbat meals.

As a native Brit, Deborah Danan doesn’t feel that Thanksgivukkah is exclusive for Americans. “The theme of Thanksgiving is anyway inherent to the festival of Chanukkah which all Jews celebrate,” said Danan, who co-directs White City Shabbat together with Eytan White, “And of course, as our tagline states, ‘you don’t have to be American to give thanks!’ People from a broad spectrum of nationalities are coming together to show their gratitude for being able to celebrate this unique holiday in Israel.”

Rihanna sang before a crowd of 50,000 in Tel Aviv at Israel’s largest performance venue, Yarkon Park.

Fans paid $100 and up for Tuesday’s show, part of the pop star’s “Diamonds” world tour and her second performance in Israel. She played Israel three years ago.

Rihanna came to Israel despite a campaign by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to convince her to cancel her performance.

She arrived early Tuesday afternoon, six hours later than scheduled, after performing in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She participated in a photo shoot at the Dead Sea.

Rihanna was expected to leave Israel immediately after the concert.

A high-speed train now under construction from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem may be extended to reach the Old City, according to an Israel Railways and the Transportation Ministry plan that will be stiffly opposed by Jerusalem planning authorities.

The planned line includes a 1.5 mile tunnel linking the central train station, being built across the street from the Central Bus Station, with the Mamilla mall that is located directly opposite the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City.

Planners are afraid that the planned rail line will take funds away from extending Jerusalem’s light rail system, which now consists of only one line. Three more lines are being planned.

Amazon amounted Tuesday it is opening a Tel Aviv office to support cloud service through Amazon Web Services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Amazon Web Services was launched in 2006, and Amazon stated, “Israeli companies use Amazon Web Services to foster innovation, shorten time to market, and expand their global businesses. The decision to open an Amazon Web Services office in Israel demonstrates the rapidly growing customer base, the wide range of skills, and our investment to support the adoption of cloud services across the EMEA.”

The new center will employ managers, solutions engineers and a support team.

An offer to advocate for Palestinian refugee rights to cooperate with advocates for the rights of Jewish refugees was rejected at the Zochrot conference. 

The conference went ahead on the supposed site of an Arab village on the Tel Aviv university campus on 29 and 30 September, despite attempts to have it cancelled.  Levana Zamir, the president of the Association of Jews from Egypt in Israel, who made the offer to cooperate,  watched the conference develop into a nightmare – a sick and calculated blueprint for the annihilation of Israel. (One can only marvel at the irony that the bastion of anti-Zionism that is Tel Aviv university, whose staff and students so enthusiastically participated in the conference, should cooperate in their own destruction. )

The Zochrot conference website banner.

Here is Levana’s report:

Levana Zamir

This international conference initiated by the Israeli NGO Zokhrot (meaning ‘we remember’),  titled “Realizing the Return of Palestinian Refugees” took place over two days in the Eretz Israel Museum in Ramat Aviv – located on the site of the former Arab village of  Sheikh Mouniss.

It was  a nightmare to me.  Janet Dallal, an Israeli friend from Iraq, was there with me. The other heads of organisations of Jews from Arab countries decided not to come and speak out – saying it would give the conference too much  publicity. Now I can say they were wrong.

The aim of this conference was not to argue whether the Palestinian refugees have a right of return, but the realization of it,  termed ‘decolonization’ by the conference including in parts of north Tel Aviv where small Arab villages were located before 1948.

The conference got off to a slow start, talking about doing justice to the dispossessed and stateless Palestinian refugees, and with a few good words from Leila Hilal, Director of the Middle East Task force of the New America Foundation – the main organisation financing this conference, beside other European organisations.

Leila Hilal said she was embarrassed to open the conference knowing that ‘the right of return’ issue was very delicate for most of Israelis: I liked her opening very much. But she continued saying it was about time to do justice to those politically-displaced refugees and put an end to their suffering. From time to time she talked of “compensation”.

Professor  Dan Rabinovitz of Tel Aviv University (where else?) gave his presentation, saying that the ‘right of return’ would be granted to refugees born in Palestine and are still alive – not to their descendants – i.e. 200, 000 refugees.  A  ‘right of return’ given by Israel to Jews only is discrimination, he said. He asked for recognition and for an apology. The Return would not always be to the original locations, but to alternatives.

After three more presentations about “reconciliation”, the Serbian refugee model, and the research findings of an Arab doctoral student from the UK on displaced Palestinians, it was easy for me at the Q&A to say my few words over the microphone and to ask my question.  I said:
“I came here to give you a hand, to ask you to continue your fight to get back your properties and compensation because I am myself a refugee, a Jewish refugee from Egypt. We were dispossessed of all our family properties, of our identity, then expelled. There are a million Jewish refugees like me from Arab lands – Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, etc.  So I propose to pool our efforts – Palestinian and Jewish refugees – to recover our properties, secure compensation, and not to accept the kizuz (cancelling out) proposed by Israel.

“My question to Leila Hilal was this: “as you represent the New America Foundation, dealing with refugees in the Middle East, would you agree to give us a hand, and deal with Jewish refugees too. Let’s do it together, hand in hand.”

Leila did not answer my question but asked the others to do so.  Prof. Dan Rabinovitz said that my request was absolutely right, but he was an expert on Palestinian refugees and dealt only with them. The doctoral student from the UK, Munir Nuseibah, said he would be ready to develop his research for both sides. But during the coffee break, when I asked him how he would like us to cooperate on his research, he said he could not cooperate. People around us heard his answer very clearly.

When Leila asked the Serbian expert to answer to another question about the success of the ‘right of return’ imposed on Serbia, she said that it was a very bad experience involving killing people, and it had to be stopped.

During the coffe break, the president and founder of Zokhrot, Eitan Bronstein (an Israeli), came to me and said he was ready to see how Zokhrot could cooperate with us to include the Jewish refugees in their themes and activities. At that moment I was really glad to be there, but Leila avoided me and disappeared. I will send her a short message.

Janet Dallal intervened during the afternoon sessions, reminding the audience (all of them leftists) of the existence of the second group of refugees, the Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries, and the role of the Arab League in all this.

The second and last part of the conference became a nightmare.

During the whole next day, the lecturers demonstrated what the Return would be like, geographically – through animated short clips – and practically.

For example, in North Tel Aviv, on Ibn-Gvirol Street and the corner of Arlozorof – a sophisticated Tel-Avivian neighbourhood where an Arab village called Soumayel was located – the ‘Israeli occupiers’ would have the right to decide to leave their homes or stay and pay the ‘Palestinian refugee owner’ the ‘market value’ of their house. Then the ‘Palestinian Refugee owner’ would decide between recovering ‘his’ house or taking the money, with all that entailed. The Israeli ‘occupiers’ could not pass their homes on as inheritance to their descendants, etc. etc.

The Palestinian refugee who did not wish to Return, would get all their rights as Israeli citizens (Bituah Leumi national insurance rights, etc). in the paradise of One state for Two Peoples.  There was never any talk of “two separate nation-states”.

Everything is already settled for the Return to Arab villages too. The speakers planned, for example, how the ‘new’ Arab village of Ladjoun, on the edge of the flourishing kibbutz Meggido in the North,  will look, and under which conditions two Arab buildings still located inside the kibbutz would be incorporated into the village.

All this seemed to me sick and destructive, so the second day I did  not attend the conference but watched via the On-line conference link on the Zokhrot Facebook page.

The conference continued in this vein. Some lecturers even said, “Zionism is a crime” and nobody objected, except one lady who said: ” please respect others’ beliefs”. That was the only moment when I wished I had been there to say that today the word “Zionism” has no meaning any more – because the State of Israel belongs to the people of Israel. We are Am Israel, living in Medinat Israel.

To sum up, I cannot believe this is happening to us, that Israelis could side with our enemies so as to annihilate the State of Israel. This conference came one step closer towards this annihilation. I would like to say to all those who were there, that the creation of the State of Israel after 2,000 years was a miracle, and that the people of Israel on its own land is neither invincible, nor should it be taken for granted.

Visit Point of No Return.

Israeli authorities arrested a Belgian citizen of Iranian origin for taking photographs and carrying out surveillance on the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and other Israeli and Americans sites, according to a gag order that was lifted on Sunday.

The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) identified the man as Ali Mansouri, who landed at Ben Gurion Airport three times in the past 15 months under the name of Alex Mance. He first arrived in Israel in July 2012, and his third visit was on Sept. 2 this year, concluding with his arrest at the airport on the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The suspect confessed to security authorities that the Guards’ terror branch sent him to spy.  The Guards offered him $1 million for his pictures and information.

The arrest occurred two weeks before Iran’s new president, Hassan Rohani, delivered his “charm offensive” speech in the United Nations and chatted with President Barack Obama for 15 minutes over the telephone.

Rouhani called the United States a “great nation,” and unless the spy actually was a friendly tourist collecting pictures to show his family how much he enjoyed his visit to the Zionist enemy, it can be safely assumed that the intentions were more in line with traditional Guards activities,  such as blowing up Jewish, Israel and Americans buildings.

That does not exactly fit in with President Barack Obama’s statement last week “while there will be significant obstacles and success is by no means guaranteed, I believe we can reach a comprehensive solution. I do believe that there is a basis for a resolution.”

The basis, of course, is for Iran to continue hoodwink the Americans, and the resolution, just as obviously, is for Tehran to get its hands on a nuclear weapon that can lead to an Islamic peace by annihilating Israel.

A unanimous and landmark Supreme Court ruling on Monday struck down a Knesset amendment to a law and declared that detaining African infiltrators  for three years without trial violates their human rights.

The effect of the decision is that nearly 2,000 illegal Africans will be able to leave their Negev prison in 90 days and move freely in Israel, most likely to southern Tel Aviv – unless the government decides to deport them.

Within the 90-day period, the government can determine if the illegal immigrants are entitled to be recognized as those seeking asylum or simply left their home countries to seek a better standard of living, in which case they can be sent home.

The amendment to the Prevention of Infiltration Law violates what is known is Israel as the Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty, a concept that the High Court has exploited for several years to allow it to dictate policies that often are the opposite from what the Knesset had legislated.

The unanimity in the 9-0 ruling, including  new Court President Asher Grunis who is viewed as being far away from the left-wing “bleeding heart” camp, underlined the conclusion that the amendment unquestionably violates human rights, despite the problems is poses to the country, as several justices noted.

However, Justice Grunis indicated that a shorter detention period would not be questioned by the court.

Justice Edna Arbel, who has sided dozens of times with “activists” and often against Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, admitted that the decision “will not be easy” for the public to swallow.

She also concede that the decision will be a difficult blow for south Tel Aviv, whose residents have suffered a higher crime rate along with the flood of approximately 50,000 African infiltrators into the relatively poor neighborhood.

“Their cries are in our hearts; their pain is our pain,” she wrote, but Likud Knesset Member and Knesset Interior Committee chairwoman Miri Regev reacted, “There are judges in Jerusalem, but the pain is in south Tel Aviv.” She added, “The High Court has sentenced the residents of south Tel Aviv to living in fear and has given infiltration a green light.”

But she agreed that the Knesset’s solution of simply throwing people into detention facilities for three years, without charges, is not a solution.

Even veteran MK Reuven Rivlin, former Speaker of the Knesset and who has often defended the legislature against High Court intervention, admitted that the Knesset has to be more careful in its legislation.

Minister of Interior Gideon Sa’ar said that Monday’s ruling makes it more difficult for Israel to deal with illegal infiltration.

To a large extent, the government is to blame for the situation. It ignored years of warnings that the daily flood of illegal immigrants was destroying Jewish life in Arad and Dimona, in the northern Negev, where the immigrants descended from further south.

It was only after tens of thousands of infiltrators inundated Tel Aviv that the government began to move, literally locking the gates at the border after the illegals had crossed into the country.

In virtually every democratic country, foreigners are not allowed to  enter without valid documents unless they are seeking asylum.

Egypt often solved the problem by simply killing them. Israel simply turned a blind eye until Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in the previous government, ordered that a fence be built along the Egyptian-Israeli border. The result has been a near-zero rate of infiltration. Simultaneously, the government decided to do something with those already in the country and deported thousands who were not validated as seekers of asylum, mainly from Sudan.

Leftists, many of whom back any effort that will reduce the Jewish majority and the influence of the growing  religious minority in the country, challenged many attempted deportations.

They conducted a “Save the Children” campaign, playing on emotional heartstrings by protesting against deporting children who, at the country’s expense, already were being educated in Israel.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said after the ruling, “Alongside honoring the decision of the High Court of Justice, I, in cooperation with the Interior Minister and the Attorney General, intend to find ways that are in keeping with the decision and which will allow the implementation of our determined policy which has blocked illegal migration and has already repatriated thousands of illegal migrants.”

Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality is launching a digital revolution as part of the city’s over-all strategic plan to position Tel Aviv as the Startup City – a hub of innovation and creativity.

The Free Wifi will be available in 80 different locations city-wide, and will serve residents and visitors to the city. These locations include the beach, entertainment centers and more tourist attractions. 20 of the locations have been suggested by the residents of the city via the municipal Facebook page.

The Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality will be one of the first in the world to launch such a project.

The digital revolution includes:

* Digi-Tel city card: the new city card grants personalized discounts by categorizing the Tel Aviv resident: each resident that signs up for the service will be able to receive notifications regarding their residential area in Tel Aviv, and discounts in accordance to the resident’s fields of interest.

* Digital communication with the residents of the city: a mobile application that will advance all residential communication with the municipality to the digital era. Soon residents will be able to pay municipal taxes using this app, receive their parking permit via the app etc.

* Sophisticated GIS maps system with numerous layers of information essential to the residents and visitors of the city such as public institutions, synagogues, public restrooms, parks etc.

* Development of mobile applications using the city’s databases: the Municipality opened dozens of databases to the public in order to improve the public’s access to information. Seventy-two apps were recently created based on these databases, covering many aspects of urban life.

Ron Huldai, Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo: “The city of Tel Aviv-Yafo is a leader in innovation and in trailblazer thinking. As a Municipality we facilitate this and encourage an innovative approach in various fields. The city WiFi we are launching today will enable the city’s visitors and residents to enjoy free surfing throughout the city.”

Alon Solar, city council member and initiator of the project: “The city of Tel Aviv-Yafo continues to be an attractive environment of innovative initiatives. In our communications era, free access to internet is a basic service. This is another step at positioning Tel Aviv of the 21st century in one line with other global cities.”

The Tel Aviv Yafo Wi-FI map site can be accessed by clicking here.