Israel returns 15 seized fishing boats to Gaza

 "Also, for the first time, they left the onboard generators and did not confiscate them. They used to argue that the generators were dangerous," Ayyash told Reuters.

"The United Nations food agency estimates 3,600 Gaza households are involved in fishing. Just under half of those have no other source of income."

"Fishing union chief Nizar Ayyash told AFP the return of 15 boats was welcome but demanded that Israel hand back dozens more vessels still in its possession." News Link News Link

Israel to airlift 25 babies from Nepal

"Israel said Sunday it plans to airlift 25 infants from quake-hit Nepal born to surrogate mothers, along with their Israeli parents...

"Foreign ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson said officials were doing "everything to bring the babies to Israel", while stressing the timing of their return was subject to health considerations and legal issues." News Link

Despite Victory, Netanyahu Is Struggling To Form Coalition

"JERUSALEM (AP) — With a resounding election victory last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to have an easy path toward quickly establishing a coalition government with his traditional nationalist, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies." News Link

Terror in Melbourne

Melbourne counter-terrorism raids: Police investigate mistreatment claim, two men still in custody

"He said he had a gun held to his head and was forced to lie on the floor for 30 minutes. He said police told him: "One more word I kill you. Doesn't matter for your kids." Another of the arrested men said he did not resist arrest and was covered in blood after being attacked by police. "After my hands were cuffed, laying on my stomach, I got kicked in the head," he said. "Then he [one of the police officers] grabbed me, slams me into the fridge, as you can see there'll be blood on the fridge. "Then [he] slammed me on the ground and then hit me with his gun and I think I passed out then." News Link

EU countries press for labelling of Israeli settlement goods

JERUSALEM (AP) — More than a dozen European governments have called for the labeling of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. News Link

Hamas official calls to abduct Israelis, swap for Palestinians

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip has called for the abduction of Israelis, who would be swapped for Palestinians held by the Jewish state. News Link

Israel slams Russia decision to lift Iran missile ban

"The S-300 batteries are advanced ground-to-air weapons that can take out aircraft or guided missiles.

"The decree, signed by President Vladimir Putin on Monday, ends a ban on the deliveries of S-300 missiles to Iran which was put in place in 2010 after the United Nations slapped sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme, including barring the sale of hi-tech weaponry." News Link

Israeli troops shoot dead Palestinian at West Bank funeral

"Hebron (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man in the West Bank on Friday when they opened fire during the funeral of a Palestinian recently released from Israeli jail, medics said." News Link

Israeli military courts convict hundreds of Palestinian children

Israel's top military court has found some of these so-called "children" guilty of heinous crimes like throwing stones, kicking tin cans, skipping, making mud pies, playing with Barbies, climbing trees, crying, and playing dress-ups.

News Link - Israeli military courts convict hundreds of Palestinian children

Israel's Ongoing 'Brain Drain'

"In a wide range of articles between 2012 and 2014, think tanks, policymakers and journalists have explored the causes of the brain drain, which is typically but not always understood as the exile of educated people leaving the country for economic opportunity (rather than concerns over national security).

"But in addition to limits on economic opportunity – one study, cited by The New Yorker, shows that 87% of Israelis over the age of 25 are dependent on their parents — observers are asking whether Israel is facing an ideological crisis. Israel’s identity is changing, and not everyone is in agreement on what that is." News Link1 News Link2

Israel to detain female Palestinian lawmaker for 6 months

"JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military has placed a female Palestinian legislator under detention for six months without trial, a lawyer for the lawmaker said Monday.

"Jarrar, 52, is being held under Israeli administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold detainees for up to six months at a time without charges, the lawyer said. The detention and any extensions are approved by a judge, and evidence can be kept from defense lawyers." News Link

Netanyahu says Iran must accept Israel's existence

"Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that Iranian recognition of Israel's right to exist be written into an emerging nuclear deal, as he convened top officials for talks on Friday." News Link

Most Jews are not Semites

Jews are not Semites, Scholar Claims

"On May 7, 2013, Rita Rubin reported in the Jewish daily Forward about a young Jewish DNA expert who dares to attack the dogma that Jews are a race and have descended from Semitic ancestors originating in what is today’s Israel.

"Needless to say that neither Koestler’s original thesis nor Elhaikon’s genetical undergirding of it has been welcomed in particular by the Jewish academic establishment. After all, at stake is much more than an academic question. The very existence of Israel depends on the claim that its Jewish inhabitants are descendants of people who, some 2,000 years ago, used to dwell in that land.

"It also goes without saying that, even if this claim were true, this is no justification for the colonial occupation of Palestine. With the same reasoning Hitler could have claimed close relationship of today’s Germans with the Germanic Goths who, until roughly 500 A.D., dwelled in what is today’s Ukraine, hence justifying the occupation of that country, the expulsion of its Slavic population, and the establishment of a new Germanic-Gothic country. Would anyone in the world have agreed with that? If not, why do most people agree with such a line of reasoning when it comes to Israel?" News Link