Today’s News Summaries October 12 2018
From autonomous vehicle technology to advancements in augmented reality, Israeli innovation is making a big splash worldwide.
The Consumer Electronics Show, the self-promoted “global stage for innovation,” is once again poised to capture the imagination of the world in Las Vegas. While more than 4,000 companies will be exhibiting at this year’s conference, showing off advancements in everything from virtual reality to robotics, we’ve decided to focus on five from Israel, known as a world leader in startups.
What will the future of autonomous vehicles, augmented reality, 3D scanning and vision enhancement look like in the coming years? Scroll down for brief peeks at the digital breakthroughs on the verge of transforming our everyday lives.
With automakers shifting to so-called “smart cars” loaded with displays, sensors, cameras and other systems, the underlying network tying this high-tech infrastructure together is increasingly under stress from digital traffic jams. Enter Valens Semiconductor, an Israeli chipmaker focused on building new superhighways for smart car technologies to communicate over. CLICK HERE to see the video and article on our Beauty, Diversity & Science (BDS) channel!
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Also, our “UCI Video News” channel continues to provide 3 video summaries of today’s news in Israel!
- When the BDS battle lost pro-Israel U.S. Jewry – Jpost.com, Lahav Harkov
- Turkey Releases American Pastor Brunson – ‘We Hope to Have Him Safely Back Home Soon!’ – Breitbart.com, Edwin Mora
- Friend or foe? Russia and Israel grapple with Mideast – JNS.org, JNS Staff
- Russian deputy FM – ‘irrational’ not to recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – i24news.tv, Eylon Levy
- Missing journalist saga shines light on Saudi prince’s darker side – TimesofIsrael.com, Jon Gambrell
- As Iran’s economy stumbles, tension grows between rich and poor – CSMonitor.com, Scott Peterson
When the BDS battle lost pro-Israel U.S. Jewry
by Lahav Harkov for Jpost.com, October 12, 2018
Staunch Israel supporters are criticizing the country’s anti-boycott policies. Is the law necessary for Israel’s well-being and is it worth the damage?
According to political legend, former US president Lyndon B. Johnson once said, after seeing an anti-Vietnam War segment on CBS News, “If I’ve lost [Walter] Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”
Fair or not, Israel seems to have lost its Cronkite this week, when The New York Times’ arguably most pro-Israel writers Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss, who described themselves as “unhinged Zionists,” wrote a joint column criticizing Jerusalem’s policies to combat boycotts.
To be sure, Weiss and Stephens, a former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, are not what Cronkite was to Middle America in the 1960s, but they are prominent and influential voices, whose staunchly and reliably pro-Israel views have tracked with, or been to the right of, the American Jewish establishment. And the government has lost them in the war on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.
Turkey Releases American Pastor Brunson – ‘We Hope to Have Him Safely Back Home Soon!’
by Edwin Mora for Breitbart.com, October 12, 2018
A Turkish court on Friday ruled in favor of releasing American Pastor Andrew Brunson nearly two years after Turkish authorities arrested him on charges of terrorism.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had been advocating for Brunson’s release, arguing that the pastor is innocent. The Turkish government provided no concrete evidence tying Brunson to the two groups he allegedly aided – the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Hizmet movement led by U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen – and his defense has insisted that the real reason for his arrest was a growing interest on the part of the Turkish government to eradicate Christianity.
Friend or foe? Russia and Israel grapple Over Mideast
by JNS Staff for JNS.org, October 12, 2018
While the Russian transfer of S-300 surface-to-air defense system to Syria will complicate U.S. and Israeli operations in Syria, it is not a game-changer, but instead more of a political statement.
(October 12, 2018 / JNS) The announcement this month that Russia planned to transfer the advance S-300 surface-to-air defense system to Syria in response to the recent accidental downing of a Russian military plane in Syria, raised alarm bells in both Israel and the West. Many saw the announcement by Russia as a clear provocation towards Israel that could hamper Israeli operations in Syria targeting Iran and Hezbollah.
However, in the aftermath of the announcement come a number of questions regarding how serious Russia has been in the rollout of the system, and whether or not the transfer is a legitimate military threat to Israel or just a strong political statement by Moscow. The confusion over this was on full display this week during a visit by a top Russian official to Israel, coupled with news that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to meet in the near future.
Russian deputy FM – ‘irrational’ not to recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
by Eylon Levy for i24news.tv, October 12, 2018
It would have been “irrational” for Russia not to have recognised West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who is also the Middle East envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, told i24NEWS.
In an in-depth interview with i24NEWS at the Dialogue of Civilizations Rhodes Forum, Bogdanov argued that it would be “logical” for other countries that recognise a Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem to recognise Israeli sovereignty in West Jerusalem.
But he explained that Russia would not move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem until it could also move its mission in Ramallah to the eastern part of the contested city.
Russia surprised the international community in April 2017 by recognising West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, becoming the first country in the world to recognise Israeli sovereignty over any part of the disputed city. In a laconic statement at the time, the Russian Foreign Ministry did not explain the reasoning for the unusual announcement.
Missing journalist saga shines light on Saudi prince’s darker side
by Jon Gambrell for TimesofIsrael.com, October 12, 2018
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In a kingdom once ruled by an ever-aging rotation of elderly monarchs, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stands out as the youthful face of a youthful nation. But behind the carefully calibrated public-relations campaign pushing images of the smiling prince meeting with the world’s top leaders and business executives lurks a darker side.
Last year, at age 31, Mohammed became the kingdom’s crown prince, next in line to the throne now held by his octogenarian father, King Salman. While pushing for women to drive, he has overseen the arrest of women’s rights activists. While calling for foreign investment, he has imprisoned businessmen, royals and others in a crackdown on corruption that soon resembled a shakedown of the kingdom’s most powerful people.
by Scott Peterson for CSMonitor.com
[Tehran, Iran] There is wealth in Iran.
Decades ago, money here was a well-hidden secret, rarely flaunted, in keeping with the socialist ideals of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
But today? Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini sports cars navigate as best they can through Tehran’s ever-congested traffic, their finely tuned engines designed more for racing along European motorways.
Rich Iranian youth post photographs online of themselves being, well, rich – at parties and poolside, in their cars and mansions, and spending money at shimmering luxury malls.
Into this picture of wealth insert renewed US economic sanctions, first reimposed after President Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal last spring.