Bombardier wins large Israel Railways contract
MONTREAL — Bombardier Inc. has won the contract to supply Israel Railways with 62 electric locomotives, with an option to buy 32 more, a deal worth 1 billion shekels (over US $260 million), the state-owned corporation announced on Aug. 6.
Israel Railways said it expects to take delivery of the initial order in 2017. The trains will mainly be used on a new fast rail line between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The best way to love Israel is to visit Israel
As this academic year ends, many pro-Israel activists are again seeking the secret recipe for fighting delegitimization, for combating the anti-Israel obsession, which has become the signal flag for too many campus leftists. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with rage, shocked by the injustice, disgusted by the Red-Green alliance, the bizarre coalition uniting radicals and Islamists that requires the irrational pixie dust of anti-Semitism to blind them to all their internal contradictions. Instead, we must be proactive not reactive.
Q&A Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau: Jews don’t cause anti-Semitism
Holocaust survivor Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau was deported to Buchenwald during World War II. He was eight years old when American soldiers liberated the camp in April 1945. The former Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, now chief rabbi of Tel Aviv and president of the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem, Rabbi Meir Lau is one of the best-known rabbinic and public figures in Israel.
Rabbi Meir Lau was recently in Montreal, where he was the guest of honour at Académie Yéchiva Yavné’s gala evening, and he spoke to The CJN.
New film looks at Israelis living in Toronto
TORONTO — The opening scene establishes the location of the film. A car pulls up to a snowbank as snow gently falls all around. The door opens and the camera focuses on the ground, where we see winter boots crunching the packed snow beneath.
Krav maga is more than a self-defence system
Krav maga translates from the Hebrew as “contact fighting,” more or less, but at its heart, the Israeli combat system tries to avoid conflict.
In fact, explains Rafi Kashani, if you examine it closely, krav maga embodies some fundamental Jewish values, including preserving life, not doing to your neighbours what you wouldn’t want them to do to you, respect for education and only using force when you really have to.
Why is the Green Line not on our schools’ maps?
I always enjoy seeing my kids bring home assignments from Hebrew school, and last week was no exception. On a map of Israel were labelled five major cities whose names the students had to write in Hebrew. I delighted in reminding my son that we have relatives or friends in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, and near Be’er Sheva. There was only one problem with the map, I noticed. There was no Green Line. So to the untrained eye, it looked like Israel’s borders span from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.
For most Ethiopian Jews, life in Israel is frustrating and dangerous
A few years ago, while waiting by the elevator in our Tel Aviv apartment building, an Israeli neighbour nodded sagely at my Ethiopian Jewish daughter. “I’m so glad Judie finally got someone in to clean for her,” she said, nodding approvingly. Wuditu bobbed her head and shot me a quick grin.
“What country in Africa do you come from, dear,” the neighbour kindly inquired. A flicker of pain was quickly replaced by a pensive expression in Wuditu’s eyes. Knowing her penchant for irony, I thought, "oh boy, this is going to be good."
Why Ethiopian-Israelis took to the streets
A historically disadvantaged black minority is galvanized when one of its members appears to suffer brutality at the hands of police — and the episode is caught on video. Peaceful mass protests devolve into violence. Police crack down in an attempt to control crowds.
Panel praises Israel’s dynamism and diversity
TORONTO — A Yom Ha’atzmaut event featuring an eclectic panel of Israeli speakers drove home the message that Israel is dynamic, unique and successful across a range of fields.
Canadian Embassy to move to new location in Tel Aviv
From the outside, the Canadian Embassy in Israel looks like a typical commercial building on a narrow street in a section of east Tel Aviv.
At 3 Nirim St., an address the embassy shares, you can also find a Georgian restaurant as well as several other small eateries. Across the street is a shop called Banana, which appears to sell swimwear and footwear, and one of the embassy’s neighbours just down the street is a car repair shop.
It’s not particularly glamorous, but that’s about to change.
