Hamas Releases Shalit Death-Threat Video

Link: http://www.mako.co.il/news-military/security/Article-13483a90f3f2b21004.htm

The military wing of Hamas in Gaza on Monday published an online video clip purporting to show how Israeli Army captive Cpl. Gilad Shalit would be put to death if Israel does not agree to its demands for a Palestinian prisoner release.

In the video, which appear with running Hebrew commentary on Israel's Channel Two tv news site, Shalit is shown sitting at a table in a darkened room.

He is flanked by two captors. One unpacks a bag with what appear to be his belongings, including a letter to his family released earlier, and apparently orders him to write a "farewell letter." The second captor loads and cocks a Kalashnikov rifle.

The screen goes black and shots ring out, and the screen shows the words: "Is the mission over!"

The video is one in a series of psy-ops clips, intended to put pressure on Israel.

Shalit was abducted from an outpost within Israel alongside the Gaza border on June 25, 2006.

Hamas has refused to allow the Red Cross to visit Shalit.

'From Jerusalem to God - by Kotelevator'

Click here for the full-sized image.

By Dave Bender JERUSALEM, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Worshipers and tourists at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest site, will soon have a new way of approaching the Lord above: an elevator.
Read more: http://www.davebrianbender.com

‎(Video) Knicks' Amar'e Stroudemire in Israel

Amazing who you run into at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda open-air market: the Knicks' Amar'e Stroudemire: http://www.davebrianbender.com/

Israel Unwraps Major Museum Facelift (photo series)

Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum: home to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the world's oldest Biblical documents. (Dave Bender: All Rights Reserved)

After three years and 100 million U.S. dollars, the Israel Museum, founded in 1965, is about to pull the wraps off a near-total renovation.

The project, which covered every segment of the 20-acre (some 80,937 square meters) campus, "is the largest collective philanthropic effort ever undertaken for a single cultural institution in Israel," museum officials said in a statement.

Read more and view more photos here.

(Exclusive Audio) Gaza Flotilla: Catching the Next Wave

So-called activists from Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Germany and several other countries are planning on sending waves of blockade-busting sea craft towards Gaza in coming days and weeks.

In an exclusive interview, Dave Bender speaks with an American-Israeli maritime security expert who says Israel must take a harder, clearer tack in averting a humanitarian disaster in the Hamas-led Palestinian enclave - and a possible military one on the high seas between Israel and its sworn enemies.

Listen in: http://www.davebrianbender.com

'A Terrorist's Guide to Improving Israel's Media Coverage'

A wickedly delicious, satirical, Machiavellian romp through the media looking glass in A Terrorist's Guide to Improving Israel's Media Coverage:

"If Israel wants the same supportive coverage that Fatah and Hamas get, it needs to play by their rules. Press credentials would then go to those who provide positive coverage. Those reporters who want to take pictures of wall graffiti and stage photos of Muslim children throwing stones at Israeli tanks need not apply. If the New York Times or NBC News can't find anyone willing to play by those rules, the way they do in Gaza and Ramallah, then they can stay home and they won't be able to do their jobs.

"The mainstream media will be outraged, you say. There will be even more negative coverage. As if there isn't heaps of it now. And what will the negative media coverage be of? Reporters forced to stay home. Foreign correspondents who have to cover an election in Hungary, instead of eating caviar in a Jerusalem hotel and writing vicious articles about Jewish Middle Eastern refugees living in East Jerusalem.

Ha'aretz reporters will have to move to London to write biting columns in the Guardian about how racist the country they used to live in, is. Before they move on to the inevitable theater reviews and finally begin writing ad copy for insurance agencies. Oh the pathos, the pity. No one will care."

Read the rest.

'Israel Okays Plan to Raze Palestinian Squatters' Homes'

Palestinian nationalistic graffiti at the entrance to a home in Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood. (Dave Bender - All Rights Reserved)

By Dave Bender
The Jerusalem Municipality says it wants to move the residents temporarily during construction, and then relocate them at the same location, but in better housing. The master plan includes replacing roads, water and sewer infrastructure, adding municipal services, hotels, and an archaeological park. Palestinians are skeptical of Israel's promises and intentions. Read more.

Israel: Chillin' on a Blisterin' Day

Acre sunset (Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

It's been far, far too hot yesterday and today, so I offer a virtual chiller of a photo I shot at the Crusader-era Old City of Acre (Acco). Enjoy.

'Novartis, Israeli Startup Ink Pharma Deal'

By Dave Bender
Biopharmaceutical firm NasVax has signed a deal with Swiss pharma giant Norvartis to develop new vaccines together, including influenza-fighting strains. "What's significant is that Novartis is one of the five largest vaccine companies in the world," Dr. Ronald Ellis, NasVax senior vice president and chief technical officer, tells ISRAEL21c, "and they found it attractive to work with us." Read the rest.

'Israel Eases Gaza Aid Blockade, Naval Siege Continues'

By Dave Bender, Geng Xuepeng

JERUSALEM, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Monday began allowing more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, while promising continued enforcement of its naval blockade on the enclave, a spokesman with Israeli Prime Minister's office said. Read more.