Interesting Israeli News Tidbits Roundup

So many things going on...here's a quick roundup.

1. The sad news of the day, is that Rav Hanan Porat died last night.

At the funeral for former MK Hanan Porat on Wednesday, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin eulogized the Gush Emunim leader, calling Porat "a visionary and an achiever, a poet and a fighter."

"You knew how to be the public's agent whose mouth was full of song, to be a sharp parliamentarian with a dreaming soul," Rivlin said. "Within your soul there was a great love, a conquering love, for the national of Israel, for the ground of this good land, for Israel's Torah."

"Your voice, Hanan, was silenced," he concluded, "but the voice of your song will still lead, with your mighty love, this nation and this land for many years. I came to say goodbye on behalf of the Knesset and the Israeli nation. You will be missed greatly."

Porat, who inspired thousands of people to settle the hilltops of Judea and Samaria, died at his home in Kfar Etzion on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He was 67. His funeral will took place on Wednesday in Kfar Etzion. JPost

2. Yet another Israeli wins a Nobel Prize - Professor Daniel Shechtman from the Technion is honored with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Israeli scientist honored for discovery of atom patterns called 'quasicrystals.' Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: Shechtman's discovery extremely controversial, fundamentally changed way chemists look at solid matter. (YNETnews)

3. This morning, 2 Arabs created a disturbance on the Jerusalem light-rail in the vicinity of French Hill. Security officers were required to use pepper-spray to overpower them and they were physically removed from the train; police were called in to arrest the law breakers. (source)

4. Iran Press reports that Israel has been secretly occupying the Sanafir Island in the Red Sea since 1967, with the approval of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia and the Western states have kept silent for decades regarding the occupation of two Saudi western islands by the Israeli regime.
Israeli forces reportedly occupied Saudi Arabia's Tiran and Sanafir Islands in 1967.

The two islands are located at the southern end of the Gulf of Aqaba, leading to the Red Sea.

Tiran Island, which has an area of about 80 square kilometers, is located at the inflow of the Straits of Tiran. Sanafir Island, with an area of 33 square kilometers, also lies to the east of Tiran.

The two islands were given to the former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser for logistics use in the Six Day War of 1967 against Israeli forces.

However, the islands have been occupied by Tel Aviv since Egypt's defeat.

The Straits of Tiran, which has remained under the control of Tel Aviv, has strategic significance since it serves as Israel's only direct access to the Red Sea.

Regional observers say while Saudi Arabia has maintained a total silence on its own Israeli-occupied islands, it vigorously pursues baseless claims by the United Arab Emirates against three tiny Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf. (Iran PressTV)

What is interesting about this story, is that it appears previously over a year ago in the MiddleEast Monitor...with many more details.

5. Israel Prisons to stop serving stuffed chicken to convicted terrorists, and is reducing the number of TV channels they can watch. (NRG)

6. YNET reported the following (which was also linked to on DrudgeReport)

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Tuesday threatened to set fire to the Middle East, and especially to Israel, if NATO attacks Syria, the Iranian Fars news agency reported.

In a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Assad said: "If a crazy measure is taken against Damascus, I will need not more than six hours to transfer hundreds of rockets and missiles to the Golan Heights to fire them at Tel Aviv."

7. Will be writing a post soon about the Mosque Arson in Northern Israel, allegedly a Jewish revenge "price-tag" attack.

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