Featured this week

The Israel Campus Beat Is Back!

Welcome back to the Israel Campus Beat -- your best source for bi-weekly top news, analysis and commentary from Israel and the pro-Israel campus community.  Please hellp us spread the good news that the ICB will be back in your inbox this academic year.  Post a link on social networking sites, forward the full ICB or just one story.  And send us copies of articles about Israel that appear in your campus newspapers.

And remember: Wherever we stand, we stand with Israel.

Israel Pays Tribute to "Great Friend" Ted Kennedy
by Sefi Krupsky

Israel's President Shimon Peres on Wednesday expressed deep sorrow on behalf of Israel at the death of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, who died on Tuesday night.  Peres said that Kennedy was a particularly respected leader with an interest in helping society, and added that his death was a great loss for every thoughtful person in the world.  "Kennedy was a clear friend of Israel the whole way, and in every place that he could help us he did help," he added. (Ha'aretz)
See also Mishpacha -- Ted Kennedy Became Part of Our Family by Sarah Wildman

Israel Weighs Iranian Threat
by Paula Hancocks

Israel makes no secret that it sees Iran as its biggest threat. Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the UN, said: "The IAEA has inspected the known nuclear sites of Iran, but it's believed they still have other clandestine nuclear sites where they may be enriching uranium or they may be pursuing a plutonium route like the North Koreans, so there's a certain amount of uncertainty in any assessment in the timeline of an Iranian bomb." Efraim Kam, an Israeli analyst on Middle East affairs, estimates that theoretically Iran could develop a nuclear bomb within the next year. "My personal view is that Iran would not do it because they understand that Israel does have a nuclear arsenal. It has to take that into account, and because the U.S. will deter Iran as well."  (CNN)

Lady GaGa in Tel Aviv: Madonna, She Wasn't
by Yoav Segev

Lady GaGa may have fallen in love with Israel, but after last week's  concert in Tel Aviv, it's doubtful that many Israelis fell in love with her.  GaGa kept doing what she could, the best she could - singing, flirting with the crowd, and dancing, in a routine that one would expect from "So You Think You Can Dance?"  And then, it happened. The moment everyone was waiting for. Lady knew it too, and lapped up the attention.  Lady GaGa did two versions to her massive hit "Poker Face."  Perhaps the time we see her round these parts, we'll probably get a more complex, more professional GaGa.  (Ha'aretz)
Tel Aviv Performance of "Poker Face" (YouTube)

Tweet God
by Lianne Gross

Want to tweet God? An Israeli university student has opened a Twitter site, where prayers can be sent for placement in the crevices of Jerusalem's Western Wall, a Jewish holy site that faithful believe provides a direct line to the Almighty.  "I take their prayers, print them out and drive to Jerusalem to put them in the Western Wall," said Alon Nir, a resident of Tel Aviv.  (Reuters)

Prime Minister Netanyahu in London: Israel Is Commited to Peace

"I reiterated Israel’s commitment to peace and outlined what I believe is the winning formula for peace: a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state.  We’re working hard to advance a peace process that will lead to an actual peace result and we hope to move forward in the weeks and months ahead. We’re not waiting.  We have already moved: my government has removed, to be precise, 147 checkpoints and roadblocks. There has to be not merely a partner on the other side, there has to be a courageous partner, because I think we’ve shown a certain amount of fortitude and leadership and that’s what’s required from the Palestinian side.  They have to say unequivocally ‘it’s over.  We are going to make a real peace.  It’ll be a final peace.  It will be a peace that will end all claims to further conflict.'" (Prime Minister's Office)

Polls: 4% of Israeli Jews: Obama Pro-Israel
by Gil Hoffman

The number of Israelis who see President Obama's policies as pro-Israel has fallen to 4%, down from 6% in June, according to a Smith Research poll taken this week.   51% of Jewish Israelis consider Obama more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israel, while 35% consider him neutral.  The poll also asked Jewish Israelis whether they would support freezing settlement construction for a year as part of an American-brokered deal. 50% said no, while 41% said yes. (Jerusalem Post)

Israel Presses Sweden on Organ Theft Story
by Ilene R. Prusher

In the view from Jerusalem, the Swedish government should condemn Aftonbladet, which suggested that Israel snatched the organs of Palestinians who died in their custody. The head of Israel's Government Press Office, Daniel Seaman,  "We don't expect an apology, but we're expecting them to do the morally decent thing by denouncing this kind of virulent anti-Semitism."  (Christian Science Monitor)

Tens of Thousands of Muslims at Ramadan Prayers in Jerusalem

Tens of thousands of faithful thronged the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan, with Israeli police reporting no significant incident.  Police estimated the crowd at 90,000.The Israeli army has extended opening times at some checkpoints for the month of Ramadan, and said in a statement soldiers manning the barriers have been told to "refrain from eating and drinking in public" whenever possible "so as to demonstrate a high level of respect and understanding."  (AFP)
See also Welcome to Camp Hamas By Arnon Ben-Dror
100 thousand kids and youth spent their summer vacation training in 700 Hamas training camps in Gaza. The camp's curriculum includes firearm training and military drills in order to nurture the next generation of militants. (IDF Spokesman)

Ben-Gurion: Cardiac Muscle Patch Succeeds in Animals

Scientists in Israel have successfully grown heart muscle in the abdomen and then used it to patch and repair the hearts of rats after they had suffered heart attack. This is the first study to show it is possible to improve the health of a heart after it has been damaged through heart attack. The experiment was conducted by Dr. Tal Dvir, of the Department of Biotechnology Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, Israel, and colleagues, and appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Medical News Today)