WASHINGTON – Jewish Republicans nationwide are hoping a heated congressional race rematch in the New York suburbs puts a second Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives.
The OU reps pressed Obama hard on his handling of US-Israel relations and on mandating contraceptive coverage. Obama accused Netanyahu of trying to "act without restraints."
By JTA
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel to withdraw from all lands it occupied in 1967, warning that the two-state solution may not be on the table for much longer. "I would like to address our Israeli neighbors and say we are seekers of peace and freedom and our people made a major sacrifice […]
By JTA
A group of kipah-clad Jewish tourists in Jordan reportedly was harassed and attacked by locals. Arab media reported that Jordanians in the town of Al Karak grew agitated on Monday when they saw a few Jewish men wearing head coverings in the local market. They threw shoes at them and chased them away, the Jordanian […]
US undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence David Cohen, visiting Israel to coordinate sanctions policy with senior Israeli security, discussed plans to impose additional sanctions on Iran in the summer. In an interview with Haaretz, Cohen said: “If we don't get a breakthrough in Moscow there is no question we will continue to ratchet up the pressure."
The recent massacre at a Jewish school in Toulouse "triggered an explosion” in anti-Semitic attacks across France, according to the French Jewish community's protection service. Last Saturday afternoon, three young Jewish men came under attack on their way to synagogue by at least 10 men of North-African origin.
By JTA
The City University of New York denied a report that it had created a special minority designation for Jewish faculty (see "Is CUNY Planning a Jewish Quota?"). Rather, a university spokesman told JTA, the university simply had responded to requests by Jewish faculty members to be recruited for focus groups aimed at boosting the recruitment […]
This evening an Arab terrorist in his early 20s tried to stab a Border Policeman at the Arab side of Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the Tazpit news agency reports. The policeman was lightly injured, while the terrorist is in serious condition and received medical attention at the site.
Rabbi Chaim Breisch, 65, one of the deans of the Mesivta yeshiva in London, died from drowning, and one of his students, Rabbi Yitzhak Beigel, in his 30s, was lightly injured and was hospitalized.
Israel ranked one spot behind the United Kingdom, and ahead of economic powerhouses China (23rd), Japan (27th), and France (29th). It also retained its position as the world's top investor in research and development for the third year in a row.
By JTA
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg were among the dignitaries who marched in Sunday's annual Celebrate Israel Parade in the Big Apple.
Israel’s Health Ministry is mulling a plan to vastly increase government assistance to couples with fertility difficulties to grow larger families, while decreasing the amount of subsidies to women over the age of 43 who have never succeeded in getting pregnant.
The IDF Operations Department has put together instructions for military operations in cyberspace against enemies of the Jewish state. The IDF will engage in consistent and continuous intelligence gathering operations online, and said it will handle cyberspace as a battlefield as important as those at sea in the air, and on the ground, executing attacks when necessary.
By JTA
Jews living in Asia gathered near the Great Wall of China for the first-ever Limmud event in the world most populous nation. Sunday's program, run by Limmud International, drew nearly 100 Jews from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mumbai, the Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Israel, Britain and the United States. The open Jewish learning program Limmud has […]
By JTA
Israel is equipping submarines built in Germany with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, according to an in-depth report in Der Spiegel magazine. The magazine also reported Sunday that the German government has known about Israel's nuclear weapons program for decades, despite its official denials. Last month, Israel received from Germany its fourth Dolphin–class submarine, which is slated […]
By JTA
Three Jews wearing yarmulkes were assaulted by 10 people in southeast France in what the French Interior Ministry is calling an anti-Semitic attack. The attack, which occurred on Saturday and was announced by the Interior Ministry on Sunday, took place in Villeurbanne, near Lyon. The attackers, who used a hammer and an iron bar, injured […]
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Avraham Nocham, an artist, explained that he has decided to join the strike out of empathy and identification with the strikers’ objectives. "I am very sensitive to these issues. Many times the development of these incidents is frightening. I have come to join the struggle and strike in hope of a positive outcome."
In an address marking the 23rd anniversary of the death of his predecessor Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also accused the West of cynically exaggerating the threat a nuclear Iran poses to divert attention: "What Americans and Westerners do is idiotic. They magnify the nuclear issue to cover up their own [economic] problems."
Epigraphy scholar Christopher Rollston examined four contenders for the oldest Hebrew inscription – the Qeiyafa Ostracon, Gezer Calendar, Tel Zayit Abecedary and Izbet Zayit Abecedary – to explore the interplay between early Hebrew script and language.
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says Arab nations will pay the Palestinian Authority $100 million a month if Israel stops monthly tax payments to the group in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
Though a sudden-death match led to his defeat, a new Israeli hero has gained international recognition– and local celebrity – as a chess champion.
Sissy Bradford, a criminology adjunct lecturer at Texas A&M University-San Antonio who objected to decorative crosses on a tower at the university's entrance, says she was harassed for her views, and fears for her safety. Also – she will not be asked back to teach next fall, reports the San Antonio Express-News. Bradford, who is […]
Vice President Joe Biden's 30-year-old daughter Ashley on Saturday married Dr. Howard David Krein of Pennsylvania at a ceremony in Delaware, according to a late Saturday news release from the vice president's office.
Overnight, IAF aircraft targeted three weapon manufacturing facilities in the central Gaza Strip, as well as two terror tunnels in the northern and southern Gaza Strip. Direct hits were identified. This is in response to the infiltration on Friday morning, in which Staff Sergeant Netanel Moshiashvili was killed by terrorist fire adjacent to the security […]
The terrorist approached the security fence near Kisufim at around 4:30 a.m., cut it, and snuck into Israel. A Golani unit rapidly deployed to the area, coming under fire by the terrorist. In the ensuing gunfight, a 20 year old soldier was shot, and soon after died of his wound.
By JTA
New satellite images show possible recent nuclear activity at the Parchin facility in Iran as well as attempts to hide evidence of past activity.
By JTA
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein accepted the endorsement of J Street's political action committee. Feinstein (D-Calif.) joins Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) as Senate candidates who have received JStreetPAC’s endorsement for the 2012 election cycle. "Senator Feinstein joins a long and growing list of American politicians who recognize […]
Tens of thousands are expected at pop star Madona's Ramat-Gan concert tonight, but few are aware that the man who was safety consultant for an Independence Day event a month ago that ended with a collapsed stage and a dead female soldier, is in charge of security tonight. Maariv reports that Itzik Tzuker, safety consultant […]
In a recent survey of the OECD's 34 countries, Israel ranked sixth in 'life satisfaction.' Israelis are also among the healthiest in the developed world, with a low obesity rate (13.8%) and an average life expectancy of nearly 82 years.
By JTA
The repatriation of the bodies is being called a good-will gesture to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Included among them was Ramez Aslim, the suicide bomber who attacked a Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem in 2003. Dual Israeli-American citizens Dr. David Applebaum, and his daughter Nava, who was to have been married the day after the bombing, were killed in that attack.
JERUSALEM – In a meeting with a visiting U.S. delegation fresh off nuclear talks in Baghdad, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak and National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror expressed their government’s growing concerns over America’s diplomatic negotiations with Iran.
Israeli startup Umoove will soon offer a gesture-recognition technology for mobile devices that will control and steer devices by reading gentle facial and head movements, according to a report by NoCamels.
By Daniel Wicentowski, Israel Campus Beat
The Boston-based group took the pro-Israel community by surprise this year when it released a report in February titled “A Burning Campus? Rethinking Israel Advocacy at America’s Universities and Colleges.” The report, or "white paper," outlined a significant departure from the organization's divisive and hard-line history.
Archaeologists working at the Biblical site of Tel Gezer discovered a boundary stone inscribed with both Greek and Hebrew text dating to the period of conflict between the Seleucids and the Maccabees.
By JTA
President Obama celebrated the values of communities petitioning government at a White House reception honoring Jewish American Heritage Month. "We don’t just celebrate all that American Jews have done for our country; we also look toward the future," he said. "And as we do, I know that those of you in this room, but folks […]
By Tibbi Singer
Four leading actors from the hit shows CSI:NY and CSI:Miami are touring Israel as guests of the Tourism Ministry. Jonathan Frederick Togo and Omar Benson Miller (stars of CSI: Miami) and Carmine Giovinazzo and AJ Buckley (stars of CSI: NY), will visit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea and Masada and the Galilee.
The Commerce Department's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) published a notice regarding a petition it received on January 11, 2012 from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), requesting formal designation of Arab-Americans as a minority group that is socially or economically disadvantaged.
"Iran is here," said Northern Command Chief Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, "its negative influence is significant in the Gaza Strip, in Lebanon and in Syria." He also warned, "al-Qaeda might attack Israel in time." Meanwhile, an Iranian official threatens that a Syrian war would "engulf" Israel.
According to a report in the semi-official Fars News Agency, Iran's foreign ministry has blamed Israel for the recent massacre of Syrian civilians in Houla, claiming that “we palpably feel the Zionist regime's hand in Syria's internal developments."
For many Tel Avivians, this past Shavuot seemed different. More than just another day to hit the beaches, and maybe indulge in some cheesecake, Israel's "White City" was dotted with groups celebrating the religious and spiritual aspect of the seminal holiday.
By Jewish Press Staff Reporter
The Israeli government announced on Tuesday that, for the first time, it will pay the salaries of a small number of Reform and Conservative rabbis who are considered leaders in their communities, and will also recognize them as rabbis.
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
A year after the devastating Fogel family massacre – Itamar is still strong and growing.
The bodies of terrorists killed during terror attacks which murdered hundreds of Israelis will be transferred to the Palestinian Authority this week as a gesture to President Mahmoud Abbas, according to Ynet on Tuesday.
An Israeli military court Tuesday sentenced Bassem al-Tamimi, a 45 year old Palestinian man who encourages Palestinian youth to attack Israeli soldiers with projectiles, was sentenced to 13 months in jail. Al-Tamimi, who garnered the support of the European Union, which criticized Israel for imprisoning him, was released after the trial, having served all 13 […]
By Anav Silverman, Tazpit News Agency
Utilizing social networking as its base, Jobsminer.com is the only job search engine that aggregates jobs in real time from social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and more.
By JTA
The Israeli government will begin paying non-Orthodox rabbis and recognizing them as community leaders. The attorney general’s office advised the Supreme Court Tuesday that Reform and Conservative rabbis in some parts of Israel will be recognized as “rabbis of non-Orthodox communities” and will receive wages equal to those of their Orthodox counterparts. Only rabbis in […]
By JTA
Honeymooning Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his bride, Priscilla Chan, paid $40 for lunch at a Jewish restaurant in Rome’s historic ghetto but did not leave a tip, according to Italian media. Newspapers ran pictures of what they said was the billionaire couple’s bill at the Nonna Betta restaurant -- Jewish style artichokes and fried […]
By JTA
Polish officials called on President Obama to apologize for using the term "Polish death camps." While Holocaust historians say the record of Polish behavior during the Holocaust is vexed and contradictory.
The streets of Jerusalem on the special day commemorating the city's reunification. A celebration of youthful energy, enthusiasm, and love of the Jewish homeland. Everyone is included and dancing together from all backgrounds in an overflowing expression of unity. Original footage 2012 shot by JewishPress.com's Jerusalem based videographer Natan Epstein. Music by Shlomo Katz, "There […]
The revelation is particularly disturbing because Israel recently agreed to ease restrictions on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails so that they would end their hunger strike. An explicit term of the agreement required the prisoners to sign a pledge forswearing terrorist activity.
Thousands gathered overnight in Tahrir Square, Cairo, to demonstrate against Egypt's election results which will pit deposed ruler Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Mursi in a runoff election on June 16 and 17.
By JTA
The body of an American tourist missing since last week was discovered near Beit Shean. A large-scale search was mounted over the weekend for the missing tourist. Herman Kuehn, 80, of Platte County, Missouri, was separated from his group on May 26, while visiting the antiquities sites in Beit Shean, in north eastern Israel. His […]
The players on England's Euro 2012 soccer squad will visit the Auschwitz death camp when they travel to Poland for the European Championship. The final tournament of the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, or Euro 2012, will be hosted by Poland and the Ukraine between June 8 and July 1, 2012. England's players will go […]
Discovered in a Roman-era excavation near the city of Silves, Portugal by archaeologists from the German Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the discovery predates the previous oldest evidence of Jews in Iberia by nearly a century.
By JTA
The Cannes film festival screening of "The Anti-Semite," a film by an anti-Semitic French comic, was cancelled. The film by and starring Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala, was produced by the Iranian Documentary and Experimental Film Center. It reportedly pokes fun at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, where an estimated 1.5 million Jews were murdered during the […]
Iran has used operatives in assassination attempts on Israeli and American diplomats in seven countries over a period of 13 months, the Washington Post reported. Last November, the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan received a message that then Ambassador Matthew Bryza was the target of a plot to kill Americans, along with other embassy officials. U.S. […]
The escalating atrocities in Syria may trigger a U.S. military intervention, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told Fox News on Monday. He spoke in the wake of the Hula massacre that left more than 100 dead. Dempsey said that military options are currently in development. "Of course – there is […]
Deputy Minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee Ayoob Kara on Monday called on Western democracies "to stop their intolerable procrastination, which allows the Assad regime to continue its massacres."
Five yeshiva high school students from Jerusalem were detained Sunday, after an altercation with an Arab at “HaKotel HaKatan,” near the Western Wall, Honenu reports. The students were held in remand until the middle of the night and then released on condition of a restraining order banning them from entering the Old City of Jerusalem for 15 days.
Kaspersky Lab announced on Monday the discovery of a highly sophisticated malicious program being used as a cyber weapon attacking several countries. The complexity of the newly discovered malicious program exceeds those of all other cyber menaces known to date.
Barak took the opportunity to reiterate that "All options remain firmly on the table."
Saudi Muslims have launched several campaigns against McDonald's in "response to the savage attacks on the noble Prophet," under banners like "Help your Prophet!" and "Together in support of the Prophet."
By JTA
Evidence found in an underground bunker in Iran could signal the country’s having moved one step closer toward the uranium threshold needed to make nuclear arms, International Atomic Energy Agency diplomats said today. IAEA inspectors found traces of uranium enriched up to 27 percent at Iran's Fordo enrichment plant.
Ground Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Shlomo (Sami) Turgeman this week presented the IDF future project to supply soldiers in the field with equipment capable of intercepting rockets, similar to the successful anti-rocket defense system, the Iron Dome.
By JTA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday decried violence against African migrants following a night of violent protest and promised the problem of African infiltrators would be solved. "There is no place for either the expressions or the actions that we witnessed last night," said Netanyahu one day after a demonstration in south Tel Aviv […]
By JTA
Israel's Arava Power Company has closed on financing for eight solar power projects worth $204 million. Arava, based in Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel, will build five solar energy fields in the Negev. The company also will be building three solar projects in the kibbutz communities of Kerem Shalom, Mishmar HaNegev and Bror Hail. “We […]
By JTA
An Israeli-Arab immigrant to the United States was found guilty of murder in Michigan. Elias Abuelazam, 33, a Christian Arab from Ramla, was found guilty Tuesday in the stabbing death of Arnold Minor, 49. He was accused of killing three people during a series of killings and attacks in three U.S. states during the summer […]
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel is returning $105,000 in campaign contributions, as the FBI is investigating possible campaign finance violations. The donations raised suspicions because they were made by individuals who never before had made campaign donations, and whose income didn't appear high enough to enable them to be this generous.
By Shalom Bear
US Glatt kosher deli manufacturer Abeles and Heyman merged with Israeli company Yehiam to help both expand their reach in the US market.
Iranian officials and media painted the six-nation bloc as the source of intransigence and focused its ire specifically at America. "We believe the reason they are not able to reach a result is America. The P5+1 came to Baghdad without a clear mandate so we think the atmosphere is difficult," an Iranian delegate told Reuters.
By Noah Wiener, Bible History Daily
The General Authority for Antiquities and Heritage in Iraq has filed a lawsuit against the Oil Projects Committee in an attempt to prevent the construction of the pipeline, which would pass through the wall of the 1,400 year old castle known as the Babil Fortress.
According to Najem News —which says the bank's policy "contradicts Jordan's laws and constitutions"—the bank "fired all female employees who refused to wear the hijab, after warning them that it is mandatory, despite the fact that some of the employees are Christians."
The general director of Peace Now, Yariv Oppenheier, has urged Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to open a criminal investigation into MKs Miri Regev (Likud), Danny Danon (Likud), and Michael Ben-Ari (National Union), for making speeches Wednesday in Tel Aviv he says incite racism and violence.
The IntelCollaborative Research Institute for Computational Intelligence, the Technion Institute in Haifa and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem will team up to research technology that “learns” about the user, imitating the human brain.
Manny Pacquiao, the World Boxing Organization welterweight champion, will visit Israel after his title defense fight against Timothy Bradley on June 9, according to his Jewish promoter Bob Arum in a report by JTA.
The Aleph Institute, a Chabad-Lubavitch organization catering to the needs of Jewish soldiers and their families, is helping servicemen celebrate the upcoming holiday of Shavuot with 1,000 special military edition Torah books, according to a report on Chabad.org.
By JTA
The 144-page indictment seeks 10 aggravated life jail sentences for each commander, including former Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, according to the English-language Turkish news service Today's Zaman, citing the Sabah daily.
Belgium’s health minister Laurette Onkelinx said she was “profoundly troubled” by the behavior of her Israeli counterpart, Yaakov Litzman, after the Haredi official refused to shake her hand at a conference. The website Juif.org wrote: "There are indeed only two possibilities: either this lady is ignorant, or has malicious intent."
By JTA
Mitt Romney is meeting with some 30 major Jewish donors to his presidential campaign as part of a "constituents day." The former Massachusetts governor and all-but-certain Republican nominee for president, will meet for about an hour with the donors in Boston on Thursday. A donor who was invited told JTA that the purpose of the […]
Two IDF soldiers were injured as a result of terrorist gunfire while engaged in routine security activity at the Gaza Strip security fence on Wednesday. The soldiers received initial medical treatment on site and were evacuated by helicopter to the Soroka hospital in Be'er Sheva. IDF soldiers responded with gunfire. Just last week, IDF soldiers […]
In anticipation of the historic Presidential elections being held today, the Egyptian Independent offered a survey of the foreign policy platforms of the candidates. Despite their differences, they speak in one voice about the need to restore Egypt to its rightful place of primacy in the Arab world and their hostility towards Israel.
By dvora
The sellout crowd that filled Citi Field on Sunday night wore black and white, not the New York Mets’ blue and orange. And instead of jeering the Philadelphia Phillies or Atlanta Braves, they faced a foe that was, intheir view, far more formidable: the World Wide Web.
Angry and frightened working-class residents in parts of Tel Aviv are accusing Israeli police and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai of failing to aggressively confront an unprecedented spike in the number of violent acts against local citizens by a growing number of illegal African refugees.
By Assaf Yair and Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Training held on Jerusalem College of Engineering campus. ZAKA volunteers: "The objective is to create a unified work technique"
By Sara Macias, Israel Campus Beat
Students at the University of Toronto used the cold Canadian winters as a way to promote open dialogue about Israel and educate their fellow students with a campaign they called Hot Chocolate, Hot Topic.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, received an award Tuesday night for her role in fighting terrorism through international courts and defending the civil rights of Israeli terror victims. Having dealt a heavy blow to Syria, now she's after the Bank of China.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) raised its 2012 economic growth estimate for Israel to 3.2 percent, up from its November estimate of 2.9 percent.
Rabbi Shlomo Rosenfeld: "The Jewish people are again being made a scapegoat for the lack of world peace while the Palestinian terrorists and murderers are depicted as innocent peace seekers. I want to state in no uncertain terms that the EU’s one sided support of the Palestinian demands is an extension of the Holocaust.”
Israel Antiquities Authority and the Ir David Foundation announced that a clay seal was discovered bearing the name of the city of Bethlehem, evidence that the city existed during the period of the First Temple in Jerusalem. The find coincides with the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, during which time Jews from around the world focus on the story of the biblical figure Ruth, set in the city of Bethlehem.
Nefesh B’Nefesh organized a special celebration yesterday in Ein Yael, Jerusalem for new Olim to better prepare them for their first Shavuot in Israel.
Retired general turned security analyst and Junta spokesman Sameh Seif Al-Yazal told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that rumors about an Israeli military intervention in Egypt are "misguided," because it was "not in Israel’s interest to fight Egypt at the present time, as the situation remained tense with its other neighbors."
By JTA
A leader of Yemen's Jewish community was stabbed to death at a market in the capital of Sana'a. The victim, identified in media reports as Harun Yusuf or Aaron Joseph Zindani, 50, reportedly was stabbed in the neck and in the stomach. He died Tuesday. His Muslim assailant accused him of casting a spell on […]
By JTA
The Israeli band Izabo failed to advance to the Eurovision Song Competition final Tuesday night. Izabo performed the song "Time" on Tuesday in the first semifinal of the competition, held this year in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority had unilaterally selected the band in February to represent Israel in the competition. It marked the […]
By Chabad.org
A young Jewish lay leader was murdered in Moscow over the weekend after attempting to stop a brawl between two rival, non-Jewish gangs. According to a statement from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, Yaakov Manasharshivili, 26, encountered the melee on Friday. When he tried to intervene, he was shot at point-blank range. Moscow […]
By Jewish Press Staff Reporter
On Monday an indictment was filed against two youths from the Ramat Migron outpost charged with assaulting a policeman. The two were arrested just before Shabbat last week, after, according to police, they refused to leave the outpost despite a closed military zone order effective on the site. According to police they violently resisted their removal from the site.
By JTA
Orthodox conversions in Israel are down by 31 percent over the past two years, according to a new report. “Both demographic changes and bureaucratic hurdles have contributed to this change,” said Rabbi Seth Farber, director of ITIM: Resources and Advocacy for Jewish Life. The ITIM study, released on the eve of Shavuot, the holiday in […]
Anatolia News Agency cited a Cypriot official as saying that Netanyahu offered to build a gas terminal for Cyprus on condition that all 10,000 construction workers be Israeli citizens and that 20,000 Israeli "commandos" be deployed to protect the workers and the terminal.
A Jerusalem Day attack on a family of Jews driving near the community of Maale HaZeitim in the Arab Ras al Amoud neighborhood has increased tension between Jews and Muslims in the region, amid intensified demands from Jewish residents that Jerusalem police forces crack down on threats to security.
Frequent travelers to the US from Israel – and vice versa - will soon have a smoother time making the landing, thanks to Israel’s entry into the US Global Entry Program.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday urged Israeli leaders to surrender large swaths of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority if they want peace. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat disagree.