Daily Kickoff
What happened on the night of the kidnapping? — by David Horowitz & Mitch Ginsburg for the Times of Israel: “The three teens were waiting at Geva’ot Intersection, west of the settlement of Alon Shvut in the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem, soon after 10:15 p.m, looking to catch a ride heading west on Route 367 toward Beit Shemesh and from there to locations in central Israel where each of them lived… The prevailing assessment within the defense establishment is that the kidnappers, at least at first, only saw one of the hitchhikers, perhaps Yifrach, who did not know Shaar and Fraenkel. Only once the kidnappers’ Hyundai i35 came to a stop did the kidnappers realize that they would be outnumbered by their hostages within the small confines of the car. This may be what changed the nature of the crime from kidnapping to murder, security sources suggested.
“Inside the Hyundai, Israel alleges, were Hamas terrorists Amer Abu Aysha and Marwan Kawasme. Recognizing, too late, that the car was not an innocent Israeli vehicle, one of the teens called the police at 10:25 p.m. and whispered, “We’ve been kidnapped.” The call was transferred immediately to a senior female officer, who continued to ask questions but received no reply. The call lasted for 2:09 minutes and was then cut off. The officer called the number eight more times, but received three busy signals and reached voicemail five times… The kidnappers, apparently realizing that a call had been made, shot the three teens dead soon afterwards in the backseat of the car, military sources said.” [ToI]
President Obama’s Statement on the Deaths of Naftali Fraenkel, Eyal Yifrach, and Gilad Shaar: “On behalf of the American people I extend my deepest and heartfelt condolences to the families of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, and Naftali Fraenkel – who held Israeli and American citizenship. As a father, I cannot imagine the indescribable pain that the parents of these teenage boys are experiencing. The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms this senseless act of terror against innocent youth. From the outset, I have offered our full support to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice, and I encourage Israel and the Palestinian Authority to continue working together in that effort. I also urge all parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation. As the Israeli people deal with this tragedy, they have the full support and friendship of the United States.”
UK PM David Cameron’s Statement: “I am deeply saddened by the news that the bodies of the 3 Israeli boys kidnapped on June 12 have been found this evening. This was an appalling and inexcusable act of terror perpetrated against young teenagers. Britain will stand with Israel as it seeks to bring to justice those responsible. Tonight my thoughts and prayers are with the families of Gilad, Naftali and Eyal. No parent should ever have to suffer such heartache or grief.”
Bret Stephens OpEd – “Where are the Palestinian Mothers?”: “What kind of society produces such mothers? Whence the women who cheer on their boys to blow themselves up or murder the children of their neighbors? Well-intentioned Western liberals may prefer not to ask, because at least some of the conceivable answers may upset the comforting cliché that all human beings can relate on some level, whatever the cultural differences. Or they may accuse me of picking a few stray anecdotes and treating them as dispositive, as if I’m the only Western journalist to encounter the unsettling reality of a society sunk into a culture of hate. Or they can claim that I am ignoring the suffering of Palestinian women whose innocent children have died at Israeli hands.
“But I’m not ignoring that suffering. To kill innocent people deliberately is odious, to kill them accidentally or “collaterally” is, at a minimum, tragic. I just have yet to meet the Israeli mother who wants to raise her boys to become kidnappers and murderers—and who isn’t afraid of saying as much to visiting journalists… As for the Palestinians and their inveterate sympathizers in the West, perhaps they should note that a culture that too often openly celebrates martyrdom and murder is not fit for statehood, and that making excuses for that culture only makes it more unfit. Postwar Germany put itself through a process of moral rehabilitation that began with a recognition of what it had done. Palestinians who want a state should do the same, starting with the mothers.” [WSJ]
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Israel’s Emblaze Sues Apple Over Patent Infringement: “Apple Inc. pushed organizations such as Major League Baseball to adopt its format for streaming live video, causing them to infringe a patent, a lawyer for Emblaze Ltd. told jurors at the start of a federal trial… Emblaze, based in Hertzliya Pituach, Israel, argues its U.S. patent issued in 2002 covers a process for delivering live-streaming video over wireless networks without interruption… [Bloomberg]
NFL Veterans Walk Off Their Pain in Israeli Gait-Changing Shoes: “Former National Football League players facing knee and back pain are trying to walk it off with shoes best described as gait-changers… The closely held Israeli company that sells the shoes, AposTherapy, is betting ordinary Americans, desperate for non-invasive solutions to counter pain, will follow in the players’ wobbly footsteps. The products feature what look like two rubbery tennis ball halves attached to the bottom and retrain the muscles to reduce pain.” [Bloomberg]
The Power of Ideas: Gilad Rosenzweig of New High-Tech Start-Up, Smarter in the City:“Boston’s startup scene is booming, with clusters of new businesses cropping up in the Seaport and Kendall Square. But Gilad Rosenzweig wants to have the innovation economy expand into all corners of Boston. This month, he’s launching Smarter in the City—the country’s first inner-city high-tech startup accelerator program—in Dudley Square… Smarter in the City will offer an intense, six-month business-development training program to several startups out of its 1,100- square-foot space in the heart of Dudley Square. Each nascent company will also receive $5,000 in funding. Inaugural enterprises include KillerBoomBox, a publishing outfit focusing on the lifestyle of multicultural youth, and Mbadika, which creates engineering kits for students in the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the businesses Rosenzweig selected for the first round were spawned in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury, or have minority or women founders.” [BostonMag]
Financial Futures Pioneer Honors Japanese Consul Who Saved 6,000 Jews: “Decades before he founded a major financial marketplace, Leo Melamed learned a fundamental lesson about economics as a 7-year-old refugee in Japan. Mr. Melamed, who had fled Lithuania with his parents to escape the Nazis during World War II, saw how refugees could trade foreign currency on the Japanese black market, where, he said, American dollars could fetch four times their stated value…. Mr. Melamed was able to escape to Japan, and then America, because of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Lithuania who defied his government to issue transit visas that saved 6,000 Jews from almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis… Mr. Melamed is meeting with the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, as part of several events to honor Mr. Sugihara.” [DealBook]
The Lubavitcher Rebbe Died 20 Years Ago Today. Who Was He? [TabletMag]
FIRST LOOK: What Happened at Lydda? In his celebrated new book, Ari Shavit claims that “Zionism” committed a massacre in July 1948. Can the claim withstand scrutiny? by Martin Kramer [MosaicMag]
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