Israel begins giving COVID shots to children age 5 to 11

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel on Tuesday began administering the coronavirus vaccine to children age 5 to 11.

The country recently emerged from a fourth COVID wave and daily infections have been relatively low for the last few weeks. But Health Ministry statistics show that a large share of the new infections have been in children and teenagers.

Children age 5 to 11 make up nearly half of active cases. Officials hope the new inoculation campaign will help bring down the numbers and perhaps stave off a new wave.

Israeli media reported low demand for the shots on the first day they were available to this age group. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accompanied his son David, 9, on Tuesday to get his jab in a bid to encourage parents to have their children vaccinated.

Bennett held his son’s hand as he received the shot. David Bennett said he was a little scared but the shot didn’t hurt. The prime minister urged all eligible children to get vaccinated: “It protects our children and also parents,” he said.

Israel, which has a population of more than 9 million, has had more than 1.3 million infections since the start of the pandemic and more than 8,100 deaths.

-Associated Press

Israel's COVID-19 vaccine boosters show signs of taming Delta

JERUSALEM - Less than a month into a COVID-19 vaccine booster drive, Israel is seeing signs of an impact on the country's high infection and severe illness rates fueled by the fast-spreading Delta variant, officials and scientists say.

Delta hit Israel in June, just as the country began to reap the benefits of one of the world's fastest vaccine roll-outs.

With an open economy and most curbs scrapped, Israel went from single-digit daily infections and zero deaths to around 7,500 daily cases last week, 600 people hospitalized in serious condition and more than 150 people dying in that week alone.

On July 30, it began administering a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine to people over 60, the first country to do so. On Thursday it expanded eligibility to 40-year-olds and up whose second dose was given at least 5 months prior, saying the age may drop further.

In the past 10 days, the pandemic is abating among the first age group, more than a million of whom have received a third vaccine dose, according to Israeli health ministry data and scientists interviewed by Reuters.

The rate of disease spread among vaccinated people age 60 and over - known as the reproduction rate - began falling steadily around Aug. 13 and has dipped below 1, indicating that each infected person is transmitting the virus to fewer than one other person. A reproduction rate of less than 1 means an outbreak is subsiding.

Scientists said booster shots are having an impact on infections, but other factors are likely contributing to the decline as well.

"The numbers are still very high but what has changed is that the very high increase in the rate of infections and severe cases has diminished, as has the pace at which the pandemic is spreading," said Eran Segal, data scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science and an adviser to the government.

"This is likely due to the third booster shots, an uptake in people taking the first dose and the high number of people infected per week, possibly up to 100,000, who now have natural immunity," Segal said.

BOOSTER VS LOCKDOWN

After reaching one of the highest per-capita infection rates in the world this month, the question now is whether Israel can battle its way out of a fourth outbreak without imposing another lockdown that would damage its economy.

Evidence has emerged showing that while the vaccine is still highly effective in preventing serious illness, its protection diminishes with time. But there is no consensus among scientists and agencies that a third dose is necessary, and the World Health Organization has said more of the world should be vaccinated with a first dose before people receive a third dose.

The United States has announced plans to offer booster doses to all Americans, 8 months after their second vaccine dose, citing data showing diminishing protection. Canada, France and Germany have also planned booster campaigns.

About a million of Israel's 9.3 million population have so far chosen not to vaccinate at all and children under 12 are still not eligible for the shots. On Thursday, health officials said they have identified waning immunity among people under 40, although relatively few have fallen seriously ill.

According to Doron Gazit, a member of the Hebrew University's COVID-19 expert team which advises government, the rise in cases of severely ill vaccinated people in the 60 and older group has been steadily slowing to a halt in the last 10 days.

"We attribute this to the booster shots and to more cautious behavior recently," Gazit said.

More than half of those over 60 have received a third jab, according to the Health ministry.

The rate of new severe cases among unvaccinated patients 70 and older is now 7 times that of vaccinated patients, and the gap will continue to grow as long as infections rise, according to Gazit. Among those over 50, that gap is 4-fold.

"We are optimistic, but very cautious," Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz told public broadcaster Kan on Sunday. "It gives us more time, slows the spread and we're moving away from lockdown."

But even if the boosters are slowing the pandemic's pace, it is unlikely to fend Delta off entirely.

Dvir Aran, biomedical data scientist at Technion - Israel's Institute of Technology, said that while cases are retreating, other measures are needed alongside boosters to stop the pandemic. 

"It will take a long time until enough people get a third dose and until then thousands more people will getting seriously ill," Aran said.

Since Delta's surge, Israel has reimposed indoor mask wearing, limitations on gatherings and ramped up rapid testing.

Its "living with COVID" policy will be tested come September, when schools reopen after summer break and when the Jewish holiday season starts, with families traditionally gathering to celebrate.

-reuters

Israel requires COVID tests for children aged 3 and up

Israel is to require Covid tests from next week for children as young as three to enter schools, swimming pools, hotels or gyms as infections surge despite extensive adult vaccinations.

Israel already required children aged 12 and over to show a Green Pass re-introduced late last month showing a person's vaccination and testing status and whether they had recovered from Covid.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said from next Wednesday the state would fund unlimited tests for children aged three to 11.

The Magen David Adom emergency service said it had opened 120 rapid antigen testing centers nationwide.

Screening at these stations costs 52 shekels (around 17 euros) and allows those tested to obtain a Green Pass valid for 24 hours.

On Thursday, Bennett announced that Israel was also considering lowering the age limit for its campaign of booster vaccinations, currently offered only to those aged 60 and over.

"I estimate that this evening we will receive approval from the team on dealing with pandemics to vaccinate a lower age bracket with the booster, the third inoculation," the 49-year-old said. 

"Therefore, you must prepare to expand the range of ages for the third inoculation next week."

The booster vaccinations offered by Israel and some other countries have drawn criticism from the World Health Organization, which has said the global priority should be providing the standard inoculation to all. 

Israel has also announced mandatory quarantine for travelers, vaccinated or not, arriving from most countries of the world beginning Monday.

A country of nine million inhabitants, Israel was one of the first to launch a nationwide vaccination campaign in December, thanks to an agreement with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. 

The deal gave Israel quick access to millions of shots in exchange for medical data on the vaccine's effects. 

The campaign saw infection rates plummet, which allowed Israel to resume an almost normal routine, with schools, bars and concert venues open.

However, the more contagious Delta variant of the virus has driven a rise in cases to levels not seen since February.

The health ministry said Thursday it had recorded 5,946 new cases the previous day. 

In total, it has counted 921,083 cases and 6,593 deaths since the pandemic started early last year.

Agence France-Presse

Israeli troops mass at Gaza border amid rocket fire

GAZA/JERUSALEM - Israeli troops massed at Gaza's border on Thursday and Palestinian militants pounded Israel with rockets in intense hostilities that have caused international concern and touched off clashes between Jews and Arabs in Israel.

Days of violence between Jewish Israelis and the country's Arab minority worsened overnight, with synagogues attacked and fighting breaking out on the streets of some communities.

With concern growing that the violence that flared on Monday could spiral out of control, the United States is sending an envoy, Hady Amr, to the region. But efforts to end the worst hostilities in years appear so far to have made no progress.

In renewed air strikes on Gaza, Israel struck a six-storey residential building in Gaza City that it said belonged to Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Palestinian enclave.

At least 83 people have been killed in Gaza since violence escalated on Monday, medics said, further straining hospitals already under heavy pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are facing Israel and Covid-19. We are in between two enemies," said Asad Karam, 20, a construction worker, standing beside a road damaged during the air strikes. An electricity pole had collapsed by the road, its wires severed.

In the latest Palestinian rocket attacks, one rocket crashed into a building near Israel's commercial capital of Tel Aviv, injuring five Israelis, police said. Sirens blared in cities across southern Israel, sending thousands running for shelters.

Seven people have been killed in Israel, its military said.

"All of Israel is under attack. It's a very scary situation to be in," said Margo Aronovic, a 26-year-old student, in Tel Aviv.

Israel has prepared combat troops along the Gaza border and was in "various stages of preparing ground operations", a military spokesman said, a move that would recall similar incursions during Israel-Gaza wars in 2014 and 2008-2009.

Health authorities in Gaza said they were investigating the deaths of several people overnight who they said may have inhaled poisonous gas. Samples were being examined and they had yet to draw any final conclusions, they said.

U.S. President Joe Biden said he hoped fighting "will be closing down sooner than later". A British minister urged Israel and Hamas to "take a step back" from the escalation.

'OPEN-ENDED' CONFRONTATION

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to "continue acting to strike at the military capabilities of Hamas" and other Gaza groups. Hamas is regarded as a terrorist group by the United States and Israel.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces killed a senior Hamas commander and bombed several buildings, including high-rises and a bank, which Israel said was linked to the faction's activities.

Hamas signalled defiance, with its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, saying: "The confrontation with the enemy is open-ended."

Israel launched its offensive after Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in retaliation for Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Turkey, whose hosting of Hamas leaders in Istanbul in recent years has contributed to a falling out with Israel, called on Muslim countries to show a united and clear stance over the Israel-Gaza violence.

In the fighting inside Israel, where some in the 21% Arab minority have mounted violent pro-Palestinian protests, attacks by Jews on Arabs passing by in ethnically mixed areas have worsened.

One person was in critical condition after being shot by Arabs in the Arab-Jewish town of Lod, where authorities imposed a curfew, police said.

Over 150 arrests were made overnight in Lod and Arab towns in northern Israel, police said.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called for an end to "this madness".

"We are endangered by rockets that are being launched at our citizens and streets, and we are busying ourselves with a senseless civil war among ourselves," said the president, whose role is largely ceremonial.

FLIGHTS CANCELLED

A number of foreign carriers have cancelled flights to Israel because of the unrest.

The fatalities in Israel include a soldier killed while patrolling the Gaza border and six civilians, including two children and an Indian worker, medical authorities said.

Gaza's health ministry said 17 of the people killed in the enclave were children and seven were women. The Israeli military said some 400 of 1,600 rockets fired by Gaza factions had fallen short, potentially causing some Palestinian civilian casualties.

The conflict has led to the freezing of talks by Netanyahu's opponents on forming a governing coalition to unseat him after Israel's inconclusive March 23 election.

Although the latest problems in Jerusalem were the immediate trigger for hostilities, Palestinians are frustrated by setbacks to their aspirations for an independent state in recent years.

These include Washington's recognition of disputed Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a U.S. plan to end the conflict that they saw as favorable to Israel and settlement building.

-reuters

Israel sees limits of Trump support with Syria pullout

JERUSALEM — Israeli leaders have lauded Donald Trump for his list of decisions in support of their country since taking office, but the mercurial president's withdrawal of US troops from Syria will not rank among them.

After Trump's surprise announcement of the pullout last week, Israel is concerned over whether its main enemy Iran will have a freer hand to operate in the neighbouring country, analysts say.

Israel's response to the announcement has been measured -- careful to point out that it respects the US decision, coupled with pledges to continue to defend its interests in Syria.


But beneath those public pronouncements are worries over whether Iran will seek to take advantage of the US absence from the war-torn country and if Russia will respond to Israel's calls to limit it.

Beyond that, the manner in which the decision was taken and announced -- and US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis's resignation in response -- may also give Israeli leaders pause, some analysts say.

"Since it's our major ally, we want the United States to be strong ... and we want an ally which is being perceived in the region as strong and effective," said Eyal Zisser, vice rector of Tel Aviv University and who has written extensively on Syria.

"And I think that what worries some Israelis is what message does this decision -- the way it was taken, what stood behind it -- send to the region?"

'Even expand our activities'

The United States has only around 2,000 troops in Syria focused on fighting the Islamic State group, but they have been deployed in two areas along the Iraqi border, helping keep Iranian movement into the country in check.

There have been warnings from Israel and others that Iran is seeking to form a "land bridge" across to the Mediterranean, and some analysts have said that the US withdrawal could help that effort.

With Iran supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country's civil war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long pledged to keep it from entrenching itself militarily next door.

Israel has repeatedly taken action, carrying out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria against what it says are Iranian military targets and advanced arms deliveries to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group.

With the United States pulling out, Israel may look more to Russia, which is also backing Assad, to use its influence to limit Iran, some analysts say.

But that is not a given, and a friendly fire incident in September that led to a Russian plane being downed by Syrian air defences during an Israeli strike remains an issue.

The incident angered Russia and complicated Israel's operations in Syria, particularly after Moscow's delivery of the advanced S-300 air defence system there in response.

Netanyahu and Israel's military chief of staff, Gadi Eisenkot, on Sunday sought to tamp down concerns over the withdrawal.

The Israeli premier has indicated he was not taken off-guard, saying he had spoken with Trump two days before the December 19 announcement as well as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo the previous day.

"The decision to remove the 2,000 US soldiers from Syria won't change our consistent policy," Netanyahu said Sunday.

"We will continue to act against Iran's attempt to establish a military presence in Syria, and if the need arises, we will even expand our activities there."

'A free ride'

Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu and ex-military intelligence official, noted US troops were not directly involved in Israel's fight against Iran's presence in Syria.

But he said concerns over whether Iran will take advantage of the US withdrawal were legitimate.

"From now on, it will be a free ride for the Iranians and they will use the corridor logistically to enhance their capabilities to build the military forces in Syria and to help Hezbollah afterwards," he told AFP.

An analysis by the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank said "Israel is among the most important losers" of the withdrawal, along with the United States' Kurdish allies in Syria.

But Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will continue to "defend ourselves" and Eisenkot, the military chief of staff, called it "a significant event but it should not be overstated".

"For decades we’ve been handling this front alone," said Eisenkot.

source: philstar.com

Israel to build first new West Bank settlement since 1990s

AMONA, West Bank -- Israel said on Wednesday it would establish a new settlement in the occupied West Bank, the first since the late 1990s, to rehouse settlers evicted on the same day from an outpost built on private Palestinian land.

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he was making good on a commitment to the settlers of Amona and had ordered the formation of a committee to locate a site where they could rebuild their homes.

"As promised a month and a half ago to the settlers, (Netanyahu) has set up a committee that will promote the establishment of a new settlement ... It will begin work immediately to locate a spot and to establish the settlement," a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.

The announcement was made shortly after Israel's Supreme Court rejected a government plan to rehouse some of the Amona settlers on an adjacent plot because it ruled that homes built there would also encroach on land owned by Palestinians.

According to the Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, Israel last established new settlements in the West Bank in 1999, although outposts such as Amona, that settlers set up without official permission, have been built far more recently.

Around 330 Israeli settlers live in Amona, the largest of scores of outposts built in the West Bank. The Supreme Court ruled in November, after a lengthy legal battle, that settlers had to leave because their homes were built on privately owned Palestinian land.

On Wednesday, rightist protesters scuffled with Israeli police carrying out a court order to evict the Amona settlers, hours after the government announced more construction in larger settlements.

With no weapons visible but wearing backpacks, hundreds of police walked past burning tires and pushed back against scores of nationalist Israeli youths who flocked to Amona in support of the settlers.

Working into the night the forces made slow progress, with three or four policemen at a time lifting each of the protesters out of dwellings in which they had holed up, and carrying them away onto buses.

By dark police said many of Amona's 40 families had left but some protesters remained holed up in the settlement's synagogue and negotiations were ongoing to secure an orderly eviction.

Thirteen protesters were detained by police during the scuffles and there were a few instances of stone-throwing. A police spokesmen said at least 20 officers were injured slightly by rocks and caustic liquid thrown at them.

"A Jew doesn't evict a Jew!" the youngsters chanted.

The Amona settlers themselves stayed largely put inside their homes after erecting makeshift barriers in front of their doors and vowing passive resistance to eviction.

"We won't leave our homes on our own. Pull us out, and we'll go," one settler told reporters. "It is a black day for Zionism."

On a nearby hilltop, Issa Zayed, a Palestinian who said he was one of the owners of the land on which Amona was built, watched the scene through binoculars. "With God's help, it will be evacuated and our land will return to us," he said.

Most countries consider all Israeli settlements to be illegal. Israel disagrees, citing historical and political links to the land - which the Palestinians also assert -- as well as security interests.

New settler homes

Earlier, Israel announced plans for 3,000 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the third such declaration in 11 days since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. Trump, a Republican, has signaled he could be more accommodating toward such projects than his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama.

An announcement a week ago by Israel that it would build some 2,500 more dwellings in the West Bank, territory captured in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war and where Palestinians now seek statehood, drew rebukes from the Palestinians and the European Union. It followed approval a few days before of over 560 new homes in East Jerusalem, also taken by Israel in 1967.

"The decision ... will place obstacles in the path of any effort to start a peace process that will lead to security and peace," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

In 2006 Amona saw a violent partial eviction, with nine shacks torn down by authorities. Police were confronted by thousands of settlers and more than 200 people were injured.

The Amona issue had caused tension within Netanyahu's coalition government. But it eased after he got behind a law proposed by the Jewish Home party, a far-right political ally, to retroactively legalize dozens of outposts. This would not apply to Amona because of the existing court decision.

"We have lost the battle over Amona but we are winning the campaign for the Land of Israel," Cabinet minister and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett tweeted after the evacuation began.

Parliament is expected to pass the legislation next week. It is opposed, however, by Israel's attorney-general, and legal experts predict that it will eventually be overturned in court.

source: interaksyon.com

Pinay caregiver Rose Fostanes does it ‘My Way’, wins ‘X Factor Israel’

Filipina caregiver Rose Fostanes completed her Cinderella story Tuesday night in Tel Aviv (early Wednesday morning, Manila time), winning the first season of “The X Factor Israel”.

Singing Frank Sinatra’s signature song “My Way”, the 47-year-old native of Taguig City won on her own terms and displayed the form that made her the darling of the Israeli version of the British singing competition created by former “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell.

“There’s nothing to say but you did it your way. I’m so proud of you. Everyone’s proud of you,” the show’s host, Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli, told Fostanes right after her victory-clinching performance of the all-time Filipino karaoke favorite.

“Thank you so much for those Israeli who like my voice. Thank you for giving me the chance to be in ‘The X FactorIsrael’,” Fostanes said after she bested two other finalists. She also thanked the thousands of Filipinos in Israel who supported her.

Fostanes — who has been caring for an elderly Israeli woman for six years — was teary-eyed after her solo number, which was rewarded with thunderous cheers and a standing ovation from the judges and the studio audience.

The audience included her sister Nancy and her girlfriend Mel Adel, who had flown in from Manila to witness the finale.

One of the judges was also overcome with emotion  — her mentor Shiri Maimon, who performed a duet of Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You” with Fostanes during the show.

Fostanes won the finale representing the over-25s, the category for mature performers. Eden Ben Zaken (Girls category) placed second, while Ori Shakiv (Boys category) came in third.

An extremely popular song in karaoke bars in the Philippines, “My Way” nonetheless got a bad rap in recent years after from many bars that banned the song (link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/7199022/My-Way-deaths-lead-karaoke-bars-in-Philippines-to-ban-song.html) after singing it led to several “karaoke killings” in recent years.

“My Way”, however, proved to be a lucky choice for Fostanes as the only thing she “killed” was her performance that drew a standing ovation from the studio audience and judges composed of Israeli music sensations Ivri Lider, Moshe Peretz, Rami Fortes and Shiri Maimon.

Since “The X-Factor Israel” turned her into a household name and now, a global phenomenon, Fostanes is often compared with Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle who shot to fame in 2009 after joining “Britain’s Got Talent”, another talent show created by Cowell.

Fostanes, however, achieved in “The X-Factor Israel” what Boyle had failed to do in “Britain’s Got Talent”—win it all.

And she has the estimated 40,000 OFW population in Israel to thank for it. It is widely believed that her fellow OFWs, including the 16,000 strong “That’s My Tomboy of Israel” group rallied and voted for her to win in the contest.

“mabuhay ka idol INSPIRASYON KA, HERO KA, WE LOVE YOU MATUTUPAD MO NA LAHAT NG PANGARAP MO SA BUHAY…. HAPPY KAMI FOR YOU, BUONG BANSA AY NAG DIDIWANG NGAYON, KAHIT SANG PARTE NG MUNDO NA MAY OFW NAG DIDIWANG,” went the latest Facebook post of “That’s My Tomboy of Israel” shortly after Fostanes won.

Fostanes made no bones about her sexual orientation, admitting in interviews that she misses not only her family but also her girlfriend who is based in Manila.

Adel, Fostanes’ girlfriend, flew to Israel together with the singer’s younger sister, Nancy to personally lend their moral support and ultimately, to witness the victory of the newly-crowned “X-Factor Israel” champ.

Watch Rose Fostanes perform “My Way” in “The X-Factor Israel” finale in this clip from the program as uploaded by Benjo Bojos:

source: interaksyon.com

Pinay caregiver Rose Fostanes shines spotlight on Israel’s low-paid foreign workers

TEL AVIV | Once part of a faceless crowd of foreign workers who clean homes and tend to Israel’s sick and elderly, a Filipina caregiver has shot to stardom on a popular TV singing contest.

Rose Fostanes, 47, surprised viewers of Israel’s X-Factor talent show and swept its judges off their feet with soulful renditions of pop songs by the likes of Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera. And she has rocked her way to Tuesday’s live final.

Fostanes hopes her popularity on the show will shine a spotlight on Israel’s low-paid foreign workers, who include about 20,000 Filipinos.

For many Israelis, the word “Filipino” has become synonymous with caregiver, and Fostanes’ appearance and success on X-Factor could help break the stereotype.

“I think I will be a leader for them because of what I did and I think also they will be proud of me,” she told Reuters on Sunday. “Everybody in the world will know that Filipinos, even working as a cleaner … can also share their talents.”

Fostanes, who came to Israel four years ago, has been working for about 20 years across the Middle East. She had always wanted to be a professional singer and the X-Factor gave her a shot at her dream.

At first she thought Israelis would not vote for a foreign worker, and that she would be an underdog in the competition, where viewers and a panel of four Israeli musicians determine at different stages which contender moves up and which gets dropped.

“I feel that everybody is looking at me like I was an alien,” she said on one of the early audition episodes of the show. “A Filipina working here, cleaning houses.”

Then Fostanes — who cares for an ailing woman in Tel Aviv — got on the stage and sang Lady Gaga’s “You and I”, winning a standing ovation from her competitors. To her surprise, the votes, cast via text messages and the show’s website, kept on coming and catapulted her to celebrity status.

“I get from them a lot of good compliments, especially when I’m on the street, when I’m on the bus. I get from them love, from all the Israeli people who saw my videos and saw me on the television,” Fostanes said.

Fostanes has been compared to the Scottish singer Susan Boyle, 52, who shot to fame in 2009 after appearing on the TV show “Britain’s Got Talent” and performing a powerful rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables”.

Boyle’s giddy rise from unknown to multi-million-selling recording artist has been made into a musical.

“My dream is to win this competition, but I have to go back to my work as a caregiver,” Fostanes said before getting up on the arena stage to rehearse one of the numbers she was due to sing at the finals, Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”.

source: interaksyon.com

Apple acquires Israel’s PrimeSense in a $350 million deal: report

Apple Inc agreed to buy Israel-based PrimeSense Ltd, a developer of chips that enable three-dimensional machine vision, for about $350 million, Bloomberg reported on Sunday citing a source.

PrimeSense’s sensing technology, which gives digital devices the ability to observe a scene in three dimensions, was used to help power Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect.

Apple’s interest in PrimeSense was first reported in July by the Israel-based Calacist news website.

Technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” a company spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told Reuters via email.

PrimeSense could not be immediately reached for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

The PrimeSense deal makes it Apple’s second purchase of an Israeli company. It bought flash storage chip maker Anobit in January 2012.

PrimeSense’s investors include Canaan Partners, Silver Lake, Gemini Israel Funds and Genesis Partners, Bloomberg reported.

source: interaksyon.com

Israeli government websites under mass hacking attack

JERUSALEM — More than 44 million hacking attempts have been made on Israeli government web sites since Wednesday when Israel began its Gaza air strikes, the government said on Sunday.

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said just one hacking attempt was successful on a site he did not want to name, but it was up and running after 10 minutes of downtime.

Typically, there are a few hundred hacking attempts a day on Israeli sites, the ministry said.

Attempts on defence-related sites have been the highest, while 10 million attempts have been made on the site of Israel’s president, 7 million on the Foreign Ministry and 3 million on the site of the prime minister.

A ministry spokesman said while the attacks have come from around the world, most have been from Israel and the Palestinian territories.

“The ministry’s computer division will continue to block the millions of cyber attacks,” Steinitz said. “We are enjoying the fruits of our investment in recent years in developing computerized defence systems.”

Steinitz has instructed his ministry to operate in emergency mode to counter attempts to undermine government sites.

Both sides in the Gaza conflict, but particularly Israel, are embracing the social media as one of their tools of warfare. The Israeli Defense Force has established a presence on nearly every platform available while Palestinian militants are active on Twitter.

“The war is taking place on three fronts. The first is physical, the second is on the world of social networks and the third is cyber,” said Carmela Avner, Israel’s chief information officer.

Last month, U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said cyberspace is the battlefield of the future, with attackers already going after banks and other financial systems. U.S. banks have been under sustained attack by suspected Iranian hackers thought to be responding to economic sanctions aimed at forcing Tehran to negotiate over its nuclear program.

source: interaksyon.com