Shorts: Mideast

Knesset gets first female speaker

jerusalem (jta) | Dalia Itzik was sworn in last week as the first female Knesset speaker.

A former Cabinet minister and Labor Party veteran, Kadima member Itzik was sworn in May 4 as Israel's Parliament convened to approve Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's new government.




Israel saves Abbas?

jerusalem (jta) | Israel reportedly saved Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from a Hamas assassination plot.

Britain's Sunday Times reported that Abbas recently canceled a trip to the Gaza Strip after being notified by Israel that he and an allied leader of his Fatah faction, Mohammed Dahlan, could be targeted by the radical Islamic group.

Earlier this month, Palestinian Authority officials said a tunnel had been discovered under Abbas' official residence in Gaza, but offered no explanation.




Poll: Israelis are world's leading Internet users

jerusalem (ynetnews) | Israelis are the world's leading Internet users, spending an average of 57-and-a-half hours per month surfing the Web, compared to a global average of only 31-and-a-third monthly hours per surfer, an international survey conducted by the American-based comScore Networks revealed.

While Israelis may take pride in the poll's findings, other recent studies that concentrated on the virtual world showed that Israelis also "excel" in their rudeness and inflammatory language when it comes to online talk, to an extent unmatched by any other country in the world.




Petach Tikvah shul desecrated

jerusalem (jps) | The main synagogue in Petach Tikvah was broken into and desecrated last week.

On May 2, the perpetrators drew swastikas on the walls, ark and Torah scrolls. They also wrote "Hitler" on the doors of the synagogue and flung the contents of the ark onto the floor.

They covered every Jewish symbol with spray paint and signed the name Rammstein — the name of a German heavy metal band who some associate with neo-Nazism.




Health minister lights up on TV

jerusalem (jps) | Health Minister Ya'acov Ben-Yizri caused a minor uproar among public health advocates and anti-smoking activists when he was interviewed on TV while smoking cigarettes.

The 78-year-old minister is not alone in the Cabinet. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is known to be partial to cigars, and Environment Minister Gideon Ezra is a heavy cigarette smoker.




Water buffalo gets kosher stamp

jerusalem (jps) | How about throwing a water buffalo steak on the barbeque to impress your friends?

Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar would not object. After two years of deliberations, Amar ruled this week that water buffalo is kosher.

The chief rabbi meticulously investigated the buffalo's culinary history, anatomy and eating habits with the aid of Dr. Zohar Amar of Bar Ilan University.

Authentic mozzarella cheese is produced from water buffalo milk, which is also noted for its medicinal uses.