Jerusalem News (20 May, 2015, 2 Sivan, 5775)
Contents:
1. Alleged Rabin conspiracy theorist tapped to head Communications Ministry by Naama Sikuler
2. Officers at Terror Scene: 'There Was No Time to Waste'Â Â by Yishai Karov
3. Israeli technology offers solutions to future agricultural problems  by Robert Swift
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1. Alleged Rabin conspiracy theorist tapped to head Communications Ministry
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4659638,00.html
Naama Sikuler
Published: 05.20.15, 16:07 / Israel News
Extracts:
An apparent conspiracy theorist regarding Yitzhak Rabin's assassination is about to be appointed head of the Communications Ministry.
After having fired the current director-general in a brief phone call, Prime Minister and Communications Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to appoint Shlomo Filber, a close ally, to fill the position.
A month after Rabin's assassination in 1995, Filber, then a law student, published a long article entitled "The theory of the blanks," in which he tried to establish that it was not a despicable murder by a right-winger, but rather a conspiracy involving leaders of the Israeli establishment and security circles.
Across four pages, Filber lays out an alternative explanation for the assassination: 'The theory of the blanks offers a possible answer to all questions. It says that the murder was basically a Shin Bet work accident.'Â
'The theory of the blanks assumes that those ranked above the Shin Bet might have been enticed to approve such a dangerous plan, due to the huge political windfall likely to result from such a drama for the prime minister and his party.'
Filber continues: "The theory states that something did not go as planned and at the last moment the killer changed either his weapon or his ammunition. According to this, after the murder, several people in the know did not realize that something had not gone as planned."
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Years after the article's writing, Filber served as head of Netanyahu's office during his first term as prime minister, then as vice-chairman and chairman of the Yesha Council. Later, he served as the secretary of Israel Railways' Board of Directors. During the 2015 elections, he served as the head of the Likud's Election Committee.
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2. Officers at Terror Scene: 'There Was No Time to Waste'Â Â by Yishai Karov
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/195651#.VVy7jUZ1w9o
Border Police officers present at Wednesday morning's car attack in A-Tur describe how training saved their lives.
First Publish: 5/20/2015, 5:29 PM
"During my shift in A-Tur, I identified a terrorist's vehicle speeding up deliberately towards other officers," A., a Sgt. Second Class, stated Wednesday afternoon. "I quickly realized that it was a terrorist attack and that there was not a second to waste. I acted quickly to prevent more innocent people from being hurt."
"We fired at the terrorist and neutralized him," another officer, who asked to remain anonymous, added. "It's one of the scenarios we were trained for, I have no doubt that it was over so quickly because soldiers are ready and prepared for any scenario."
Border Police commander, Major General Amos Jacob, came to visit the two injured policewomen in hospital and praised the quick work of officers at the scene.
"This is the third incident in a month in which Border Policemen thwarted an attack and prevented it from escalating," he reflected. "Recent events prove that accurate training works regarding lone terrorists who attack without any preliminary intelligence [on them] - vigilance starts and ends with the professionalism and determination of the officers."
Earlier Wednesday, an Arab motorist mowed into officers standing guard in the Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem, injuring two officers. He was shot dead by officers at the scene after doubling back to confirm his kill.Â
Tens of Arab rioters gathered at the scene and attempted to attack emergency responders.
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3. Israeli technology offers solutions to future agricultural problems  by Robert Swift
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4657710,00.html
The tough agricultural conditions in Israel forced its people to find innovative ways to farm, which could help deal with ever-increasing global demand for food.
Published: 05.15.15, 23:01 / Israel Business
Extracts:
Ten billion people. That is the number of mouths that farmers will have to feed in another two decades. In order to do this food production needs to increase by 70 percent.
'In recent years, due to the over usage of soils there are more problems with insects and diseases. At the same time, there is increased regulation on the usage of chemicals,' Yuval Fradkin, the head of Futura Graft told The Media Line. '(Modern) requirements lead to a point where you ask the plant to be some kind of super plant. On the one hand you ask it to provide the needs of the farmer and the market. At the same time you ask the plant to fight all the other problems in order to grow.'
Futura Graft were one of twelve companies speaking at a recent conference called Agrivest, offering new technologies for agriculture. Futura Graft's solution to the twin conundrums of increased food production and simultaneous reduction of the usage of harmful pesticides, is the application of robotics to an existing technique known as grafting. Grafting involves taking the roots from one plant and fusing them with the green stalk, or scion, of another, giving the plant the properties of both.
'This is not something that we invented. The Chinese used to do it thousands of years ago,' Fradkin points out. What Futura Graft are offering which is new is a reduction in the time spent grafting the rootstock to the scion, a process which is time consuming and requires numerous workers. 'We are just taking (grafting) and making it more advanced, with the ability to deal with more problems than they used to do in traditional grafting.'
This will benefit 'the population of the world, food production in general,' says Fradkin. If humanity is going to feed an additional 2.3 billion people by the half way point of this century, then new solutions are likely to be necessary.
 Among other startups at the conference were solutions based in data analysis, water filtration, remote sensors, biological cultivation and new techniques for food packaging. Each of the companies was hoping to gain exposure through the conference and attract new investors. Although solutions to the problems of the future were much in discussion, equally important at the conference was money and business potential.
As Baniel said, if you 'make wonderful things which are (too) expensive, you'll get compliments but no business.'
The importance of placing business at the forefront of agri-tech development was acknowledged by Oded Distil, Director of Israel New Tech and Invest in Israel, a branch of the Ministry of Economy.
'At the end of the day it has to be based on pure business rational, otherwise it doesn't work,' Oded told The Media Line.
But he was keen to stress the variables which were behind that rational: the need to grow more food; the requirement to use resources, Â ' land, water, whatever' , Â more efficiently; and the necessity to reduce the amount of damaging chemicals and pesticides being applied in agriculture.
Although the conference had an international flavor the strength of Israeli ventures amongst the startups, was apparent. 'A lot of it comes from our DNA, (in the past) we had to come up with solutions to certain problems. So you would find that throughout the years always we had innovation in this sector,. Oded said.
Israel.s tradition of agriculture in a tough environment and the success of its high-tech industry give it an advantage in the growing agri-tech industry. 'You've got a lot of international interest in this conference because Israel is in this game and has been for many years.'
'This comes down to the ever recurring question of the startup nation,' believes Oskar Laufer, from Phenome Networks, a data analysis firm which specializes in precision agriculture.
'There are a few well known factors which contributed to this: the availability of adventure capital; the large influx of (educated) Russian immigrants in the 90s; (the) culture of entrepreneurial spirit; the army - there is a lot of people who are developing technology in the army, Â a whole generation of people developing technology.'
This, he explains, blends well with the founding Zionists' focus on agriculture. 'Israel started with very tough agricultural circumstances, not a lot of water, a lot of desert, swamps here a hundred years ago, so the people who lived here were forced to be very inventive.'