Israel News for 6-28-17
Mossad Investing
The Mossad, Israel’s version of the CIA, has launched Libertad – a new fund for investing in technological innovation. The fund will be involved in investing in startups related to research and development for new technologies.
The fund is contacting civilian startups and asking for proposals for the development of content technologies of interest to the Mossad in its regular work. Those selected will receive investments of up to NIS 2 million per venture. In certain cases, the fund plans to invest larger amounts in various R&D ventures. The fund will not disclose the names of the companies it supports.
The Mossad’s areas of interest include breakthrough technologies in flexible robotics; miniaturized systems; navigability solutions and silencing solutions in the air, land and sea; innovative technologies offering solutions for expanding the scope of operations or reducing their dimensions; new high-speed information encryption technologies using methods described as “unconventional and pioneering;” technologies for automated identification of personal characteristics, based on online patterns of operation and behavior; and automated methods for summarizing documents, cataloging, extracting entities and semantic connections, etc.
The Mossad will receive licenses to use the technologies developed. The companies will benefit from business and commercial freedom of action. No restrictions whatsoever will be placed on the developments, nor will the companies be required to pay royalties to the Mossad or the state.
The fund plans to invest in five projects a year.
For further reading click here.
Cyber Warfare
Speaking at a cyber defense conference in Tel Aviv yesterday, Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman announced that the Shin Bet has gone on the offensive against hackers trying to carry out cyberattacks against Israel on the internet. He said that “passive defense” is not enough, and that the Shin Bet studied hackers’ strategies and developed “a variety of ways and methods” on how to strike back. Israeli cyber officials are ordinarily reluctant to discuss the use of offensive capabilities against hackers.
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Haley Stands Firm
Speaking on Tuesday before the House Appropriations State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, US Ambassador to the UN Nikkey Haley was asked to explain why the US blocked the appointment of Palestinian Authority PM Salam Fayyad as the UN envoy to Libya. Haley responded that while Fayyad was “very well qualified and is a good, decent person,” the decision was based on the fact “that the US does not recognize Palestine… and because that is how he was presented, we did oppose that position.”
She said, “If we don’t recognize Palestine as a state, we needed to acknowledge also that we could not sit there and put a Palestinian forward until the US changed its determination on that front.”
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Photo Gallery
A photo exhibition opened last week at the Jerusalem Theater that aims to portray Israel’s natural beauty and diversity. The exhibition is based on Karen Lehrman Bloch’s book “Passage to Israel,” which is filled with 200 images by 34 photographers taken across Israel and Jewish settlements. The Jerusalem exhibit features 30 photos by 21 photographers.
To view photos click here.
