By: Nadine Wojakovski – The Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

Released October 18, ‘TechTalk’ gives inside look at over 50 startups across the Jewish state, and is hosted by Anglo-Israelis Jonny Caplan and Jessy Katz of Israel’s ‘The Voice’

Over 50 cutting-edge Israeli tech companies are featured in the first season of a new series released on Amazon Prime Video on October 18 called “TechTalk.” Season two features startups in New York, and season three hits Los Angeles.

The show’s creator is co-founder of Tech Talk Media, Jonny Caplan. He’s a British-born entrepreneur who moved from England to Israel in 2013 to explore the Startup Nation’s “multipotential” tech scene.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/amazon-launches-series-on-hi-tech-with-focus-on-israels-startup-nation/

By: Eliana Rudee – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

“The whole world is learning that the gentiles can come celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with the people of Israel,” said spokesman David Parsons of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

This year, more than 5,000 Christians from all parts of the world gathered on Thursday for the city’s annual Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) festive march around Israel’s capital, which saw 10,000 participants in total.

The Jerusalem municipality organized and funded the march and entertainment events, with participants coming to Israel from 100 nations. The arrival of the Christian pilgrims, who come annually to Israel for Sukkot, was facilitated in part by ICEJ (International Christian Embassy Jerusalem), which connects Christians around the world to Israel based on the biblical significance of Jerusalem and in support of its connection to the Jewish people.

https://www.jns.org/5000-christians-show-their-support-for-israel-at-jerusalems-64th-sukkot-march/

By: Dale Hurd – CBN News; cbn.com

As the man dubbed “the sultan of 21st century Turkey,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been given more power than any other democratically elected leader in modern Turkey.  

Many believe Erdogan would like to revive the old Ottoman empire, and his erratic behavior has many allies and trading partners asking if he is a friend or foe. 

Turkey was once in line to join the European Union, but Erdogan all but destroyed his chances this week when he threatened to flood the EU with millions of Syrian refugees if any EU nation dares call his invasion of Syria “an invasion.”

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/2019/october/erdogan-turkeys-new-sultan-is-no-friend-of-the-united-states

By: Emily Jones – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – Gal Gadot is hitting the big screen again but this time she is playing a different kind of Wonder Woman – a Polish activist who risked her life to save 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis.

Gadot announced on Friday that she and her husband have formed a new production company called Pilot Wave, and she will star in its first production as Righteous Gentile Irena Sendler, who smuggled thousands of Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto to safety.

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2019/october/gal-gadot-to-produce-star-in-film-about-christian-woman-who-saved-2-500-jewish-children-from-nazis

By: Ethel G. Hofman – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

During the eight-day holiday of Sukkot (seven days in Israel), also called the Festival of Booths, family and friends are invited to eat outdoors in the sukkah, a temporary structure that reminds Jews of their wandering past.

Sukkot is akin to a Jewish Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving in America, no matter religion or background, families and friends come together to celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Mass., and to feast on a late harvest of autumn fruits and vegetables. It takes place indoors with family gathered round a table groaning with dozens of traditional heavy and belly-filling dishes.

https://www.jns.org/sukkot-a-jewish-thanksgiving/

By: Jeannie Law – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

Pop superstar Demi Lovato, who has been on a hiatus from music since she nearly died from an overdose in July 2018, was recently baptized in the Jordan River.

Lovato took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a photo of her baptism during a recent tour of the Holy Land. 

“I am an American singer. I was raised Christian and have Jewish ancestors. When I was offered an amazing opportunity to visit the places I’d read about in the Bible growing up, I said yes,” the multi-platinum singer wrote in the caption.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/demi-lovato-baptized-jordan-river.html

By: Eyal Zisser – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

Israel must do away with the obsolete paradigm guiding its analysis of Iran. As the recent attack on Saudi Arabia proves, Tehran has moved from proxy warfare to direct confrontation.

Israel this week marks the anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, a war that cost thousands of young Israelis their lives.

The war caught Israel completely off guard because Israeli intelligence analysts had been wedded to a paradigm that had them convinced war was very unlikely.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/israel-needs-to-wake-up-with-regard-to-the-iranian-threat/

By: Ellie Rudie – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

The agency’s failure to resolve the Palestinian refugee problem “is really the failure of its donors,” says former general counsel James Lindsay, and stems from its definition of who is a refugee.

“Direct pressure” by donors is the most likely way to induce the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to change, former UNRWA general counsel James Lindsay told JNS as the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly came to a close last week in New York.

https://www.jns.org/unrwa-must-evolve-or-dissolve-says-senior-agency-official-at-end-of-general-assembly/

By: Samuel Smith – The Christian Post; christianpost.com

A child welfare court in Norway has awarded custody of three American children who were removed from their parents’ home this year to the state child services agency even though the criminal case against their parents was dropped, the mother told The Christian Post. 

American citizen Natalya Shutakova, who along with her three children moved from Atlanta to just outside of Oslo last year so they could live with their Lithuanian father and husband, said she is heartbroken after a judge in Skien ruled this month in favor of Barnevernet.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/court-gives-norways-cps-permanent-custody-of-3-american-children-taken-away-from-parents.html

You can sleep well. Israel is in good hands – her own hands.

By: Micah Halpern – The Jerusalem Post; jpost.com

One of the ironclad principles of Israel, articulated first and best by prime minister David Ben-Gurion, is that Israel will not rely on anyone else for her defense; that first and foremost, Israel is responsible for her own security and her own destiny; that she will not pass on or subcontract through treaty or through alliance the safety of her country or of her citizens.

This is not mere rhetoric or diplomatic gamesmanship. It is a value grounded in the reality that no one can, or ever should, decide on the safety of the Jewish state – no one other than the Jewish citizens of Israel and their elected leaders. It is more than simply a question of trust. It is the knowledge that an ally will ultimately put their interests first and not yours.

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Above-the-Fold-Israel-takes-charge-of-its-own-defense-603208