By:  ICEJ News

Rumors that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cancer have gained strength in recent days, leading to a flurry of political activity. Turkish media confirmed last month that the popular 57-year-old leader had undergone stomach surgery, but denied that any tumor had been found. “It was a preventative operation,” Turkish President Abdullah Gul said. “There is nothing more normal than someone who has undergone an operation to rest for a while.” But rumors have persisted in the Turkish blogosphere that Erdogan’s condition is much more serious than his public statements indicate. Edogan’s AKP political party include term limits which would not allow him to run for another term as Prime Minister, so it was widely expected that he’d run for the largely ceremonial post of president in 2014. Polls indicate that Turkish voters would be much less supportive of the AKP if anyone besides Erdogan was running it, leaving his potential successors in a difficult position.

Israel wins debating prize
Israeli brothers and Tel Aviv University students Omer, 26, and Sella Nevo, 22, won the World University Debating Championships for English as a second language on Tuesday, the third year in a row the prize has been won by an Israeli team. “People think, ‘Oh we’re Israelis; we have to win because we argue all the time.’ But really we win it in spite of this. Also, in spite of the stereotype, Israelis can be very good at listening and understanding people; they just have to learn how to do it,” explained debate team coach Yoni Cohen- Idov, who won the competition for Israel last year. “After the debates, we can have beers with one another and can be wonderful ambassadors of Israel. I don’t know any other competitive fields like that.”

Liberal MEP encourages Israel
Hans Van Baalen, a member of the European Parliament and President of the London based Liberal International organization, earlier this week visited Israel to deliver a speech to the Israel Liberal Group, part of an old political faction which joined with Likud in 1973. Van Baalen also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him that he is in support of granting Israel observer status in NATO along with upgrading its relations with the European Union. He described the European Parliament as being one-third pro-Israel, one-third anti-Israel, and one-third undecided and uninformed.

Google making large investments in Israel
Google Inc., one of the world’s largest corporations, has acquired several Israeli businesses, hired hundreds of Israeli employees and continues to expand its operations in the Jewish state by raising capital for Israeli high-tech start-ups. At a recent session playfully titled “Garage Geeks” David Lawee, Google’s mergers and acquisitions chief, met with over 100 Israeli companies who were hoping to attract Google’s attention. Google set up an investment fund shortly thereafter. High-tech already accounts for 47% of Israeli exports and employs hundreds of thousands of Israelis either directly or indirectly. Industry representatives say that Israeli start-ups are badly in need of foreign investment since the local capital markets, including government funding for research, have mostly dried up.

Olmert and Lupolianski formally charged
On Thursday morning, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was charged by Tel Aviv District Prosecutors for having accepted bribes in the Holy Land real estate affair. In 2010, police announced that they was suspected Olmert had accepted a million shekels in bribes in order to give the green light for the construction project. Olmert was then questioned about the matter, but denied all allegations against him. In addition to Olmert, Thursday also saw charges filed against Olmert’s bureau chief Shula Zaken, along with former Jerusalem mayor Uri Lupolianski. The Holy Land affair was a building project in southern Jerusalem which has gone down in history as being the worst corruption case in Israel’s 63 year old history.