Archive for month: April, 2021

News Update

At least 44 people were killed and as many as 150 injured, 23 of them critically, when a stampede broke out last night during Lag B’Omer festivities in Meron, in a compound used by the Hasidic Toldos Aharon community.

Over 100,000 people gathered in Meron to celebrate the festive night and day of Lag B’Omer, which is the Yahrzeit (anniversary of the passing) of the holy Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the second century sage who is believed to have authored the Zohar, the cornerstone text of the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism).

A preliminary police investigation revealed that as over 20,000 people walked through a narrow passage, some of the attendees slipped and fell down the stairs, creating a “human avalanche” that crushed members of the crowd. According to reports, the ground of the walkway was covered with slick metal flooring that may have been wet, causing some people to slip.

Ambulances and six IDF rescue helicopters evacuated the injured to Ziv Hospital in nearby Safed, to Rambam Hospital in Haifa and to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.

The PM visited the scene of the tragedy this morning and said that a national day of mourning would be held on Sunday. The attorney general ordered an investigation into how the police handled the events leading up to the disaster. In Jerusalem, Mayor Moshe Lion ordered the flags of the state and the city to fly at half mast. Public Security Minister Amir Ohana said an independent investigation was needed into all aspects of the planning and execution of the tragic event.

Social workers who speak Yiddish, which is a common language among the more conservative ultra-Orthodox communities, were dispatched to the Abu Kabir forensics institute in Tel Aviv, where the bodies of the victims were being identified.

President Reuven Rivlin said last night, “I have been following the reports from Meron in great shock, and I pray for the recovery of the injured. God please heal them.”

Jake Sullivan, White House National Security Advisor, said “Our hearts go out to the people of Israel tonight following the terrible tragedy at Mount Meron. We offer our condolences to the families and friends who lost loved ones in this disaster, and wish a full and swift recovery to those injured.” Other world leaders expressed their shock and condolences.

A terrorist who attempted to stab a soldier and a policeman near the town of Efrat was shot and wounded.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency and its ambassador to Washington on Thursday, and the Israeli officials expressed “deep concern” about Iran’s nuclear activities. The meeting in Washington followed talks this week between U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his Israeli counterpart in which the Israeli delegation stressed their “freedom to operate” against Iran as they see fit. Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen told Reuters on Thursday that war would be sure to follow if the United States and other powers reached what Israel considers a bad new nuclear deal with Iran.

Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon over their disputed maritime border will resume next week, according to a Lebanese newspaper report.

News Update

Police arrested 12 people last night while dispersing crowds that began throwing stones and bottles at police near the Nablus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City.  The unrest, which has been continuing nightly since the start of Ramadan, has spread to cities in the West Bank and along the Gaza border.

Last night, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai ordered the removal of the checkpoints and barricades at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. Following the announcement, hundreds of young Arabs in the area began “victory celebrations” in which they chanted, “In blood and fire we will redeem Palestine.”

Terrorists fired over 40 rockets from Gaza into Israel over the weekend after the Gaza leadership called for Palestinian resistance in Jerusalem. Four Israelis were lightly hurt while running for bomb shelters early this morning. The IDF carried out dozens of strikes against terror targets in Gaza in response to the rocket fire. Israel announced today that it has closed the fishing zone off the Gaza coast.

Naftali Bennett is engaged in talks with Yair Lapid to form a unity government, which would include the parties of Gideon Saar, Avigdor Lieberman and Benny Gantz as well as Labor and Meretz. Bennett would reportedly serve as PM first, in a rotation with Yair Lapid. Lapid would initially serve as Foreign Minister, Gantz as Defense Minister, Saar as Justice Minister and Lieberman as Finance Minister. However, Labor is threatening the deal by depending a senior Ministerial post for its leader.

PM Netanyahu reportedly offered to allow Shas leader Aryeh Deri to serve as Prime Minister in a rotation agreement. He also made the same offer to Gantz. Both men rejected the offer.

News Update

Tensions in Jerusalem are rising amidst growing unrest and violence by Arabs against Jews. Arab youth have been videoing attacks against Jews and posting them on the social media video app Tiktok, in what appears to be a new trend. Since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, police have been clashing with Arab youth congregating outside the Old City’s Damascus gate in the evenings, and at least 50 people have been arrested thus far. Last night, Jewish youths chanted “Death to the Arabs” and attacked at least one Arab man with pepper spray.

President Reuven Rivlin condemned the violence and called on the Palestinian leadership to intervene and join forces with their Jewish counterparts to end the attacks. He added, “These images of Jews suffering such bullying for no reason, in broad daylight, are disturbing.”

Officials at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Tuesday that special precautions were being put in place to protect Israeli diplomats around the world from possible terror attacks instigated by Iran. The precautions are based on increased intelligence indicated possible Iranian attacks on Israeli diplomats.

Sudan repealed a 1958 law forbidding diplomatic and economic ties with Israel. This means that Sudanese can do business with Israel and visit relatives living there. There are currently 6,000 Sudanese living in Israel.

PM Netanyahu is threatening to sue his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, if he does not apologize for saying, in an interview last week, that Netanyahu and his family suffer from mental illness. According to Channel 12 TV, a Netanyahu family attorney demanded that Olmert apologize within a week and pay 1 million shekels ($306,000) in damages or face a libel lawsuit.

Police were called in when violence erupted at the prestigious Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak yesterday, between 2 rival factions in the yeshiva. The factions, called the “terrorists” and the “haters” have been engaged in the conflict since 1999.  To read more about this unusual situation, and view video, click here.

News Update

Last night, just after the completion of Independence Day celebrations, terrorists fired a rocket into Israel from Gaza. The rocket fell in an open area near the Gaza border. In response, the Israel Air Force attacked several Hamas targets in Gaza including an arms production facility, an arms-smuggling tunnel and a military post.

Arabs rioted near the Old City in Jerusalem last night for the 3rd consecutive night. A police officer was injured after being hit in the head with a rock and several vehicles were attacked and damaged. Video from the scene showed crowds running in the area and attacking police officers, with one video shared on social media showing a police officer being thrown to the ground. Police are gearing up for more unrest after the first Friday prayer session of Ramadan.

Israel’s outdoor mask mandate ends on Sunday. Masks will still be required in confined spaces.

News Update

Iran blamed Israel for a sudden power outage at its Natanz nuclear facility yesterday. According to American and Israeli intelligence officials, the power failure was caused by a deliberately planned explosion, which “completely destroyed the heavily protected internal power system that supplies the underground centrifuges that enrich uranium”. They added that it could take at least nine months or even longer to restore the production of uranium at the underground nuclear facility.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Defense Minister Gantz in Israel on Sunday. He said the Biden administration would continue to ensure Israel’s “qualitative military edge” in the Middle East as part of a “strong commitment to Israel and the Israeli people”. Austin made no mention of Iran in his remarks to the press.

An Egged bus was heavily damaged late Saturday by stones and firebombs after it mistakenly entered the Arab neighborhood of Isawiya in east Jerusalem. There were no passengers on the bus at the time except for the driver and his family, who managed to escape and call police. During the search of the area that police conducted after the incident, three residents of the neighborhood, including two minors, were detained and taken for questioning.

Joint List MK Ofer Cassif filed an official complaint against police after he was beaten by officers during a protest in East Jerusalem over the weekend. Cassif is the only Jewish member of the Arab party. Footage from the incident showed police officers tackling and kicking Cassif, breaking his glasses and ripping his shirt.

In his effort to form a 61 seat majority coalition, PM Netanyahu has reportedly accepted that the Religious Zionism party will never sit together with the Arab Ra’am party, which is what he was trying to make happen. He now has turned his attention on trying to convince Gideon Sa’ar and his New Hope party to join the government, despite Sa’ar’s vow never to sit in a government with Netanyahu as PM.