Archive for category: news

News Update

A terror attempt was foiled today when a female terrorist was neutralized when she tried to stab Border Police officers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. A preliminary investigation into the incident revealed the attack was pre-planned and the woman managed to make it through several checkpoints at the heavily guarded shrine.

Moving Funds: PM Netanyahu indicated in a speech this week that he plans to move funds designated for civilian purposes to military spending to meet any threats from Iran. There are no details about amounts or timing.

Blue and White leader Gantz will be the key speaker at the annual memory service for the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin that will take place Saturday evening at Rabin Square outside Tel Aviv city hall. Also, Gantz said this week, “When I will be the Prime Minister of Israel, I will embrace all streams of Judaism. We are part of an inspiringly colorful mosaic of cultures and traditions. I will nurture this pluralism.” He promised to implement the compromise agreement relating to creating a non denominational prayer area at the southern part of the Western Wall.

Israeli embassies and consulates throughout the world shut down today in protest of the Finance Ministry’s demand that foreign ministry employees pay taxes on the financial allowances they receive for being overseas.

There’s been a butter shortage in Israel for the past year, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better anytime soon.  The reason for the shortage stems from the fact that the government caps the price of butter, which makes farmers divert their production to more profitable products. There are also import quotas and duties on imported butter.

The Jerusalem municipality wants to triple the size of the Malcha Mall, but neighborhood residents are fighting the plans, claiming that the expansion will harm their quality of life.

News Update

Security forces destroyed 2 structures built by settlers near Yitzhar, where an IDF soldier was slightly wounded by stones thrown at troops by a small group of settler youth earlier in the week.

The residents of Yitzhar claim that they fully support the IDF, and that the youth are from outside of the settlement. They are condemning the IDF demolition of the structures, calling it a “devastating and improper punishment.” Last night a settler “activist” set fire to a Border Police tent on a nearby hill.

PA President Abbas ordered the house of a terrorist to be rebuilt. 

The order to rebuild the house of the terrorist who murdered an Israeli soldier in 2018 was given just hours after the house was demolished by the IDF — for the second time. The house was rebuilt after the first demolition. The rebuilding of demolished terrorist homes is apparently common.

Shas chairman and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said yesterday that his party was join a Blue and White coalition if the leadership agrees to maintain the status quo and does not demand changes on matters related to religion and state.

Israel is set to be hit by a rare hybrid tropical storm over the weekend that is expected to bring heavy rainfall, strong winds, and flooding, primarily is low lying areas of the central and southern parts of the country. Israel’s national electric company has advised people to remove any objects from their balconies and rooftops that are susceptible to being blown away or damaged by the storm. Officials in Gaza have declared a state of emergency. The storm is due to hit Egypt too.

Israel has risen 14 places in the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” rankings and is now in 35th place out of 190 countries, up from 49 last year. Israel has risen 19 places in the past two years. Israel’s most significant improvement has been in the Paying Taxes ranking where the country has risen to 13th place from 90th last year. This achievement is attributed to increased digitalization and the improvement of services provided by the Israel Tax Authority over the past few years. Other significant improvements are in the categories of getting credit, registering property and building permits.

News Update

The One and Only – The Likud party’s central committee voted Thursday night for a resolution affirming that PM Netanyahu will be the Likud’s one and only candidate for the premiership during the 22nd Knesset. That means he will be the only candidate that all the members of the party will back, squelching any possibility of chief rival Gideon Sa’ar of challenging the PM — at least this time around.

PM Netanyahu condemned the Turkish invasion of Kurdish areas in Syria and warned of an “ethnic cleansing” against the Kurds. added that Israel is prepared to extend humanitarian assistance to the “gallant Kurdish people.” He added that Israel is prepared to extend humanitarian assistance to the “gallant Kurdish people.”

Economic Progress – Israel is working with the Palestinian Authority to reach compromises on economic related issues to improve the Palestinian economy. Finance Minister Moshe Kahalon is leading the Israeli side. He is the only Israeli government minister in regular contact with the Palestinian leadership.

The severe Palestinian economic crisis came as a result of the PA refusing to accept around 500 million shekels a month of tax money collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians, because Israel has been withholding an amount of money equal to the money that the PA pays as pensions to the families of terrorists (around NIS 40,000). Despite the compromises reached to improve the Palestinian economic situation, Israel is continuing to withhold the terror payments sum. (source: Globes)

Jordanians are furious at the arrest and 2 month detention of a 24 year old Jordanian woman by Israel. The woman was attempting to cross the border at the Allenby Bridge to attend the wedding of a relative in the West Bank when she was arrested and handed over the Shin Bet, who have reportedly placed her in administrative detention for up to 6 months. The Shin Bet has declined to provide any information on why the woman was arrested.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry recently sent a strongly-worded letter to Israel’s embassy in Amman demanding her immediate release.

The prisoner launched a hunger strike over two weeks ago to protest her arrest and holding conditions, drinking only water, and has lost around 10 kilograms. Her lawyer says she has been isolated, abused, verbally assaulted and held in brutal conditions. He said interrogators had threatened her that she could be held for years and never allowed to return to Jordan.

Israel has declined to comment on the situation. (source: TOI)

Arab MK’s led a convoy of hundreds of cars from the north of Israel to Jerusalem on their way to a meeting with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to discuss ways to combat the rising violence in Israel’s Arab communities yesterday.

Formatting
I’m still experimenting with the format of this newsletter in an attempt to make it easier to digest and less liable to end up in your spam folder. A shorter email with less links should have a better chance of making it through to your main email box, since very long emails filled with links are often either promotional or spam. The majority of feedback to the new format has been positive. Please let me know what you think.

News Update
PM Netanyahu and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman met yesterday for less than hour without reaching any agreement for Lieberman to join the PM’s coalition and give him the majority needed to form a government. Lieberman insists that the only option he will support is a national unity government between Likud and Blue and White.

In a move that might help make a unity government a reality, Blue and White co-leader Yair Lapid said that he will give up his right to serve as prime minister in a rotation with Benny Gantz, the party leader, as was originally agreed by them. This means that Gantz and Netanyahu could both potentially serve as prime minister in a rotation if a unity government is formed. A three way rotation (including Lapid) would have been out of the question.

Lapid also called on PM Netanyahu to step aside due to his criminal investigations and allow a new leader of Likud to emerge. Instead, Netanyahu is pressing for a new election within Likud, to solidify his leadership position in the party. But his chief opponent, Gideon Saar is apparently ready to take on the challenge and give the PM a run for his money, although it’s extremely that the party will drop their long time champion.

With the prospect of a new election hovering over them, the members of the new 22nd Knesset were sworn in yesterday. The 13 new Arab Knesset members chose to boycott the ceremony in protest of the rising violence and loss of live in Arab communities.

On the business front, content recommendation giants Outbrain and Taboola, both Israeli companies, are merging. Each  company is valued at over a billion dollars on its own.

Special Note

As you’ve probably noticed, we’re trying out a bit of a different format than usual. Instead of having 4 or 5 stories in separate sections with reference links, we’re putting them together in one concise summary that we hope is easier and quicker to read and digest. We also think that the large number of links in the email are causing some email services to mark the email as spam — so we’re testing it out with fewer links. Please send us your feedback and let us know which format you prefer.

New Government Quest
President Reuven Rivlin announced has decided to nominate PM Netanyahu to form a new government, after negotiations on forming a unity government between Likud and Blue and White Party fell apart.

Th PM called again for a unity government, and Benny Gantz again said that his party would not sit in a government led by someone facing criminal charges.

Netanyahu now has 28 days to form a government. He can get a 2 week extension if necessary. If he fails to form a government, Gantz will get the chance to do so.

For further reading click here.

Terror Attack
A 34-year-old female police officer was stabbed in the Old City of Jerusalem Thursday afternoon, near the Chain Gate — which is located in the Muslim Quarter along the Western wall of the Temple Mount. The officer was lightly wounded in the suspected terror attack.

For further reading click here.

No TV Coverage
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit declined PM Netanyahu’s request that his pre-trial hearing next week on corruption allegations be broadcast live.

For further reading click here.

Abbas at UN
In his speech before the UN General Assembly yesterday, Palestinian Authority President Abbas pledged to continue to pay salaries to terrorists. He said, “Even if I had only one penny, I would’ve given it to the families of the martyrs, prisoners and heroes”, to which he received a round of applause.

Abbas attacked PM Netanyahu for promising to annex the Jewish settlement in the Jordan Valley and the US for moving its embassy to Jerusalem.

Abbas also said that the Palestinians would no longer agree to only one country mediating at a time in their negotiations with Israel and called for an international conference to promote the peace process.

He said, “Our hands are always extended for peace. More than one country has invited Netanyahu and me to meet. Netanyahu refused three calls from Russia, but we always turned to peace. I am calling for an international peace conference, which will involve Arab and international parties. The international community must put an end to Israeli aggression and arrogance.”

For further reading click here.

Population Stats
On the eve of the Jewish new year of 5780, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics has released its annual report. Israel’s population stands at 9,092,000, which is a 2.1% increase since last year. The population is expected to hit 10 million by 2024 and 20 million by 2065. Jews make up around 75% of the total population, Arabs 21% and others 4%.

Israelis are generally satisfied with life, with 88.9% reporting they are pleased with their situation. However, 36.1% claim they are unhappy with their economic circumstances: 29.9% said they were unable to pay their bills last year, while almost 25% said they had given up medicine or medical treatment and even hot meals due to a lack of funds.
 

Life expectancy for men in Israel is 80.9 years, while Israeli woman on average live to the age of 84.9 – among the highest life expectancies in the world. Cancer is the leading cause of death for around one quarter of Israelis (25.2%), followed by cardiac disease (14.8%). And one in seven Israelis (14.1%) suffer from severe disability.

For further reading click here.

Climate Protests
Thousands of people, many of them school students, marched through the streets of Tel Aviv, holding up signs protesting about the dangers of global warming. At a certain point in the “climate strike,” dozens of teenagers lied down on the ground in a symbolic display. The Friday For Future school strikes are strikes by school students participating in demonstrations instead of going to class in order to demand action against global warming and climate change.

For further reading click here.