Israel News for 1-12-18
Terror Averted
Border Police arrested three Palestinian women who were carrying concealed knives near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. The Border Police noted that “all three raised the suspicion of the soldiers in their behavior, which led to a search during which a knife was found on one of them. A quick preliminary investigation revealed that the three of them had come to carry out a stabbing attack and that the two additional suspects had thrown the knives before they arrived at the checkpoint from what appeared to be last moment regret. A search conducted by the forces under the direction of the suspects revealed that one knife was indeed thrown away, while the third knife was apparently taken by local residents.”
The women, three sisters aged 15, 18 and 23, were from the Palestinian refugee camp of Al-Arroub.
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Violent Clashes
Two Palestinians were killed and six others were wounded in clashes with IDF forces that broke out Thursday afternoon near the Gaza security barrier and in the West Bank. The IDF reported they opened fire against three main instigators. As a result of the shooting, one 16-year-old youth from the al-Bureij refugee camp was shot dead, while two others were wounded. Another Palestinian youth was shot dead in clashes between IDF forces and local residents of Palestinian villages near Nablus.
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Shabbat Law
In an exclusive interview with Yediot Ahronot, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri explained that he has no intention of, or the authority to, enforce the recently passed Supermarket Law, even though the law seems to give the Interior Minister the power to override local bylaws and force businesses to close on Shabbat.
Deri said, “The interior minister has no powers of enforcement. I cannot close down shops on Shabbat. I cannot not and do not intend to enforce this law. Every citizen or resident should deal with this law in his city. If none of the residents of Givatayim are bothered about the supermarkets, then fine. I don’t intend to interfere.”
He specifically hit back at the mayor of Eilat, who vehemently opposed the law, saying, “The Eilat Municipality forbids commerce on Shabbat and despite that fact, everything remains open there. Did anyone enforce the law? No one did, and everything is open. Nothing has changed regarding Eilat. The mayor of Eilat doesn’t understand this law because of the incitement in the media.”
He added, “Every morning the Eilat mayor opens the newspaper and is bombarded with a plethora of headlines such as ‘Aryeh Deri is coming with the keys to close everything, Aryeh Deri is going to shut down the supermarkets or The Haredim have taken control of you.’”
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Budget Approved
After an all night debate, the government unanimously approved the 2019 state budget this morning. To read about the budget details click here.
India Business
PM Netanyahu will head to India next week for six days of trade talks. He’ll bring 130 businessman along with him. The Foreign Ministry said, “The prime minister will be talking on the whole range of issues which make up relations between Israel and India: water, agriculture, energy, culture, innovation, also defense.”
India’s defense ministry announced last week that it would buy 131 surface-to-air missiles from Israel. But they also cancelled a $500 million deal to purchase Spike anti-tank guided missiles.
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New Hotel
Israeli income producing property developer Azrieli Group Ltd. (TASE: AZRG) has won an Israel Land Authority and Ministry of Tourism tender for land on which to build Modi’in’s first hotel. Azrieli will pay NIS 101 million for the 5,300 square meter lot. The plan calls for construction of a 50-room hotel, 80 apartments and commercial and office space in the city’s planned major business center. The land is in the city center close to the railway station, Anava Park and the Azrieli shopping mall.
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