Israel News for 10-5-18
UN Out
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat accused UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees) of operating illegally and promoting incitement against Israel, and plans to remove the agency from Jerusalem. Barkat said schools, clinics and sports centers, among other services operated by UNRWA in east Jerusalem, will be transferred to Israeli authorities. The municipality did not provide an exact timeline but it said schools serving 1,800 students would be closed by the end of the current school year.
Barkat said, ”The US decision (to cut $300 million in aid to UNRWA) has created a rare opportunity to replace UNRWA’s services with services of the Jerusalem Municipality. We are putting an end to the lie of the ‘Palestinian refugee problem’ and the attempts at creating a false sovereignty within a sovereignty.”
UNRWA was founded after Israel’s War of independence in 1949 to support around 700,000 displaced Arab refugees. The agency currently aids over 5 million descendants of those original refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza.
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Terrorist Shot
Early yesterday, a terrorist threw an explosive device at soldiers during a military operation in the Qalqilya refugee camp in Jerusalem. Soldiers opened fire on the attacker, wounding him. No soldiers were injured. During a strip search of the terrorist, several additional explosive devices and a Molotov cocktail were found strapped to his body.
Later in the day, an 8 year old boy was caught on video running up to a security checkpoint, throwing a knife at the soldiers there and then fleeing the scene. No one was injured. The IDF is searching for the boy. So much for, “I believe the children are the future”.
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More Troops
The IDF has decided to send reinforcements to the Southern Command amid the high tensions on the Gaza border over the next few days. The IDF said in a statement that the decision was made “to continue the determined policy to thwart terror attacks and prevent infiltrations into Israel in the border fence area of the Gaza Strip. The IDF is prepared and ready for a variety of scenarios and considers the Hamas terror organization responsible for everything that happens in and from the Gaza Strip.” In recent weeks, there has been a spike in Palestinian rioting in Gaza, as well as in the launch of incendiary balloons and kites.
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Morocco News
Morocco’s King Mohammad VI has decided to include Holocaust education into his country’s high school curriculum. The King called antisemitism the “antonym of freedom of expression,” and that, “It manifests the negation of the other and is an admission of failure, insufficiency and inability to coexist.”
He said, “For all that, the battle against this plague can not be handled carelessly. [The battle] is fought neither with the military nor with money, it above all depends on education and culture,” he added, explaining that, “This battle has a name: education. And in the interest of our children, it is important for us to win it because they will be the beneficiaries and our ambassadors in the future.”
Only around 2,000 Jews currently live in Morocco. While the country has no official diplomatic relations with Israel, it does permit Israel tourists to visit.
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Late Flights
According to the flightstats website, which tracks information about dozens of airlines and airports all over the world, El Al was ranked 39 out of 41 airlines for punctuality. According to flightstats, 65.5% of El Al’s flights landed on time and 34.5% landed late. The only rated airlines with higher rates of delay than El Al were Ethiopian Airlines (a 36% rate of late flights) and EgyptAir (36.6% late flights).
The most on-time airline in September 2018 was Sri Lankan Airlines, with Delta a close second (87% on time).
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New Apartment
US billionaire and Republican supporter Sheldon Adelson has bought a $40 million penthouse apartment in the Akirov Towers in Tel Aviv. The Adelsons already own another apartment in the complex.
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