Israel News for 10-6-2021

News Update

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan hosted Israeli national security adviser Eyal Hulata for talks which, according to a U.S. official, gave the two allies a chance to share intelligence and develop a “baseline assessment” of how far Tehran’s nuclear program has advanced. According to a White House statement, “Mr. Sullivan explained that this administration believes diplomacy is the best path to achieve that goal, while also noting that the president has made clear that if diplomacy fails, the United States is prepared to turn to other options.”

FM Lapid will visit Washington next week to meet with US Secretary of State Blinken.

Lebanese newspaper Al Arabiya reported that the Mossad allegedly took a DNA sample from a corpse in the northern Lebanese village of Nabi Chit to see if it was the remains of long-lost Israeli airman Ron Arad. Al Arabiya also reported that the Mossad kidnapped an Iranian general from Syria to interrogate him about Arad’s fate.

Israel’s Health Ministry reported that 2,502 new coronavirus cases were diagnosed on Tuesday, producing a positivity rate of 2.32%. 487 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in serious condition, with 190 on ventilators. Since the start of the pandemic, 7,855 people have died of coronavirus. PM Bennett ordered the end of quarantining for students in cities with low coronavirus infection rates starting next week. Other restrictions will also begin to be eased.

Transportation Minister Merav MichaeliTannounced yesterday that an agreement has been reached between various government ministries and the Tel Aviv municipality to dismantle the Central Bus Station in south TA and build a new, modern, terminal in another south TA location. The second largest bus station in the world is located in the poorest section of the city and has for years suffered from neglect and disrepair, and been a magnet for crime.

Microsoft plans to open five additional sites in Israel and more than double its R&D workforce in the country over the next four years. Microsoft currently operates development centers in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Nazareth, and opened a 46,000-square-meter campus in Herzliya late last year. As of the end of 2020, Microsoft employed an estimated 2,300 people in Israel — 2,000 of them in R&D, working on projects including cybersecurity, AI technologies, big data and healthcare. Around 300 people work in sales and marketing. Microsoft also operates a VC fund and “Microsoft for Startups” programs, whose staff work from the Herzliya offices. To read more, click here.

Israel’s Ministry of Defense director general General (res.) Amir Eshel and Czech Republic Deputy Defense for Armaments and Acquisition Lubor Koudelka have signed a government-to-government agreement to sell four of Rafael Advance Defense Systems Spyder short range air defense missile batteries for $620 million. DM Benny Gantz tweeted, “This is a strategically important deal with a NATO member state, that will create jobs in both countries, which further deepens the excellent defense relations” between the nations.

On the (secular) anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli government has released classified documents and memos from communications during that period. Many of them show the desperation of government officials during the beginning of the war. To read some, click here.

Western Wall Prayers

For nearly 2,000 years, since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70CE, the Western Wall has served as the primary gathering place for Jews and believers of all faiths to pour out their hearts in prayer to the Almighty. While God listens to our prayers wherever we are, we turn our faces towards the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where our Holy Temple once stood, and will one day soon stand again.

Therefore, it is considered efficacious to pray at the Western Wall. It is also customary to insert a written note with your prayer into the crevices of the Western Wall’s stones.

We will be visiting the Western Wall on a regular basis during the year.

• To have us insert your prayer note at the Western Wall, click here.
• To have us include the name of your loved one in our prayer for healing at the Western Wall, click here. 

Our next journey to Jerusalem will be on Sunday Oct. 10.