Israel News for 11-2-17
Israel Attacks
According to Lebanese media reports, the Israeli Air Force attacked a rocket factory and depot last night near the city of Homs in Syria. The report also said that the Syrian army fired at least one surface to air missile at the Israeli aircraft, which missed. The Israeli fighters returned home unharmed. Russian media reported that the rockets belonged to Hezbollah. There were no reports of casualties.
Intelligence Minister Israel Katz told Army Radio today, ”I can’t, of course, relate to reports about the IDF’s attack in Syria, but regardless, Israel’s position is clear: Smuggling arms to Hezbollah is a red line in our eyes. Israel has acted in the past and it will act in the future to prevent arms smuggling to Hezbollah according to intelligence information that we will have.”
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False Alarm
Residents of the greater Tel Aviv area were jolted out of their sleep at 2:48am today by a rocket alert siren. Coming after the recent IDF destruction of the Hamas tunnel, many thought that they were experiencing a retaliatory strike by Hamas. But the siren turned out to be a false alarm. The IDF is investigating the incident.
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Border Crossings
Hamas has turned over control of its border crossings with Israel and Egypt to the Palestinian Authority as part of its recent reconciliation agreement with the PA. That means the PA will now collect the revenues from those border crossings, which Hamas had used to pay its employees.
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Rabin Memorial
Today Israel will commemorate the 22nd year since the assassination of PM Yitzhak Rabin. A memorial service was held at the President’s residence attended by President Reuven Rivlin and his wife Nechama, along with leader of the opposition Isaac Herzog, Deputy Knesset Speaker Hilik Bar, Supreme Court Judge Anat Baron, Chief Rabbi David Lau, members of the Rabin family, other MKs, and students.
At 3pm, state leaders will lay a wreath at the graves of Rabin and his wife Leah at the Great Leaders of the Nation’s Plot on Mount Herzl. PM Netanyahu will attend. Also present will be the IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim, who will recite a psalm, the Head Cantor of the IDF Shai Abramson, who will sing the traditional El Malei Rachamim prayer. Rabin’s son, Yuval, will recite the Kaddish prayer.
At 5pm, the Knesset will convene for a special session to remember Rabin, where a moment of silence will be observed. Netanyahu, Rivlin and Herzog will address the plenum.
Following the event, Netanyahu will depart for a five-day visit to London to attend a ceremony marking 100 years since the Balfour Declaration, where he will meet with the UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
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Election Polls
Two new election polls just released indicate that while the Likud would lose some seats, it would remain Israel’s largest party. The Zionist Union, Yesh Atid and Bayit Yehudi parties would all gain seats, while Shas would plunge to just 4 seats. But regardless of the power shifts, it seems that PM Netanyahu would keep his job. The only way that could change is if the mainstream parties joined in a coalition with the Joint List Arab party which holds 12 seats, and leaders of Zionist Union have rejected that option out of hand.
For more details about the polls click here.
Hospital Visit
Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt visited top Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat in a Washington DC hospital, where he just underwent lung transplant.
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Rabbi Rosen Passes
Rabbi Israel Rosen, the founder of the Zomet Institute, passed away last night at the age of 76. The Zomet Institue is dedicated to integrating technology with halacha (Jewish law) and has created many technological innovations that allow first responders, hospitals, security personnel and the sick and elderly to use devices on Shabbat that would normally be prohibited. In recent years Rabbi Rosen was a leading figure in helping establish an orderly conversion process in Israel.
May his memory serve as a blessing for us all.
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