Israel News for 12-15-17

Breaking News
A Palestinian terrorist stabbed a Border Policeman today during clashed between Border Police and Palestinian demonstrators near Ramallah. The terrorist was shot and neutralized. The victim suffered light injuries to his shoulder, and was taken to hospital for treatment.

For further reading click here.

Terrorist Bodies
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the state cannot indefinitely hold the corpses of terrorists and refrain from returning them to their families for burial. The court said that the government would need to pass a special law to hold the bodies. The state is currently holding the bodies of nine terrorists. Families of the terror victim lashed out against the ruling, claiming that it favored terrorists.

For further reading click here.

Pence Postponed
US Vice President Mike Pence is expected to postpone his visit to Israel from Sunday to Wednesday to help pass President Trumps new tax reform plan in the US Senate. Pence was scheduled to spend 2 to 3 days in Israel following Trumps declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The Palestinians announced that they will boycott Pence’s visit.

For further reading click here.

Ambassador Lights
David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, lit the menorah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for the second night of Hanukkah. Thousands attended the ceremony on Wednesday evening. Friedman lit the menorah accompanied by the Western Wall’s rabbi, Shmuel Rabinovitch; Jerusalem’s chief rabbi, Shlomo Amar; and the minister of tourism, Yariv Levin.

Friedman tweeted after the lighting, “A great honor to light the Menorah at the Western Wall. Some 2,180 years ago, the Maccabees reclaimed this very site and restored Jewish ritual to the Second Temple. Awed to stand on the same hallowed ground. Happy Chanukah to all!!”

For further reading click here.

Teva Cuts
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries plans to relocate or shut down most of its manufacturing operations in Israel as part of the wider global restructuring strategy announced by the company in late November. The company will fire over half of its Israeli workforce, cutting 3,300 jobs out of 6,430 in the country. It intends to do away with most of its domestic manufacturing activities, shutting and selling entire sites, and drastically reducing the size of operations in remaining sites.

PM Netanyahu has pledged to try and convince Teva to retain all of its Israel operations.

For further reading click here.

Hanukkah Music
Here’s a Hanukkah medley Hassidic style, to brighten up your day. Click here.

You Gotta Read This
Here a few emails we recently received:

This one is from Australia: “as someone with a long term interest in Israel’s past-present and future I really do appreciate your newsletter as it keeps me up to date with current affairs which we hear nothing about on the general news. I do intend to help with finance and am about to set up a means of donating, as a pensioner it may not be as big as a completed wall however one only builds with “one brick at a time”.

“I very much appreciate IsraelAM!! As a pastor, I have a great interest and love for Israel.
While I can’t afford to contribute, I want IsraelAM to continue.”

And finally, we just had to share this one: “I’m 89, on social security of $720 a month and food stamps and even buying a stamp to mail a letter is thought provoking. I really like to receive Isarael a.m. and hope you can continue. In God we trust….”

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