Israel News for 12-21-18
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Shooting Attack
Last night terrorists opened fire at a bus stop outside of Ofra from the nearby Arab village of Ein Yabrud. There were several people there at the time. There were no injuries reported.
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Syrian Situation
In response to US President Trump’s decision to withdraw all US troops from Syria, PM Netanyahu said, “We will continue to act very aggressively against Iran’s efforts to entrench in Syria. We do not intend to reduce our efforts. We will intensify them, and I know that we do so with the full support and backing of the United States.”
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Prosecutor Speaks
Liat Ben-Ari, a senior prosecutor on the team investigating PM Netanyahu, has recommended indicting him on charges of bribery in three separate investigations. Ben-Ari’s recommendations were forwarded to State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan and his team. Nitzan then passed them on to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who will decide whether to indict Netanyahu.
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Ambulance Scuffle
Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national emergency medical service organization, filed a NIS 2.6 million lawsuit against United Hatzalah, a volunteer-run paramedic services organization based in Jerusalem, for allegedly spreading false reports “in an attempt to discredit and delegitimize MDA’s work.”
As part of its national duties granted by the Ministry of Health, MDA is responsible for operating a national call center for all emergency medical services in the country, including those given by United Hatzalah. MDA claims that “despite the clear and explicit instructions given by the Ministry of Health, United Hatzalah established its own emergency call center (1221) and operated it.” MDA claims, “They also spread false information and claim that making a call to 1221 is the same as calling 101.”
The Ministry of Health determined that as of July 2017, United Hatzalah is to stop promoting their call center, and that all emergency calls should be immediately transferred to the MDA. According to the MDA, “These new guidelines angered Hatzalah, who started attacking MDA and spreading incorrect information, saying that the Ministry of Health does whatever the MDA tells them to.”
In response to the lawsuit, Hatzalah responded, “The sum MDA is suing for only comes to show that they work for profit, and have been making large sums of money at the expense of the Israeli public. This time, they’re trying to do so at the expense of 5,000 volunteers.”
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Gaza Soda
Pepsico CEO Ramon Laguarta and Sodastream CEO Daniel Birnbaum took the stage together at the 2018 Globes Business Conference in Jerusalem to speak about Pepsico’s acquisition of Israeli home carbonated drinks company Sodastream this year for $3.2 billion and to reveal that they are in the process of setting up a Sodastream plant in Gaza. Birnbaum said, “We want people in Gaza to have real jobs, because when there is prosperity and plenty, there will also be peace.”
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