Israel News for 5-17-2023
News Update
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen became the first Israeli foreign minister to visit Sweden in 22 years, when he met with Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström in Stockholm on Monday. The two spoke about ways for their two countries to cooperate on a wide array of issues. Cohen also met with Swedish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, Energy and Environment Ebba Busch, who is a passionate supporter of Israel and was even once photographed wearing an IDF shirt.
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman released a special report listing a slew of cybersecurity shortfalls that put numerous state institutions, including the airport and hospitals, at risk of being hacked. The report also found that Israel’s National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi) is targeted by millions of cyberattacks on a daily basis. For more, click here.
Anatoly Chubais, formerly the deputy prime minister of Russia and the Kremlin’s climate envoy, who fled Russia in March of last year due to his opposition to the war in Ukraine, was spotted on Tuesday at an immigration office in northern Israel to obtain his permanent citizenship documents. His mother is Jewish.
Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Nir Akunis, Minister of Intelligence Gila Gamliel, Labor Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur, Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Social Equality Amichai Chikli, Minister of Information Galit Distel Atbaryan, Minister of Immigration and Absorption Ofir Sofer, Minister of Heritage Amihai Eliyahu and Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Tradition Meir Parush will all be participating in the Salute to Israel Parade in New York City on June 4th.
Tomorrow afternoon, tens of thousands of Israelis are expected to march to the Kotel through the Muslim quarter of the Old City carrying Israeli flags, in what has become known as the Flag March, to commemorate the liberation of Jerusalem in the Six Day War. Thousands of police will be securing the route. National Security Minister Ben Gvir is planning to attend. Hamas has called on Arabs to converge on the Al Aqsa Mosque tomorrow morning to protest the march. [Also, we will be celebrated my son’s Bar Mitzvah at the Kotel tomorrow morning at 9am.]
