Israel News for 6-29-18

Israeli Aid
Last night the IDF delivered around 300 tents, 13 tons of food, 15 tons of baby food, three pallets of medical equipment and medicine and some 30 tons of clothes and shoes to several refugee camps in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights. The camps, located near the border with Israel, house several thousands of Syrians with no access to water, electricity, food or other basic necessities. At the same time the IDF made it clear that it will not allow Syrians to cross the border into Israel.

As a result of the Syrian army’s attempt to retake rebel controlled areas, over 120,000 Syrians have been force to flee their homes. Tens of thousands have ended up in camps near the Israeli border, with the rest going towards the Jordanian border.

[You probably won’t find this story in the NYTimes or on the evening news. Hmm…]

For further reading click here.

More Fires
Around 20 fires broke out on Thursday in various areas in south Israel along the Gaza border due to incendiary balloons being flown from the strip. The largest fires were in Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Alumim.

Residents of the Gaza border communities are demanding that the IDF and the defense establishment put a stop to the phenomenon of incendiary kites and balloons, which has been wreaking havoc in the area for the last three months and which has burned more than 30,000 acres of land.

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PA in Jerusalem
The Palestinian Authority and other Palestinian political factions have begun stepping up their activities in East Jerusalem, which is illegal according to the Israeli-Palestinian agreement signed in 1994, which restricts PA activity in Jerusalem. Israeli Police and security forces are ramping up efforts to stop the illegal activity.

For further reading click here.

Kotel Politics
PM Netanyahu has removed Culture Minister Miri Regev (with her agreement) as the head of the Ministerial Committee for Holy Places in an effort to mend the rift between the State of Israel and Reform and Conservative Jews over an egalitarian prayer area at the Western Wall. The PM will automatically become the head of the committee. Regev had expressed her personal objection to the egalitarian prayer area.

The PM said earlier this week that a solution will soon be found for the Kotel crisis, with the committee due to approve construction work to expand the mixed-gender prayer area at Robinson’s Arch, south of the main Western Wall plaza.

For further reading click here.

Music Video
Check out this fun music video with the husband and wife team Yonina singing their new “Morning Song” (Shir Shel Boker). Click here.