Israel News for 7-6-17
Terror Raid
Security forces entered the Palestinian village of Al-Ram near Jerusalem last night and discovered equipment used to manufacture weapons in two illegal workshops. The weapons were confiscated and the workshops sealed off.
Meanwhile, IDF combat engineers prepared the home of the terrorist who murdered Hamas Malka for demolition in the village of Deir Abu Mash’al.
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New Housing
The Jerusalem Planning and Building committee is expected to approve 800 new housing units in the East Jerusalem Jewish neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev, Neve Yaakov, Ramot and Gilo. Construction plans will also be submitted for 114 housing units in the East Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods of Jabel Mukaber, Ras al-Amud, Sharafat, Shuafat and A-Tur.
Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat issued a statement, saying, “Building in Jerusalem is necessary, important and will continue full strength in order to enable more young people to live in Jerusalem, build their future and strengthen the capital of Israel.”
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Indian Welcome
Ten thousand members of the Indian community in Israel came out to welcome Indian PM Modi at an event in at the Tel Aviv Convention Center last night. Some arrived dressed in traditional Indian clothing, and some wrapped themselves in Indian flags or wore shirts emblazoned with Modi’s image.
PM Netanyahu spoke at the event and said, “We are in a historic meeting, your visit, of two ancient peoples seizing the future. Prime Minister Modi and I have decided on a vast program to bring our partnership and our friendship to new heights. But we always remember that there’s a human bridge between us—you. We admire you, we respect you, we love you.”
Yesterday Modi and Netanyahu visited 11 year old Moshe Holtzberg, the son of Chabad emissaries who were killed in a 2008 terror attack in Mumbai.
There are currently 6,000 Jews living in India. The community is hoping to be granted official minority status by the Indian government as a result of the visit.
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Play Boycott
More than 60 artists, including four Pulitzer Prize winners and other prominent writers, actors, directors and playwrights, have signed an open letter calling on Lincoln Center to cancel performances of a play co-produced by two Israeli theater companies and backed by the Israeli government.
The play, “To the End of the Land,” is produced by the Cameri Theater of Tel Aviv and Ha’Bima National Theater of Israel and is based on a critically acclaimed 2008 novel by David Grossman about a mother who tries to escape from her worry over her son’s military service by going on a hike in the Galilee. Grossman is known as an outspoken critic of the Israeli Government.
The open letter, organized by the anti-Israel group Adalah-NY, said, “It is deeply troubling that Lincoln Center, one of the world’s leading cultural institutions, is helping the Israeli government to implement its systematic ‘Brand Israel’ strategy of employing arts and culture to divert attention from the state’s decades of violent colonization, brutal military occupation and denial of basic rights to the Palestinian people.”
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