Israel News for 8-17-17
Food to Africa
Israel has delivered at least 10,000 meals to the African country of Sierra Leone, which is recovering from a deadly mudslide that devastated its capital and killed hundreds.
Paul Hirschson, Israel’s envoy to Sierra Leone, said that Israel was the first country to provide tangible assistance to the country.
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Dangerous Game
When you play with fire, you can get burnt. That’s what happened when Hamas terrorists came into conflict with an even more radical terror group in Gaza.
According to the Gazan Interior Ministry, Hamas forces stopped for a security check two people who were nearing the Rafah border crossing (with Egypt) from inside Gaza when one of them set off an explosion, likely from a suicide belt.
The commander who was killed was identified as 28-year-old Nidal al-Jaafari, who in addition to being a member of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades also served in the Hamas security forces. Five other Hamas security personnel suffered various degrees of injuries in the explosion. The second terrorist was also wounded.
The two terrorists are members of the Salafist faction in the Gaza Strip, which is affiliated with ISIS.
So now Hamas has a taste of what it feels like to be on the other end of a suicide attack.
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Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has ruled that a woman can serve as the director general of the state’s rabbinic courts. Justice Elyakim Rubinstein wrote in the decision that, “there is a great value in opening the rabbinic courts for women to serve in administrative roles, not only for women but it also serves to strengthen the public’s faith in the (rabbinic) courts, which is an essential element to the court’s functioning.”
Under to the new criteria, a religious female lawyer or a woman who is a recognized Rabbinical Court’s litigator – a position that has been open to women for years – can submit her candidacy for the top position after practicing in the courts for seven years.
The court’s decision is expected to be opposed by the Haredi leadership on the grounds that the director general position requires a person who is expert in Jewish law (halacha), which apparently can only be someone of the male gender, even though the position is administrative.
In any case, the fact that the court ruled that a women could serve as director general does not mean that the Rabbinical Court must hire a woman to fill the position. It just needs to consider female candidates.
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Rabbi Expels
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the leading authorities in the Haredi community, has ordered rabbinic leaders in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem to “expel” members of the radical ‘Jerusalem Faction’ (Peleg Hayerushalmi) from the neighborhood. The radical group was formed to demonstrate against the IDF draft. Its demonstrations often turn violent.
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Air Revenues Up
Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) reported a record order backlog of $11.1 billion as of the end of the second quarter of 2017, up from $9 billion at the end of 2016. IAI said that the order backlog was boosted by new deals in the second quarter worth $2.9 billion including $2.4 billion in Indian deals.
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Inspirational Music
Israeli female singer Roni Dalumi sang this beautiful song at a Yad Vashem memorial on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
To watch the video click here.
