Israel News for 8-17-2022
News Update
The first ultra-Orthodox settlement outpost ever to be erected was established on a hilltop near the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Metzad in the Gush Etzion Regional Council on Sunday night. Fifteen families moved into the 15 structures in the new outpost named Derech Emunah. Early this morning civil authorities along with Border Police dismantled the outpost and evicted the inhabitants. The outpost was deemed illegal. For more, click here.
Speaking to journalists after a meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin yesterday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that despite different views on the conflict between the two sides, the term “apartheid” is not correct. He said, “Naturally we have a different assessment with a view to Israeli politics, and I want to expressly say here that I do not espouse the use of the word apartheid and do not think it correctly describes the situation.”
Speaking in Berlin alongside the German chancellor, PA President Abbas accused Israel of committing many holocausts against the Palestinians. Abbas dismissed a question over whether he would apologize for the Munich Massacre and said: “I have 50 slaughters that Israel committed….50 massacres, 50 slaughters, 50 holocausts.” After and international outcry against his remarks, Abbas’s office clarified that he “reiterates and emphasizes that the Holocaust was the most abominable crime that occurred in humanity’s modern history. In his response, there was no intention of denying the uniqueness of the Holocaust, which was perpetrated in the previous century, and which is something which must be harshly condemned. The intention regarding the crimes President Abbas spoke about was regarding the acts of massacre perpetrated against the Palestinian nation since the Nakba by the Israeli forces – and these are crimes which have not ceased to this day.”
Hundreds of people attended the funeral of IDF Staff Sergeant Nathan Fitoussi who was killed by friendly fire near the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Monday.
Israel’s GDP grew 6.8% on an annualized basis in the second quarter of 2022. The growth figures are in contradiction to expectations which was forecasting an economic slowdown, after the Israeli economy contracted 2.7% in the first quarter. For more, click here.
Elbit Systems (Nasdaq: ESLT) has been awarded two contracts worth a total of $240 million to upgrade main battle tanks for an unnamed international customer.
