Israel News for 8-2-2021
News Update
The US and UK both have concluded that Iran was responsible for the attack against an Israeli managed tanker in the Arabian Sea near Oman last week. PM Bennett also blamed Iran for the attack and warned that Israel would respond in its own way. A British and Romanian sailor were killed in the attack.
In two separate incidents last night, the IDF captured 4 terrorists trying to infiltrate into Israel from Gaza. Three of the four were armed with knives. It’s unclear whether the 2 incidents were connected. Despite the high-tech fence along the Gaza border, there are still some gaps.
A bus carrying IDF soldiers accidentally entered the area of Hebron controlled by the Palestinian Authority yesterday. Palestinians attacked the bus with stones until PA security forces escorted the bus out of PA territory. There were no casualties and minimal damage.
The Cabinet unanimously approved a state budget for 2021-22 today. It is the first budget approved in the past 3 years. The new budget must still be approved by the Knesset.
Google has announced plans to build and operate two submarine cable systems to connect the Middle East with southern Europe and Asia by 2024. One of the projects, the Blue Submarine Cable System, will tie Israel to Italy, France and Greece. The other, called the Raman Submarine Cable System, will connect Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman and India. The cables will each carry 16 fiber optic pairs that will increase network capacity and decrease latency.
Ukrainian-born Israeli gymnastic Artem Dolgopyat, 24, gave Israel its first gold medal in the Tokyo olympics by winning the men’s floor competition in the Artistic Gymnastic sport. He was congratulated by the PM and the President. It is only Israel’s second gold medal ever. Israel has also won a bronze in Tae Kwan Do and Judo in the Tokyo games. Israel’s baseball team lost to the US on Friday, beat Mexico on Sunday and lost to S. Korea today. It will play the Dominican Republic tomorrow, and still has a chance at the bronze medal.
The National Library of Israel announced recently that billionaire and philanthropist David Geffen will be funding an auditorium on its campus.
The Health Ministry reported 2,114 new covid cases on Sunday, with a 2.95% infection rate.
