Israel News for 8-23-2019
Terror Attack
Rina Shenrav, 17, from Lod was killed and her 20-year-old brother Dvir 46-year-old father Eitan were wounded by an improvised explosive device (IED) planted on the road by a terrorist, while visiting a spring northwest of the Palestinian city of Ramallah near the settlement of Dolev this morning.
IDF forces are chasing a suspicious vehicle which escaped the scene and is believed to be the vehicle of the terrorists who threw the explosive device. Checkpoints have been set up and searches are being carried out in villages in the area.
The spring, Ein Bubin, is also called “Danny’s Spring,” after Danny Gonen, a Lod resident who was murdered there several years ago by a terrorist in the same location.
Rina’s father, Rabbi Eitan, had served as a medic in the army and administered first aid to his children.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the attack.
Rina Shenrav will be buried today in Lod. She was one of 11 children.
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Yesterday, a terrorist armed with grenades who was trying to infiltrate into Israel from Gaza was shot and killed by IDF troops.
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Tax Money
Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Fatah member, said an “agreement was reached a few days ago with the Israeli side to transfer the tax money on oil and fuels which the Palestinian Authority bought in Israel, in the amount of around two billion shekels ($568 million).” The tax money, collected by Israel on behalf of the PA, was being withheld by Israel because of the stipends paid by the PA to the families of terrorists.
Under Thursday’s deal, the Palestinians say Israel will stop collecting about $60 million in monthly fuel taxes and allow the Palestinians to collect the funds directly. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayeh says the additional revenue will ease a financial crisis and allow him to slightly increase civil servants’ partial salary payments, which have been significantly cut since last February.
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Gender Separation
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on Thursday published a new set of guidelines that would allow local authorities to hold gender segregated events under specific conditions. His decision comes in the wake of a gender separated concert for the Haredi community in the city of Afula. The event was initially banned by the district court but then permitted on appeal to a higher court. The Supreme Court then banned the event, after it had already taken place.
AG Mandelblit said if a local authority wished to hold a gender-segregated event meant for a public interested in attending one, the officials must first examine the possibility of allowing the participants to be apart on a voluntary basis, without having to plan an event that’s segregated from the start.
He also urged the local authorities to take into account the conditions outlined in anti-discrimination laws, and demanded to make sure the participants for whom the event is intended would refrain from attending it otherwise.
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Election Update
The Blue and White party said that it would not join in a coalition with the Joint Arab List unless they recognize Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. The comment came after Joint List leader Ayman Odeh said his party would consider joining a center-left coalition if his terms were met. Arabs make up 20% of Israel’s population, but only about half of Arab eligible voters voted in the last election.
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Iraq Strikes
Israel has reportedly been striking Iranian related targets in Iraq.
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