Israel News for December 12, 2016

Refusing Orders
With less than two weeks left until the scheduled date for the evacuation of the settlement of Amona security forces are training for the sensitive operation, which will undoubtedly be met with some form of resistance, hopefully nonviolent. But some soldiers are expressing their intentions to disobey the evacuation order and refuse to participate in the operation, which they believe is contrary to the Torah.

A Facebook group has been established for soldiers who plan to refuse to participate in the evacuation. Since disobeying orders in the IDF is a crime, the group does not display photos of soldiers but only photos of unit emblems, uniforms and written notes.

An IDF spokesman said, “The IDF condemns and prohibits any expression [in favor of] refusing orders and takes this very seriously. The IDF is the army of a democratic state and will obey the civilian leadership and carry out any mission given to it in accordance with the law.”

While most rabbis have clearly prohibited soldiers from disobeying orders to evacuate Jews from Amona, a small minority have not.

Meanwhile, Amona residents are holding demonstrations in a last ditch effort to avoid the evacuation.

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Women in IDF
Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef expressed his opposition to women serving in the IDF, even in non combat positions, in his weekly torah class on Saturday night. R. Yosef was simply echoing the official position of the Chief Rabbinate. He also spoke out against women doing National Service (Sherut Leumi), which the Chief Rabbinate does not oppose and which most National Religious rabbis recommend.

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Police Warning
The Israel Police is opposed to the bill that’s making its way through the Knesset which would prohibit mosques from broadcasting their call to prayer through loudspeakers. The police is warning that the law, if passed, could instigate violent protests from Arab citizens throughout Israel.

According to a police report, “From a police perspective, it would be a mistake to legislate or otherwise focus on the muezzin. The issue of the muezzin is an extremely sensitive one, and we have decided not to make it into one of the foremost things we do in the Arab sector, since there are nationalistic priorities, such as razing terrorists’ homes.”

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Hamas Missiles
A senior Hamas official told Al-Aqsa TV that Hamas is offering to share its missile arsenal with any Arab army that will use them against Israel. It’s unclear who that army might be or how Hamas would get the missiles to them, but it’s the thought that counts. The only “army” that would possibly be interested is Hezbollah, but they already are estimated to have over 100,000 missiles of their own.

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Tragedy and Hope
On Friday a 10 year old boy and his father both fell of a cliff while hiking in the Judea desert. The father died later that day. The boy, Ilan Nir, survived until Sunday afternoon, when he succumbed to his injuries. But he went on to save lives after his death.

Ilan’s heart was transplanted into an 8 year old boy who needed an immediate heart transplant to save his life. The boy is currently in stable condition and recovering. Ilan’s liver was transplanted into a 4 year old girl from southern Israel and his lungs were transplanted into a 55 year old woman. Ilan’s kidneys will also be transplanted into a patient suffering from renal failure.

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No Dougnuts
Israel’s Health Minister Yakov Litzman (UTJ) has urged the public to refrain from eating too many jelly doughnuts this Hanukkah. The doughnuts, called sufganiot, are a traditional Hanukkah food that represents the miracle of the oil. They are also usually at least 400 – 500 calories each. Litzman said, “It’s possible to find substitutes for everything today, and there is no need to stuff our children with sufganiyot, which don’t meet the standards of proper health and nutrition.” But Litzman did not say anything against potato latkes — so enjoy!

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