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Israel News for August 20, 2015

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High Court Rules, Temporarily
The High Court yesterday temporarily suspended the administrative detention order under which Palestinian hunger-striker Mohammed Allaan has been detained. He will remain in Barzilai hospital to receive medical treatment, but will no longer be shackled to his bed and will be allowed to receive visits from his family. If and when he recovers from the effects of his hunger-strike, the administrative detention order will become active again.

Background
Earlier on Wednesday the government said the they would release Allaan if it turns out that he has suffered irreversible brain damage and is, therefore, no longer a security threat. The High Court ordered an MRI performed to determine the extent of Allaan’s brain damage. While the tests did show that there was some degree of brain damage, they were not conclusive as to whether the damage is reversible or not. Doctors say that the brain damage is likely to have been caused by a lack of vitamins, particularly vitamin B1, and they aren’t sure if replacing the vitamins will reverse the damage.

Meanwhile, the IDF has deployed an Iron Dome anti-missile battery in the southern city of Ashdod in response to Islamic Jihad threats of missile attacks from Gaza if Allaan dies.

Upshot
While the High Court’s ruling to suspend Allan’s administrative detention order is being viewed as at least a semi-victory by his supporters, the fundamentals of the situation haven’t really changed. The government can legally detain Allaan as long as they feel that he is a security risk, which is what they probably will do unless he proves to have irreversible brain damage that prevents him from being involved in future terrorist activity. The government also technically still has the legal right to force-feed him. What the court has succeeded in doing is preventing Allaan from dying while in detention, which would be a blow to the government.

Terror Attacks Continue
The string of terror attacks against Israelis continued yesterday with two new attacks.
Palestinians threw an improvised explosive device at a military patrol on the Tunnel Bypass Road which connects the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo to the Gush Etzion area in Judea. The purpose of the bypass tunnel is to provide drivers with a route that avoids passing through or near Arab villages, which would expose them to terror attacks. One soldier was wounded in the attack.

In another part of Jerusalem, near highway 443, two Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli cars. A man and a two year old girl were lightly wounded by broken glass. The 443 is one of two main highways that connect Jerusalem with the center of the country.

US in Sinai
The US is reviewing the status of its peacekeeping troops stationed in the Sinai in the face of threats from ISIS inspired terror groups active in the northern part of the peninsula.

Background
When Israel and Egypt signed their historic peace treaty in 1979, one of the provisions was that the US would station ground troops to monitor the agreement. There are currently 700 US Army troops stationed in Sinai, monitoring and verifying treaty compliance. These troops are lightly armed and don’t have any real offensive capabilities. That makes them prime targets for the terrorists who have been carrying out large scale attacks against the Egyptian military in northern Sinai. The last thing the US wants is to leave the troops exposed to attack.

Options
The US can either beef up the security of the troops and increase their fighting capabilities or withdraw them. Pulling out of Sinai would send a message of weakness to the terrorists and ISIS, as well as to its allies in the region who feel that the US is giving in to Iran in the nuclear deal. So making sure the troops can defend themselves looks like the way to go.

Hamas Nabs Spy
Israel Army Radio reported yesterday that Hamas claims to have captured an Israeli spy off the Gaza coast. A dolphin. No, not one of the Israeli navy’s Dolphin class submarines. A real dolphin. Hamas claims that it was equipped with spying equipment.
This dolphin is not the first animal to be accused of working for Israel. In 2010, an Egyptian official accused Israeli sharks for attacking tourists in the Red Sea. In 2012, an eagle with Israeli tracking tags was captured in Sudan and accused of spying for Israel.
Is the Mossad really that good?

Huckabee Stands with Israel
Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is touring Israel and sending a clear message that he is a loyal supporter of Israel. His first stop was the town of Shilo in Judea. When asked why he visited a town that the international community considers to be occupied territory he answered, “It’s a Jewish town. I don’t call this area occupied territory, but rather Judea and Samaria. Israel has a special connection with this region.”
He added, “I arrived in Shiloh in order to see the history of the Jewish people, I recommend that everyone go there. I don’t understand why the international community prevents Israel from living securely in Judea and Samaria as well. As a presidential candidate I feel that obligation to Israel.”

Huckabee met with PM Netanyahu yesterday in Jerusalem. He spoke against the BDS movement, encouraged the Palestinians to pursue peace instead of terror, and expressed his opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state and Israeli withdrawals from Judea and Samaria.

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Israel News for August 19, 2015

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Stoning Attack in Jerusalem
Stone throwing attacks are increasing in the predominantly Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem. Last night four Jewish teenagers and one Arab were injured when the bus they were in was stoned in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor. Two cars were also stoned.

Ironically, the Jewish teenagers, three girls and a boy, were active in efforts to improve peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews.

The Knesset recently passed a law increasing the punishment for rock throwers to up to 5 years in prison. The Arab Knesset members vehemently protested the law, calling it vengeful, and claimed that rock throwing by Arabs was a legitimate form of protest against what they call the Israeli occupation. Even when those rocks wound or kill. Right.

Hunger Strike Continues
Doctors at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon woke Palestinian hunger-striker Mohammed Allaan from an induced coma yesterday, and are continuing to give him medication and intravenous nutrition. Allaan, now able to communicate, declared that he rejects the government’s offer to release him on the condition that he leaves the country for four years, and that he will continue his 64 day hunger-strike. He wants to be released in September.

Islamic Jihad claims that now that Allaan is conscious he will intensify his hunger strike and refuse all medical treatment, which will lead to a drastic deterioration in his condition. Islamic Jihad is considering ordering a mass hunger strike in Israeli prisons in solidarity with Allaan. There are already several prisoners who are on a hunger strike in solidarity with him.

Palestinian security officials warn that if Allaan dies it will lead to even more tensions in the region and an increase in terrorist attacks.

Herzl Meets Abbas
Israeli opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog met yesterday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Herzog emphasized the importance of Abbas doing everything possible to prevent Palestinian violence and acts of terror in order to prevent a third intifada. He also told Abbas that he believes a peace agreement can be reached between the two sides within two years, if serious negotiations are resumed.

After the meeting Herzog said, “The terror of recent days is liable to lead to a third intifada, and that must be prevented with everything at our disposal. That means an uncompromising war against terror, and on this subject I’m even more extreme than Netanyahu.”

Shabbat Wars Escalate in Jerusalem
The Jerusalem municipality is planning to start enforcing fines against grocery stores (makolets) that are opened on shabbat. Municipal law allows places of entertainment and culture to do business on shabbat, but all commerce is forbidden.

Secular activists claim that this is simply a case of the municipality folding to the will of the ultra-orthodox, who protested last week against the opening of the Yes Planet cinemaplex on shabbat. They claim that the restrictions apply to a small number of businesses who have been open on shabbat for decades and that there is no reason to change the status quo.

Background
Two years ago the Supreme Court accepted the appeal of grocery stores against the Tel Aviv municipality, ruling that the Tel Aviv shabbat laws discriminated against small grocery stores that could not afford to pay the fines that larger establishments paid in order to stay open. This forced the Tel Aviv municipality to modify their policy.

Recently, the Jerusalem municipality also changed their policy by delineating specific neighborhoods in the city, like Talpiot and Ein Kerem, where they would have less enforcement against grocery stores opened on shabbat, and neighborhoods where they would increase enforcement, like the center of town. As a result of the increased enforcement, eight grocery stores in the center of town are expected to close on shabbat. The store owners are furious and have vowed to battle this out.

Creating Land
One of Israel’s greatest long term challenges is the scarcity of land available for residential construction, especially in the center of the country. The municipal engineering department in Herzliya might have a solution: offshore building. The proposed plan involves building two artificial islands 1.5 kilometers from the southern coast of Herzliya, opposite the existing marina. The project would cost billions of shekels and enable the construction of 40,000 housing units. For now 650,000 shekels will be spent on an initial feasibility study. Imagine the views.

Real Estate Magic
If you’re looking to buy an apartment in Kfar Saba, a popular residential city not far from Tel Aviv, you might want to check out the new development being advertised by Trigo Investment Group. For only $89,000 you can purchase the right to an apartment in a development they are planning to build. There’s only one catch: the city hasn’t approved the project. So the city is demanding that Trigo stop advertising the project. Trigo seems to think that they aren’t doing anything wrong. As Theodore Hertzl said, “if you will it, it is no dream.”

Ketchup Wars
As if there wasn’t enough conflict in Israel, now there’s a fight about condiments. Osem, Israel’s giant food manufacturer, has filed a complaint with the Health Ministry against American food giant Heinz. Their claim is that Heinz Ketchup cannot be technically called ketchup in Israel, since it doesn’t have the amount of tomato paste required by Health Ministry regulations. The regulation requires 10% tomato solids while Heinz only contains 6%.

So, Osem is demanding that Heinz use “tomato seasoning” instead of ketchup on their Hebrew labels. Apparently, the regulations don’t apply to non-Hebrew labels, so English readers will still be able to enjoy good old “ketchup” while Hebrew only Israelis will have to settle for “tomato seasoning”.

In the tradition of classical Talmudic reasoning, Heinz’s local importer Diplomat is filing its own petition asking the Health Ministry to revise the regulation from 10% tomato solids down to 6%.

The Histadrut, Israel’s all powerful (and only) labor union is against revising the regulation, claiming that doing so would harm children by depriving them of their tomato fill. The fact that Osem is one of Israel’s largest employers might have something to do with it too.
How important is this? Think about it. Would you put “tomato seasoning” on your burger?

Returning Home
A chartered flight sponsored by Nefesh B’Nefesh landed in Israel yesterday carrying 232 Olim (new immigrants) from North America. Fifty nine of them will be enlisting in the IDF as lone soldiers.

“And your children shall return to their borders,” — Jeremiah 31:16

Israel News for August 18, 2015

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Hunger Striker
Israel’s High Court postponed ruling on the case of the Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Allan and has instructed the government and Allaan’s family to come up with a compromise agreement. The government yesterday offered to free Allaan on the condition that he leave the country for four years .

Arab-Israeli Knesset member Mohammed Jabareen of the Joint Arab List party, who is representing Allaan, rejected the offer, claiming that it proves that Allaan isn’t really that dangerous. Instead, the family has offered for Allaan to end his hunger strike on the condition that the state not extend his detention, which is scheduled to expire in November.

Background
Allaan was arrested in November and is being held under the administrative detention law (without formal charges or trial) on suspicion of being involved with Islamic Jihad. He has been on a hunger strike for 62 days now in protest. Last month the Knesset passed a law allowing a judge to sanction force-feeding or medical treatment if an inmate’s life is threatened, even if the prisoner refuses. But doctors, backed by the Israel Medical Association, have refused to use force-feeding and consider it to be inhumane.

Allaan is currently in Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon where he is receiving intravenous fluids and vitamins, which is not considered force-feeding. But doctors say some of his organs are damaged as a result of the hunger strike and his condition is precarious.

In the past Israel has freed Palestinian prisoners on hunger strikes for fear that their deaths could stir up Palestinian outbreaks of violence. At the same time the government doesn’t want to set a precedent which would encourage prisoners to go on hunger strikes to attempt getting released. The government also feels that Allaan will be a security threat if released.

Upshot
According to Israeli law the government has every right to continue detaining Allaan since it believes that he is a security threat. It also has the right to force-feed him in order to save his life. Instead the government has offered to set him free as long as he leaves the country for four years. That would seem to be a good deal for Allaan considering his current situation. Unfortunately for him, due to his condition he is unable to make any decisions for himself, leaving the Israeli-Arab and Palestinian politicians and activists representing him to decide his fate. And they’ve decided, at least for now, that their fight against Israel takes precedence over saving Allaan’s life.

PA Money funds terror
Indictments filed by the Military Advocate General of Judea and Samaria against the terrorists responsible for the murder of Malachi Rosenfeld a month ago in the West Bank reveal that PA money was indirectly used to fund the terror cells.

Background
Ahmad Najar, the head of the terror cell that murdered Rosenfeld, was imprisoned in Israeli jail for the murder of six Israelis in 2004. After his release as part of the Shalit deal, he received a monthly stipend from the Palestinian Authority for his time served in Israeli prison.

Najar then moved to Jordan and had his brother Amjad withdraw the money from his bank account in the West Bank. He used the money to train and arm a terror cell under his command.

On June 29, the terror cell’s members shot Rosenfeld to death and wounded his three friends near the settlement Shvut Rachel. Prior to the fatal attack, they fired at a Magen David Adom ambulance near Beit El, in an incident that ended without injuries. The Palestinian Authority arrested two members of the terror cell. Israel arrested the rest.

In a separate indictment Muhammed Abu Shaheen from Qalandiya was indicted for shooting Danny Gonen to death near the settlement Dolev and wounding his friend Netanel Hadad. The charges against his terrorist cell members also include several cases of shooting at soldiers in Qalandiya and planning to kidnap an Israeli.

Hamas deal. Not.
Despite reports in the Arab press and statements from Turkish officials and PA President Abbas that Israel was close to reaching a long term cease first agreement with Hamas, the PM’s office released a statement yesterday flatly denying any negotiations with Hamas. According to the statement, “There are no meetings with Hamas. There are no direct contacts, no contacts through other countries and no contacts through intermediaries.”

Passport Control Crumbles
Waiting in line for immigration officers to check your passport at Ben Gurion airport is never a pleasant experience. Last Friday, it got a whole lot worse. The passport control computer system went down, requiring agents to check incoming passengers’ passports manually. With Shabbat approaching, and a huge backlog of anxious and impatient passengers still waiting, authorities decided to just let about 1,300 Israeli citizens through without any record of their entry into the country. The catch is that they would need to call the Interior Ministry (Misrad Hapnim) to register their re-entry into the country.

When people called they were told that they need to show up at a ministry office to personally confirm that they’re back in Israel. If they don’t they’re considered as if they aren’t in Israel and therefore will not be covered by their national insurance. At least they made it home for Shabbat.

No Soccer on Shabbat
Economy Minister Aryeh Deri, who is also head of the Ultra Orthodox Sephardic Shas party, sent a letter to the Minister of Culture and Sports Miri Regev and to the head of the Soccer Association requesting that they not schedule National League (Liga Leumit) games on Shabbat.

Background
There are two professional soccer leagues in Israel: the top tier Premier League and the second tier National League. While the Premier League has always schedule some games on Shabbat, the National League has not, until now. The league has decided to schedule games on Shabbat in the upcoming season. At least ten players have protested this decision and said they will refuse to play on Shabbat.

Pants attack
A 15 yr old girl was walking with her family in Jerusalem on Rechov Strauss, a main street running through the center of town, not far from an Ultra Orthodox (Charedi) neighborhood. She was wearing pants. A 40 yr. old Charedi man considered the pants to be immodest. He expressed his opinion by spitting on her. The man was arrested. The girl most likely wiped the spit off and then continued wearing her pants.

Israel News for August 17, 2015

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More Protests in Ashkelon
Violence broke out between police and hundreds of demonstrators close to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon where Mohammad Allaan, a suspected Islamic Jihad member in administrative detention, is currently hospitalized 61 days into a hunger strike. He has been in an induced coma since Friday, and is being given fluids and vitamins intravenously.

About 200 Arab protesters attempted to block the main junction leading into Ashkelon and attacked police with stones and pepper spray, but were dispersed by water cannons.

Outside the hospital police controlled dozens of Arab protestors demonstrating in support of Allaan and right wing Israeli demonstrators protesting against him.

In total, 15 demonstrators were arrested from both sides.

Yesterday, Allaan’s lawyer petitioned the High Court for his release on grounds of his poor health. The government responded by telling the court that it would be willing to release Allan on the condition that he leaves the country for 4 years and does not return to the region. The High Court are due to reach a decision today.

Upshot
A ruling of the High Court to release Allan could trigger a wave of hunger strikes by security prisoners in an attempt to gain their freedom. That would create an untenable situation, for obvious reasons.

More Terrorism
The string of Palestinian terror attacks in the two weeks following the Duma arson attack continued with three new stabbing attacks.

Early this morning a Palestinian approached a border policeman at the Tapuach junction in Samaria saying that he wasn’t feeling well. Then he stabbed the policeman, lightly wounded him. The attacker was shot and seriously wounded by officers.

There were two stabbings on Saturday.

The first incident occurred at around 11:30 a.m. at a checkpoint in Samaria near Route 443. A Palestinian male approached an IDF soldier and asked for water. When the soldier turned to get the water, the Palestinian stabbed him in the upper back. Another soldier at the scene opened fire and wounded the attacker.

The second incident occurred at around 6:15 p.m. at the Tapuach Junction in Samaria. A Palestinian 21-year-old male, Rafiq Kamel Rafiq, approached Border Police officers conducting a routine security check and plunged a knife into one of their backs. Another officer opened fire and killed the attacker.

In an official statement, Palestinian Authority President Abbas blamed Israel for the killing of the attacker. “The crime was a continuation of the daily killing which no one can be silent at” the statement said.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said, “Anyone that tries to harm IDF soldiers, Border Police officers or Israeli civilians should know that they are taking their lives into their own hands. The fight against Palestinian terrorism, both of the organized and ‘lone wolf’ nature, is complex and requires an iron hand, patience and judgment, and this is how we act.”

Protests Against Cinemaplex
Last week a new cinemaplex called Yes Planet opened in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem, bordering on the Arab neighborhood of Abu Tor. It’s the only cinemaplex in Jerusalem that’s open on Shabbat.

The fact that it’s located nowhere near any of the city’s predominantly religious neighborhoods didn’t stop groups of Charedi men from protesting, in two of their own neighborhoods. The protests resulted in some scuffles with police, several closed off streets, minor damage to a few cars and buildings — but at the cinemaplex, it was business as usual.

In a statement, the leader of the protesters said, “this is just the beginning of the protests.”  Meanwhile, the cinemaplex goers are excited about their new weekend entertainment venue. The cinemaplex management has no intention of closing on Shabbat.

So, It looks like both the protests and the movies will continue.

Threats Against Rabbi
Rabbi David Stav, the Chief Rabbi of Shoham, the head of the Tzohar Rabbinic Organization and one of the founders of the new conversion court that is operating outside of the Chief Rabbinate’s authority, is now under police protection due to threats against him. His photo appeared in the Charedi press with a big caption in red letters saying, “this man is dangerous”.

Rabbi Stav doesn’t seem too worried, but he is avoiding certain places and changing up his regular schedule a bit, just to be safe. The conversion court is proceeding as planned.

Women in Knesset
When Minister and Knesset Member Danny Danon officially becomes Israel’s UN Ambassador, he will vacate his Knesset seat, which will be filled by fellow Likud member Sharren Haskel. The Canadian born 31 year old Haskel is known for her advocacy related to environmental issues. When she’s sworn in, Haskel will bring the number of female Knesset members currently serving to 30, which is a record.

Danon will also be giving up his cabinet post as Minister of Science and Technology and Space as well as his position as chairman of the Likud Central Committee.

Maybe there was an ulterior motive for the PM to give Danon his new position?

Cabinet Approves Gas Deal
The cabinet approved an agreement that will allow three major gas companies to develop the Leviathan natural gas fields, located off the coast of Haifa. PM Netanyahu said that the agreement will, “earn the people of the country and the state treasury hundreds of millions of shekels. This money will go for education, health, welfare, and other national needs.” The revenue to the state in the next few decades is estimated to be $100 billion, about 20 to 30 billion less than originally expected.

Huckabee Heading to Israel
Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee heads to Israel this week to raise money and meet “with a number of officials” to discuss the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran.

“The Iranian government is not to be trusted,” Huckabee said, “We’re being pushed to get into a deal that gives us nothing, but gives the Iranians the capacity to ultimately end up with a nuclear weapon, and that’s just insane.”

Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, enjoys a large base of supporters in the Christian Evangelical community, which strongly supports Israel. He’s noted that he’s been to Israel “dozens and dozens of times” since his first trip in 1973.

Israel News for August 11, 2015

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Conversion Controversy
A group of prominent religious zionist rabbis have established a Bet Din (religious court) to perform conversions. They performed their first conversion on a group of minors on Monday. The Chief Rabbinate along with almost all charedi rabbis are vehemently against this court.

Background
The Chief Rabbinate has always had sole jurisdiction for all matters pertaining to marriage, divorce, death and conversions in the State of Israel. That means that only the courts established or sanctioned by the Chief Rabbinate can perform conversions. This wasn’t much of a problem until the 1990’s, when the Soviet Union collapsed and over a million Jews from behind the iron curtain immigrated to Israel. While they were considered eligible for the Right of Return by Israeli law simply by having a single Jewish grandparent, according to the Jewish religious law (halacha) that states that only the child of a Jewish mother is considered to be Jewish, at least a third of the immigrants weren’t technically Jewish.

Many of these “non Jewish“ Jews formally converted in the army via special army sanctioned religious courts or through the regular rabbinate court system. But when some leading rabbis noticed that these converts weren’t following Jewish law after their conversions, they sounded the alarm and pressured the charedi controlled Chief Rabbinate to prevent or even retract what they considered to be invalid conversions.

Most rabbis associated with the religious zionist camp disagreed with the Chief Rabbinate and felt that the Rabbinate had an obligation to allow these Israelis with Jewish fathers (but not mothers), many of whom were serving in the IDF and fully integrated into Israeli society, to convert and become officially recognized by the religious courts.

Conversion supporters attempted to pass a conversion reform bill in the Knesset which would have allowed the chief rabbis of every city and town to set up their own conversion courts. This would allow potential converts to use religious courts in cities with pro conversion chief rabbis. The bill passed initially, but was subsequently canceled just last month under pressure from the new government’s charedi coalition partners.

Fed up with the opposition of the Chief Rabbinate to easing their restrictions on conversion, the religious zionist rabbis, lead by many prominent rabbinic figures, have finally said enough is enough and have formed their own conversion court. The court is focusing primarily on converting minors who are already attending religious schools, which is permissible according to a great many prominent rabbinic experts (poskim).

Upshot
Even though they seem to have a solid basis in Jewish law, the new conversion court is vehemently opposed by the Chief Rabbinate, which is basically run by the charedi establishment. There doesn’t seem to be any way that the Chief Rabbinate and charedi rabbinic authorities will ever accept the new court and the conversions that they perform. On the other hand, there’s no way that the religious zionist rabbis can accept the stringent ruling of the Chief Rabbinate that they believe to be incorrect and harmful to Jewish continuity in Israel.

Since the Chief Rabbinate controls all marriage registration in the country, it is unlikely that these converts will be allowed to marry in the future, unless they change their position. The alternative would be for the religious zionist rabbis to overturn the Rabbinate’s authority and perform the marriages, which would likely spell the end of the Chief Rabbinate. This battle is just beginning to heat up and the religious status of thousands hang in the balance.

Force Feeding
Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Allaan, a member of Islamic Jihad who has been on a hunger strike for 54 days, was transferred yesterday under heavy security from Be’er Sheva’s Soroka Medical Center to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center. Apparently, doctors at Soroka, backed by the Israel Medical Association (IMA), have indicated that they will refuse to force-feed him against his will if ordered to do so. The IMA claims that force-feeding constitutes torture and treating a patient against his will violates medical ethics. It is known to be a highly invasive and painful process that can be life threatening if executed on a struggling patient.

Background
A hunger strike law was passed in the Knesset last week whereby the state can force-feed hunger strikers whose lives are in danger, even against their will. Although Allaan is currently in intensive care he is not thought to be in mortal danger, so doctors can still not force him to accept food or medical treatment. He would be the first prisoner to be force fed under the new law.

The US has force fed prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and the practice is legal in certain states.

Last year there were 724 prisoners that went on hunger strikes in Israel. This year there have been 30. Last month Israel freed another Islamic Jihad member after 56 days of hunger strike that nearly killed him.

Upshot
Doctors at Barzilai have also indicated that they will refuse an order to force- feed Allaan against his will, saying their ethical considerations are no different from those at Soroka and they will not force feed him as long as he is conscious. Looks like finding a hospital to carry out the law won’t be that easy.

Dog Walkers Attacked
A husband and wife from a settlement in Samaria took their dog out for a morning run. When they took a shortcut near a neighboring Arab village they were noticed by a few Arabs who quickly sounded the alarm. Suddenly, the couple found themselves confronted by about 20 men from the village accompanied by European activists with cameras. The Arabs started throwing rocks at the couple and shouted death threats.

The couple tried to explain that they were just out for a run and had no intentions of entering their village. It didn’t work. Luckily they were able to run away and alert the security forces, who then entered the village to search for the attackers. The couple weren’t harmed and will most likely be changing their jogging route. [source]

Violent Charedi Protests
There were violent demonstrations by charedim in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem yesterday protesting the arrest of a yeshiva student who hadn’t properly arranged his draft deferment and the attempt to forcibly draft a young woman from Elad who hadn’t bothered applying for a religious exemption. Demonstrators threw stones at police and at firefighters who arrived to extinguish burning garbage bins set on fire by the demonstrators. Three suspects were arrested for attacking policemen. It’s unclear what happened to the draft dodging yeshiva student, but there seem to be plenty of battle ready men among the demonstrators.