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Israel News for January 15, 2016

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Terror Attacks
An IDF officer was lightly wounded near Nablus yesterday when a Palestinian terrorist stabbed him. The terrorist was shot and killed. Earlier in the day a terrorist attempted to stab soldiers near Hebron and was shot and killed.There were no Israeli casualties.

For further reading click here.

PM Supports Shaked
PM Netanyahu publicly threw his support behind a controversial law proposed by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked known as the “NGO transparency bill”.

The law states that if a nongovernmental organization receives more than half its funding from a foreign government, the NGO must disclose that fact and its representatives must wear tags that reflect that when they appear in the Knesset. Almost all of the NGOs that receive foreign government funding are left-wing.

The law has been criticized by the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, as well as by the ambassadors of Germany, Britain, France, Holland and the European union.

The bill was approved by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation a few weeks ago, which in theory obligates the coalition to support it. It is now being discussed by the Knesset.

The PM compared the bill to a law enacted by the U.S. Congress in January 2015. That law says that if representatives of an NGO that receives money from a foreign country are appearing at a congressional hearing, they must submit a written declaration about their foreign funding before the hearing. The American law, Netanyahu said, is far more stringent than the Israeli proposal, because it applies even if the NGO receives only one dollar from a foreign government, whereas the Israeli law would apply only to groups that obtain more than half their funding from foreign governments.

In a statement to the foreign media the PM said, “I fail to understand how greater transparency is undemocratic. … It is the most obvious request in every democracy. Transparency is the heart of democracy. When you hear about the use and abuse of NGOs here – transparency is the least we want and is much warranted and it is common sense. Israel is being held to a different standard here.”

Israel held to a higher standard? Impossible!

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One More Thing
During the same talk with the foreign media, Netanyahu lashed out against Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom for saying that Israel may be guilty of the extrajudicial killing of Palestinians. He said, “What the Swedish FM said is outrageous, it’s immoral it’s unjust. It is definitely wrong and it singles out Israel in an absurd way… and it’s stupid.”

The PM also made some comparisons, saying, “People are defending themselves against assailants wielding knives, who are about to stab them to death, and they shoot them, and that’s extrajudicial killings?”

“So why is San Bernardino not extrajudicial killings? And, the other day in Paris, a knife-wielding terrorist was shot to death. Is that extrajudicial killings? Does the Swedish foreign minister suggest that there be examinations of what happened in Paris or in the United States?

No ambiguity here. But do you think the PM’s remarks will change the way the Swedes view Israel?

For further reading click here.

PM vs. Brazil
PM Netanyahu is standing firm in his appointment of Dani Danon as Israel’s Ambassador to Brazil despite Brazil’s refusal to accept Danon’s credentials, which they must do for the ambassador to officially take his position. The reason for their refusal is because of Danon’s past position as head of the Yesha council, which represents the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria — which Brazil considers to be occupied territory according to international law.

There were recent reports that Foreign Ministry officials had retracted their pro-Danon stance and were ready to relent and appoint a different ambassador, but the PM’s latest position seems to contradict that.

This could develop into a real breakdown in relations between the two countries, which wouldn’t be beneficial for either side. Let’s hope they figure out a solution asap.

For further reading click here.

Refugee Camp Apathy
According to a Walla report, many Palestinians living in refugee camps in the West Bank are refusing to join the current wave of terror, claiming that they have nothing to gain from it. They feel the only result will be a return of Israeli soldiers and Shin Bet to their camps. Ironically, this “wave of terror” is one of the calmest periods over the last decade in the refugee camps, which were a hotbed of violence during the second Intifada (2000-4).

One Palestinian resident of Jenin described the current wave of violence as, “a passing fad”. He explained that they did not gain anything from the second intifada, they just paid a heavy price so there is no reason to join the current wave of violence and send their kids out with knives.

According to the report many in the refugee camps share his sentiments and do not believe that the recent wave of terror will continue much longer or that it will make a difference. They feel no allegiance to the Palestinian authority and do not see the this wave of terror as their struggle.

For further reading click here.

Shopping Peace
In a 200 million shekel project, Israeli business mogul and owner of supermarket chain Rami Levi, is set to build the first Palestinian Israeli mall. The 20,000 square meter mall is to be located in the Palestinian town of A-Ram, which is located northeast of Jerusalem and is estimated to have around 50,000 inhabitants.

The plan is to have Palestinian chain stores next to Israeli chain stores, with both Palestinians and Israelis shopping side by side. The security situation does not bother Rami Levy who said, “we will serve everyone regardless of race or nationality.” He also promised equal employment opportunities regardless of race, nationality or religion.

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Israel News for January 6, 2016

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Tragic Accident
First-Lt. Yishai Rosales, 23, from Beit Meir, was killed by shrapnel when a mortar round was fired in the wrong direction at the Tze’elim IDF training base during a course for company and battalion commanders. Rosales was a platoon commander in the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion (Nahal Haredi).

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Spy Convicted
Corporal Elad Sela, who served in the Etzion Regional Brigade of the IDF, was convicted by a military court of passing secret information to right wing extremists. The court found him guilty of searching through classified computer files to look for information on “price tag” suspects from the Bat Ayin settlement in Gush Etzion, where he lives, and to alert them regarding planned raids against them by security forces.

The court sentenced Sela to 45 months in prison along with an additional suspended sentence and a demotion to the rank of private.

In a statement the IDF said, “Leaks such as this must be eradicated from the army and those who breach the trust given to them by the army and who harm security interests must be punished severely.”

Sela is married and the father of two.

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Israel Folds
Last week we reported that Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely was adamant that Israel would stand behind Dani Dayan, its appointed ambassador to Brazil, even though the Brazilian government refused to approve Dayan because of his history as a leader in the settlement movement.

Well, it looks like Hotovely has had second thoughts. Foreign Ministry officials are now advising the government to choose a different ambassador to Brazil. Next week Brazil’s ambassador to Israel will reportedly be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a discussion, during which the gravity with which Israel views the non-approval of Dayan’s appointment will be made clear to him. A senior Foreign Ministry official said that only after all options have been exhausted, including initiating a phone call between PM Netanyahu and Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff, will they “calculate a new move”.

One of the options being considered is to nominate Dayan as ambassador to another country and to send a new ambassador to Brazil. Dayan’s name has already been mentioned as a possible candidate for the position of Israel’s Consul General in New York or Los Angeles.

You can’t win ‘em all.

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Bad Facebook
Shurat HaDin, an Israeli based civil rights NGO, set out to test whether Facebook applies double standards when it comes to incitement. On December 29, 2015, the NGO launched “The Big Facebook Experiment” by publishing two nearly identical Facebook pages: “Stop Palestinians” and “Stop Israel.” Over the next few days they posted hateful content on both pages, and then reported the content to Facebook.

For example, the pro-Palestinian page promised to “demolish the Zionist invader,” and called for revenge against the “Zionist enemy that threatens Al-Aqsa.” A call to rise up against Israel was portrayed in a cartoon featuring a Star of David bearing crocodile with the Temple Mount compound perched beneath the roof of its mouth and a knife nested against its snout – an accompanying post to the illustration called for “death to all the Jews.”

Meanwhile, on the pro-Israel page, a post calling for war against the “Palestinian enemy” claimed that “more and more soldiers in the IDF know that there is a need to destroy the Arab enemy.” Another post featured a collage of a handful of so-called “price tag” attacks and an accompanying caption calling for “death to all the Arabs.”

The anti-Palestinian page was shut down by Facebook, on the same day that it was reported, for “containing credible threat of violence” which “violated our [Facebook’s] community standards.” The anti-Israeli page was not shut down, despite its identical hateful content. Facebook claimed that this page was “not in violation of Facebook’s rules.”

In October Shurat Hadin filed a lawsuit against Facebook on behalf of 20,000 Israelis to stop allowing Palestinian terrorists to incite violent attacks against Israeli citizens on the social network’s platform.

According to the NGO, “Facebook actively assists the inciters to find people who are interested in acting on their hateful messages by offering friend, group and event suggestions and targeting advertising based on people’s online ‘likes’ and internet browsing history.” Additionally, Facebook often gives incitement pages the freedom to operate and continue operation despite reports of hateful content, under the claim that they do not violate its “community standards.”

Druze News
Yesterday, Israel’s National Council for Building and Planning approved PM Netanyahu’s initiative to establish a new Druze town in the north of the country. The town, which will be located near Tiberias, will be the first new Druze town to be built by the state since 1948 and the first time in 130 years that a new Druze community will be established in the territory of what is now Israel.

The PM said, “I view the building of this new town as a very important initiative that will bring progress to the Druze sector.”

There are currently 18 Druze towns recognized by the state – four in the Golan and 14 in the Galilee. Except for those in Golan, the Druze serve in the IDF, primarily in combat units and with distinction.

For further reading click here.

Israel News for September 22, 2015

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Traitorous Politics?
PM Netanyahu recently appointed Dani Dayan as Israel’s new ambassador to Brazil. The Left is in an uproar, because Dayan served as Chairman of the Yesha Council – the umbrella organization of Jewish settlement municipal councils in the West Bank – from 2007 to 2013.

In announcing Dayan’s appointment, Netanyahu said that “Latin America is one of Israel’s key destinations as part of the efforts to develop new markets that will contribute to increased economic growth in Israel. I am convinced that Dani Dayan will bring his vast experience to the position and will deepen the relations between Israel and Brazil.”

Protest
Several former ambassadors and left-wing activists met with the Brazilian ambassadors to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to convey the message that acceptance of Dani Dayan’s appointment would be tantamount to granting international legitimacy to settlements. If a host country doesn’t accept the appointment of a new ambassador, then the appointment cannot go through.

So basically, these Israelis are trying to foil their own government by appealing directly to a foreign government because they disagree with their government’s decision. Doesn’t sound too kosher.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon blasted them on his Facebook page for slandering Israel and called their attempt “shameful, dangerous and despicable.” He added that, “Someone who has a political dispute with someone else ought to keep the argument about it at home, and not act in malicious ways that end up hurting Israel and its citizens first and foremost.”

Ministers from the Left and Right strongly criticized the unprecedented move by the activists. The only defense that the accused could offer was that they had no choice, since they have no power within the Israeli government.

So much for democracy.

Further reading – http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.669781

Israel and Russia
PM Netanyahu met with Russian President Putin yesterday in Moscow to discuss Russia’s recent military buildup in Syria and how it might affect Israel. After the meeting the PM said that the two sides agreed to establish a coordination mechanism to prevent misunderstandings and unintended confrontations between the Israeli military and Russian forces deployed in Syria.

Netanyahu added that the bulk of the conversation with Putin, which lasted two and a half hours, was dedicated to the security situation on Israel’s northern border. He noted that he made it clear to the Russian president that Israel will continue to take action to prevent the transfer of lethal weapons from Syria and Iran to Hezbollah and to thwart Iranian attempts to carry out terror attacks against Israel in the Golan Heights.

The PM said that Putin made clear that he will “ensure that whatever intentions Russia has in Syria, it will not be a partner to Iranian aggression” against Israel.

Putin said, “We never forget that in the State of Israel reside many former Soviet citizens, and that has a special implication on the relationship between our two states. Every Russian action in the area has always been very responsible. We are aware of the artillery against Israel and we condemn it.”

Upshot
The PM said that he briefed the U.S. administration on the details of his trip to Russia and the issues that were discussed with Putin. But with the Iran deal in place, making friends with Russia to make sure they don’t join up with the Iranian’s is the prudent thing to do. If you can trust Russia.

Further reading – http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.677027

Palestinian Poll
The Israeli right might not be the only ones against a two state solution.

A recent poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, a leading research group in the Palestinian territories, found that 51 percent of Palestinians oppose the two-state solution while 48 percent support it. That’s down from 51% pro and 48% against three months ago.

If new elections were held in the Palestinian territories, 35 percent said they would vote for Hamas and 35 percent for Fatah.

Asked what the most effective way of establishing an independent Palestinian state next to Israel would be, 42 percent said armed action and 29 percent said negotiation. Three months ago only 36 percent said armed action.

Finally, 78 percent of Palestinians think the chances of getting their own state in the next five years are “slim to non-existent”.

Upshot
The statistics don’t bode well for a peaceful solution to the conflict anytime soon. It just looks like the Palestinians are becoming more radicalized and viewing violence as their only solution.

Further reading – http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/21/us-palestinians-israel-survey-idUSKCN0RL1DF20150921

Supermodel’s Charedi Chupah
Supermodel Bar Rafaeli’s upcoming wedding to businessman Adi Ezra this coming Thursday is causing quite a stir in the charedi community. Why you ask? Because Rabbi Dovid Grossman, the Chief Rabbi of Migdal Ha’emek and the founder of the Migdal Or organization, will be officiating at the ceremony.

Hardly anyone in the charedi community ever probably heard of Bar Rafaeli. But now that one of the most prominent and beloved charedi rabbis is going to be doing the honors, everyone’s interested in stirring up some controversy.

Some charedi commentators are decrying the fact that R. Grossman will be denigrating himself by officiating at the wedding of a woman who doesn’t exemplify the qualities of modest dress and lifestyle that they believe is incumbent upon all respectable Jewish women.

Other charedi pundits say that R. Grossman is just fulfilling his rabbinic duty by performing a Jewish wedding, regardless of who the bride and groom are. In fact, rabbis in Israel perform weddings every day without discriminating against the lifestyles of the couples they are marrying.

R. Grossman, famous for his outreach to the non-observant community, doesn’t seem very worried. In a recent interview on a charedi radio station he said that Bar told him that during her time under the chupah (wedding canopy) she would like to feel close to God and distance herself from her “Bohemian” lifestyle”. How can he deny her that?

Further reading – http://news.walla.co.il/item/2891902

Jews Flock to Kotel
The recent tense security situation on the Temple Mount and East Jerusalem didn’t keep Jews from asking God for forgiveness on the eve of Yom Kippur. Tens of thousands of Jewish men and women gathered at the Kotel to say selichot (prayers for forgiveness). The prayers were led by Chief Rabbis of Israel David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, Chief Rabbi of the Kotel Shmuel Rabinovitz and other senior rabbis and laymen.

The worshippers included religious and non religious, Ashkenazim and Sephardim, charedi and secular. It was a beautiful display of the unity of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.
May we all merit blessings and forgiveness for this Yom Kippur, and a new year filled with health, happiness and peace.

Further reading – http://news.walla.co.il/item/2891949