Israel News for October 30, 2015
More Terror
Breaking news: Two Palestinians arrived at the Tapuah intersection a short time ago and attempted to stab Border Police officers protecting the site. The officers shot and killed the terrorists.
A pregnant 26-year-old woman was hit in the face by shrapnel on Thursday evening when Arabs threw rocks at her car near Karmei Tzur on Highway 60, in Gush Etzion.
In another attack on the same highway, a rock thrown by Arabs damaged a car driven by Rabbi Re’em Hacohen, head of the yeshiva in Otniel and Yehuda Glick, the chairman of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation. They were not injured.
Also last night, terrorists carried out a drive-by shooting at a hitchhiking station near the town of Ofra (Samaria). IDF troops fired at the car, which escaped. No one was hurt at the station.
Ahmed Mansara, the 13 yr. old Palestinian who stabbed and wounded two Israelis in Pisgat Ze’ev earlier this month, was charged today with attempted murder and possession of a knife. According to Israeli law a minor cannot be imprisoned. He can only be transferred to a probation officer at a rehabilitation center.
For further reading click here.
Suing Facebook
Richard Lakin, the American educator and peace activist who died from the wounds he sustained in a Jerusalem bus terror attack this month, is still in the fight.
Days before he died, the Israel-based rights group Shurat Hadin filed a lawsuit in the US against Facebook naming Lakin as the lead plaintiff. The suit accuses Facebook of allowing “gruesome Palestinian pages that incite violence”.
Lakin’s son Micah Avni said his father was shot in the head and then stabbed multiple times – in much the same way as described in some of the videos posted online. He added that one of the Palestinians who killed his father had previously made his intentions clear on Facebook and his posts were widely reposted on social media afterward.
Shurat Hadin say that 20,000 Israelis are suing Facebook over the Palestinian incitement.
Upshot
Social media companies need to start taking responsibility for keeping all incitement to violence off their sites. They obviously have an ethical and moral obligation to do so. Now the courts will decide whether they have a legal responsibility too.
For further reading click here.
Demolition Delays
The High Court of Justice has ordered the State to produce records of all the demolition proceeding against the homes of terrorists for the past two years. It seems as though the government has been lax in carrying out the actual demolitions after acquiring the legal judgements to do so.
High Court Justice Noam Sulberg echoed the feelings of two of his colleagues saying, “There are cases in which the verdict is handed down, and plenty of time passes until its execution. It has a negative effect on the stated urgency. A verdict is given then many months pass.”
Upshot
What is holding up these demolitions? Let’s hope the judges can figure it out and get the process back on track.
For further reading click here.
Protectsia
If you’re looking for a high level position in a prominent international zionist organization, you better make sure that you’re a member of a select group of major Israeli political parties.
At last week’s World Zionist Congress conference in Jerusalem, the major political parties and movements including Likud, Labor, Kulanu, Meretz, Shas, National Union, Yisrael Beiteinu and Mizrahi, signed a secret agreement to distribute jobs at Zionist institutions. Yesh Atid was the only major party not to sign the agreement.
According to the agreement revealed by Globes, Labor and Meretz obtained the posts of Jewish National Fund (JNF) chairman, head of the Zionist enterprises department in the Jewish Agency, and head of the education department, which is responsible for many activities of overseas emissaries and the budgets for the Reform and Conservative movements. Likud and Shas are keeping the posts of Jewish Agency chairman (occupied by Natan Sharansky), vice-chairman of the World Zionist Organization, and a bunch of other positions relating to PR and Anti-Semitism.
The Mizrahi movement, together with Yisrael Beiteinu and the National Union Party, received the positions of World Zionist Organization chairman, head of the settlement division, JNF vice-chairman, and the Aliyah department.
Apparently, it pays to be connected.
For further reading click here.
Culinary Pressure
The BDS movement is calling on world renown chefs who are scheduled to participate in a major culinary event in Tel Aviv to boycott it.
Some 26 top chefs and restaurateurs from famous restaurants around the world are expected to participate in the event, Open Tables, and cook in upscale restaurants in Tel Aviv throughout the month of November.
The BDS movement sent the chefs a letter signed by more than 130 civil society groups, stating: “We urge you to reconsider your involvement in this initiative aimed at using haute cuisine to mask Israel’s denial of Palestinian basic rights. Please cancel your participation in the Round Tables event until everyone has a place at the table.”
The letter went on about what they consider to be Israel’s war crimes, civil rights abuses, expulsions, apartheid … you name it and it was there. It ended with, “We urge you not to lend your culinary talents to mask Israel’s crimes.”
The organizers of the event wrote this in response: “The project will take place as planned. All the guest restaurants and chefs are on their way to Israel. Some of them have already landed in the country and have begun their activity in the hosting restaurants. All the international chefs are happy to take part in the initiative out of great interest and an acknowledgement of the developing culinary scene in Tel Aviv and Israel.”
Sounds amazing! Who wants to go to Tel Aviv?
For further reading click here.
Raining rats and dogs
Record breaking amounts of rain have fallen on Israel’s coastal towns and surrounding areas. Some areas received more than six times their average amount of rain for October.
The weather system that has barraged Israel with rain for the past few days has caused extensive damage, flooding and power outages. According to Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, the damage caused by the storm is the worst in the history of Israel. Tens of thousands were left without power for days. A labour dispute with electric company employees did not help the situation.
In Tel Aviv, sewers overflowed creating huge (smelly) puddles and forcing hordes of rats to the surface. Yuck.
The floods even reached the Negev, where a couple had to be rescued by helicopter yesterday and highways and roads were closed due to flash floods.
Unfortunately, the storm did not hit the more mountainous areas or the Kinneret, so it didn’t do much to replenish the water supply.
More rain is in the forecast.
For further reading click here.
New Israel App
Talk Israel is the first mobile app to bring you pro-Israel digital content from dozens of sources tailored to your personal preferences and interests using machine learning. It’s available for iPhone and Android, so look for it in the app store.
Read more about it here.
