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Israel News for December 26, 2016

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UN Vote
On Friday the UN Security Council voted 14-0 to condemn Israeli settlement building in the West Bank. The resolution, which was withdrawn by Egypt after pressure from Israel and Donal Trump, was reintroduced by Venezuela, New Zealand, Malaysia and Senegal. In an unprecedented move, the US did not use its veto power, allowing the resolution to pass. Israel had feared the Obama would take action against Israel in the UN in his final days in office, and this is exactly what happened.

Senior Republican leaders lashed out at Obama’s decision to abstain from the vote. Donald Trump vowed that things would be much different after he takes office.

Ambassador Samantha Power explained the administration’s vote this way: “Today, the Security Council reaffirmed its established consensus that settlements have no legal validity…. President Obama and Secretary Kerry have repeatedly warned – publicly and privately – that the absence of progress toward peace and continued settlement expansion was going to put the two-state solution at risk, and threaten Israel’s stated objective to remain both a Jewish State and a democracy … This resolution reflects trends that will permanently destroy the hope of a two-state solution if they continue on their current course.”

But while the Obama administrations claims that it was just voicing its opposition to the building of new settlements, the reality is much different.

According to the text of the resolution, “any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem have no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.” 

That means that everything built in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, including the Western Wall plaza, is illegal. It also means that all the Jewish neighborhoods located in “East” Jerusalem, and the roads leading to Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital, are illegal.

Did Obama not fully understand the contents of the resolution, or does he truly believe that Israel has no right to any property located over the “Green Line”, including the Western Wall (which is clearly over the line)?

PM Netanyahu remarked, “Over decades, American administrations and Israeli governments have disagreed about settlements, but we agreed that the Security Council was not the place to resolve this issue. As I told John Kerry on Thursday, friends don’t take friends to the Security Council.”

Apparently the Obama administration wasn’t such a friend after all. Quite a goodbye gift from the outgoing president. Best of luck to you too.

For further reading click here.

Israel Reacts
In the wake of the UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity, Israel has taken action against the UN and the countries that voted against her.

Israel will cut its $8 million of funding to the UN and also work to cancel appointments of anti-Israel UN officials and impede the functioning of UN relief agencies operating in the West Bank and Gaza who are anti-Israel. Israel is hoping that the Trump administration and its new pro-Israel UN ambassador Nikki Haley will help facilitate its moves.

PM Netanyahu also summoned the ambassadors of the 14 countries who voted for the resolution for a “talking to” and ordered Israeli officials not to hold meetings with representatives of those countries, including England, France, Spain, Japan and Russia.

For further reading click here.

Special Rep
Donald Trump has appointed Jason Greenblatt, the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, as special representative for international negotiations, with a focus on Israel-Palestinian peace talks, trade agreements and the diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba.

Greenblatt, an Orthodox Jew and Yeshiva University graduate, has said that he believes in a two-state solution as long as it is reached through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and not imposed by the UN or any other foreign element. He also firmly believes that settlements are not an obstacle to peace.

While Greenblatt admits that he has no professional foreign policy experience, that doesn’t seem to bother him or Trump. Judging by the development in the peace process over the last 20 years, it doesn’t seem as though the experienced diplomats have done such a great job. Perhaps the lawyers and businessmen can do better? The next US presidents is doubling down on that belief.

Greenblatt is expected to start shuttling between Jerusalem and Ramallah soon after the inauguration to try and restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

A Teaneck resident and father of six, Greenblatt visits Israel often with his family and has even written several Israel travel guides. Greenblatt is also a loyal reader of this daily email newsletter. We wish him the best of luck in his new position and are confident that he will apply his staunch support for Israel and his negotiation skills to achieve great things.

For further reading click here. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4898600,00.html

Rebbe Lights
If you need some inspiration when saying the blessings over your Hanukkah menorah, this might help. To watch how the Rachmastivka rebbe does it, click here.

Israel News for December 13, 2016

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Breaking News
A Palestinian women attempted to ram her car into soldiers at the Qalandiya checkpoint near Jerusalem. After soldiers fired in the air the women emerged from her car holding a knife and screaming “Allahu Akbar”. The soldiers quickly arrested her without any injuries.

For further reading click here.

Embassy Move
Kellyanne Conway, a senior aide to Donald Trump, confirmed in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that Trump intends to fulfill his promise to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv To Jerusalem.

Conway said, “That is very big priority for this president-elect, Donald Trump. He made it very clear during the campaign, Hugh, and as president-elect I’ve heard him repeat it several times privately, if not publicly.”

Presidents Bill and Clinton and George H. W. Bush both promised to move the embassy during their campaigns but then backed down during their presidency. But Conway expressed confidence in Trump’s ability to follow through on his promise saying, “It is a great move. It is an easy move to do based on how much he talked about that in the debates and in the sound bites.”

In 1995 Congress passed a law mandating the embassy move but included a presidential waiver that lapses every six months. Each president since then has exercised the waiver, with President Barack Obama doing so as recently as last week. The waiver requires that the president assess that moving the embassy would pose a national security risk to the United States.

For further reading click here.

Israel Gets Aircraft
Israel yesterday received the first two F-35 stealth fighter aircraft to be sold to any country outside of the US. The aircraft cost $110 million each and are first of 50 planes Israel has ordered at a total cost of $5 billion. That will come out of the $38 billion military aide package Israel received from the US, and go right back into the US economy.

While the F-35 is not faster and cannot carry more missiles and bombs as the F-15 and F-16 jets that Israel currently flies, it can fly undetected. Israel generals call that a game changer, since it will allow the aircraft to be mostly invisible to enemy aircraft and ground-based antiaircraft batteries.

Israeli officials say the F-35 will be used for all its air force missions, including in possible future confrontations with Iran and the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

The F-35s were greeted by PM Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and senior IDF officers, MKs, businessmen and other officials.

Netanyahu thanked the US administration for its staunch commitment to Israel security and added, “Our long arm has now become longer and mightier.” He also said, “I want to be clear: Anyone who thinks of attacking us will be attacked. History has taught us that only strength brings deterrence, only strength brings peace and respect.”

Carter reiterated that Israel is the first country to receive the aircraft and said, “Together, we will dominate the skies. With the turmoil in the region, we’re more dedicated to Israel’s security today than ever before.”

For further reading and to watch a video, click here.

New Kotel Bill
A new bill has been submitted to the Knesset, which would place the entire Kotel area under the jurisdiction of the Chief Rabbinate and prevent any form of prayer that does not conform to Orthodox practice. The bill is supported by the Ultra Orthodox parties along with some members of Bayit Yehudi and Likud.

The bill would destroy the compromise agreement reached by the government and the non Orthodox Jewish movements to form an egalitarian prayer space at the southern end of the Kotel, near Robinson’s Arch. It would also impose a fine of around $2,500 or a six-month prison sentence on participants in egalitarian prayer services or on women who use a tallit or tefillin.

Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky slammed the bill saying, “This bill makes a mockery of all the efforts made by recent governments to ensure that the Western Wall is a place that unites, rather than divides, the Jewish people. This bill’s passage would have grave consequences for the relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jewry. Based on the Prime Minister’s strong personal commitment to strengthening the Israel-Diaspora relationship, it is my fervent hope that this damaging bill will be summarily dismissed by a majority of the coalition and of the Knesset.”

For further reading click here.

PM Trip
PM Netanyahu embarked today on a two day visit to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The PM remarked, “These are two large and significant countries in the Islamic world and our goal is to strengthen diplomatic, security and economic relations with them.” Both countries have vast natural resources.

For further reading click here.

Snubbing Sweden
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström will be visiting Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but Israeli leaders will not be around to meet her. Wallström has become famous for her pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel comments, and the government is letting her know that they won’t stand for them.

Wallström asked to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and with other Israeli ministers but the official response she received was that the Israeli officials could not fit her into their schedule. The Swedish foreign minister decided to go ahead with her planned visit and meet with officials in the Palestinian Authority.

For further reading click here.

Israel News for October 31, 2016

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Terror Ramming
A Palestinians rammed his car into Border Police officers at a checkpoint near Hebron yesterday. Three officers were lightly wounded and evacuated to Shaare Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem. The terrorist was shot dead by other officers at the scene.

Shortly before, a five year old boy was injured when the car he was traveling in near Gush Etzion was stoned. The boy was taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

For further reading click here.

Terrorist Sentenced
A year ago on Rosh Hashana, four Palestinians decided to stone Israeli cars driving on the main rode in the Armon Hanetziv neighborhood of Jerusalem. They attacked a driven by 64 year old Alexander Levlovich who, as a result, drove off the rode, hit a tree and was killed. He is considered to be the first victim of last year’s wave of terror.

Today one of the attackers, a minor, was sentenced to 9 years in prison as a result of a plea bargain agreement, after agreeing to testify against his accomplices. The attorneys representing the other defendants are also seeking plea bargains for their clients, including one that would give the primary defendant an 18 year sentence. The Levlovich family is objecting.

For further reading click here.

Rabin Memorial
November 4th will mark the 21st anniversary of the tragic assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. But the organizers of the rally announced yesterday that the annual memorial rally in Rabin Square would be cancelled, due to a lack of funding and sponsors. After hearing this, opposition Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog declared that his party will sponsor an alternate rally, on short notice. Details will follow in the next few days.

For further reading click here.

Trump Kotel Note
Donald Trump has written a note to be placed in the Kotel. He apparently wrote the note after a conversation with his daughter Ivanka, and gave the note to one of his advisors. The note was photographed and sent to Yediot Ahronot before being inserted into the Kotel. It said, “May you bless the United States, our armed forces and our allies. May your guiding hand protect and strengthen our great nation.”

To see the original click here.

Thousands Celebrate
Thousands gathered to celebrate the anniversary (hillula) of the death of Rabbi Shimon Hatzadik, the High Priest and Sage who lived in third century BCE Jerusalem. He was known for his great piety and as the leader who greeted Alexander the Great when he approached Jerusalem. The tomb is located in the Shiekh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

To see photos and a video of the celebration click here.

To read more about Shimon Hatzadik click here.

israel news rabbi Lau

Israel News for December 10, 2015

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Terror Attacks
Late Wednesday two Israelis, Shaul Nir and his wife Racheli, were wounded when their vehicle was shot at by terrorists in the West Bank. Nir was seriously wounded and Racheli lightly wounded. The attackers escaped.

The Nirs had been visiting their daughter in the settlement of Avnei Hefetz for Hanukkah candle lighting and were returning to their home in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City when they were attacked. Their daughter’s husband was murdered in a terror attack in Hebron in 2003.

Shaul Nir was convicted for perpetrating a 1983 shooting and hand grenade attack on the Islamic College of Hebron, which killed three students and wounded 33. He was sentenced to life in prison but was released after seven years, in 1990, after being pardoned by then Israeli President Chaim Herzog.

Earlier on Wednesday a soldier and civilian were wounded in a stabbing attack in Hebron. The terrorist was shot and killed at the scene. One of the wounded in the attack is the son of former Bayit Yehudi Knesset member Orit Strock. The terrorist, Abad a-Rachman Yusori Maswada, was the cousin of the terrorist who stabbed an Israeli on Monday in Hebron.

For further reading click here.

Rivlin and Obama
Israeli President Rivlin met with US President Obama at the White House yesterday. At the start of their meeting Rivlin thanked Obama for standing against radicalization and added that Israel agreed with his ideas. He said, “We have no war against Islam. We have a war against those who are using ideas to create extremism and threat against innocent people.”

Rivlin thanked Obama and the US for its military, financial and diplomatic support. He said, “Israel has no greater friend than the U.S. and I want to say this loud and clear. The people of Israel thank you from the bottom of our heart.”

Obama expressed his support for Israel and condemned Palestinian violence, adding that, “Abbas needs to condemn it and end incitement.”

Relating to Hanukkah, Rivlin compared Obama to the shamash candle on the menorah saying,”the shamash is the leader with which you light the other candles. You have been lighting the candles for seven years to show your people and the world the right way – we’re sure that the eighth candle you will light next year will show the world how to walk in the light.”

For further reading click here.

PM and Trump
PM Netanyahu rejected Donald Trump’s recent call for banning Muslims from entering the US. The PM’s office released a statement saying, “The prime minister rejects the recent comments by Donald Trump regarding Muslims. Israel respects all religions and staunchly preserves the rights of all its citizens. At the same time, Israel is struggling against the radical Islamism that targets Muslims, Christians and Jews as one and poses a threat to the entire world.”

Netanyahu will, however, meet with Trump when the Republican party hopeful visits Israel later this month, despite the call to cancel by 37 Knesset members, all except two from the opposition. In response, the PM’s office reiterated that the meeting was scheduled prior to the statement by Trump and that the PM’s policy is to meet with any US presidential candidate while not endorsing any candidate or their positions.

For further reading click here.

Rabbi Reprimands
Israel’s Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau reprimanded Education Minister Naftali Bennett for visiting a Solomon Schechter Conservative Jewish day school on a trip to New York earlier this month. Bennett, who also serves as Diaspora Minister, tweeted a video of his visit afterwards saying, “Meeting with the pupils of the wonderful Conservative school Solomon Schechter in New York. So much love of Israel and so much love of Judaism.”

Chief Rabbi Lau was not pleased, to say the least. He told an interviewer on the Haredi Kol Chai radio station that Bennett should have consulted with a rabbi before agreeing to visit the non-Orthodox school. He said, “To speak deliberately with a specific community and to recognize it and its path, when this path distances Jews from the path of the Jewish people, this is forbidden. If Minister Bennett would have asked my opinion before the visit I would have said to him explicitly that you cannot go somewhere where the education distances Jews from tradition, from the past, and from the future of the Jewish people.”

Bennett didn’t voice any regrets. His office issued the following statement:
“Minister Bennett believes that public leaders in Israel need to draw Jews close and not to excommunicate them. Diaspora Jewry is in a state of emergency as the phenomenon of assimilation reaches millions of Jews. As someone who is responsible in the Israeli government for the issue of the Diaspora, Minister Bennett is proud that he is concerned for all Jews because they are Jewish and will continue to meet Jews from all denominations.”

For further reading click here.

Women Judges
The government opposed a Knesset bill permitting the appointment of women to Muslim religious (Sharia) courts. The bill was proposed by several Arab Knesset members and supported by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. The only opponents of the bill are the Haredi ministers, who fear that the bill could set a precedent that would then be applied to Jewish religious courts, and some conservative Arab MKs. Health Minister Litzman of United Torah Judaism (UTJ) threatened that the UTJ and Shas would use their right of veto on matters of religion-and-state granted to them in the coalition agreements if the government failed to oppose the bill. The UTJ said in a statement, “On this matter, UTJ is cooperating with the Muslim MKs who oppose the initiative.”

Who said Jews and Arabs can’t work together in harmony?

For further reading click here.

Hanukkah Love
Hanukkah is the kind of feel good holiday that everyone can appreciate. To cite just a couple of examples: the king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, invited the director of the Conference of European Orthodox Rabbis to light the Hanukkah candles at his palace. Also, the president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, joined Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and the small Warsaw Jewish community for candle lighting at the presidential palace. Duda said, “let there always be a great hope for the chosen people, for all the Jews in Poland and in the world.” Too bad he wasn’t around during WWII when 3 million Polish Jews were wiped out in his country with the help of his countrymen — but hey, it’s Hanukkah so it’s all good. Right.

Israel News for November 5, 2015

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More Terror
An Israeli border policeman, 20, was critically wounded on Wednesday in a car-ramming attack at the Halhul Junction in the West Bank. The attacker, a Palestinian resident of Hebron, was shot and killed. He was identified as Ibrahim Saqafi, 23.

Barriers Removed
Is the terror wave finally over? Jerusalem police seem to think it’s heading in that direction. They’ve removed several barriers near East Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods that were erected to prevent stones and firebombs from hitting Jewish targets. In some cases the police has substituted barriers meant to “hermetically seal” violent neighborhoods with security checkpoints.

According to a report in Yediot Ahronot the barriers in one neighborhood were removed as a result of promises by community leaders to maintain the peace. Police sources claim that they will reinstall the barriers if the situation gets violent again.

Jerusalem police arrested Sheikh Khaled Al Mughrabi on Wednesday morning, after videos of his sermons on the Temple Mount showed him inciting violence. Here is a snippet of the kind of stuff this holy man was saying, “We will pursue the Jews everywhere. They won’t escape us. The sons of Israel will all be killed.” A religion of peace? Not quite.

For further reading click here.

Synagogue Destruction
The High Court has postponed the scheduled demolition of the Ayelet Hashachar synagogue in Givat Ze’ev, which is near Jerusalem and over the Green Line. The demolition was to occur on Thursday, but Jerusalem police petitioned the court to postpone it, fearing violence by Jewish protesters which would escalate the tension in the capital. As a prelude, graffiti was found painted on the wall of the High Court building saying, “You don’t destroy a synagogue. We want a Jewish state.”

The courts have ruled that the synagogue was built on appropriated Palestinian land. The settlers claim that they bought the land from the Arab owner.

About 300 settlers moved into the synagogue compound on Tuesday night in protest of the demolition.

For further reading click here.

Facebook Blunder
Dr. Ran Baratz, the newly appointed head of Public Diplomacy and Media (hasbara) at the Prime Minister’s Office, has some explaining to do about a Facebook post he wrote last week, just before getting the job.

Responding to photos showing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin sitting in economy class on his flight home from a state visit to the Czech Republic, Baratz wrote, “I think it says a lot when the President travels in economy class, walking around shaking everyone’s hands. It mainly shows him to be such a marginal figure that there is no concern for his safety. I think he could be sent in a para-glider to the Syrian Golan controlled by ISIS. They’ll return him the next day with a request for negotiating their return to Iraq, if only we take him back.” He continued the mocking for a few more lines.

The president is understandably pissed. His office released this statement: “We view this gravely and demand an explanation of whether the words written by Baratz were known to the prime minister when he made his decision to appoint Baratz to this job.”

Baratz also had this to say about US President Obama on Facebook, days before PM Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, “Obama’s reference to Netanyahu’s speech – this is what modern anti-Semitism looks like in Western and liberal countries. And it comes, of course, alongside much tolerance and understanding toward Islamic anti-Semitism. So much tolerance and understanding that they are willing to give Iran an atomic bomb.”

More stupid social media posts by someone who should know better. Do we really want this guy in charge of the PM’s media and public diplomacy?

For further reading click here.

Israelis Heed Warning
It looks like many Israelis have taken the warning issued recently by the World health Organization against eating processed meats seriously. According to recent retail figures published in Globes, sales of processed meats in the last week have dropped by 27% on average. The hardest hit categories were frozen meats — 36% — followed by chilled products including sausages, hotdogs, and pastrami — 31%. The Israeli companies that manufacture and distribute processed meats felt the pain, big time.

If Israelis continue to be this health conscious, we could see a lot of healthy folks in the unemployment line. Or, the companies can start producing healthier products. That would be a win for everyone.

For further reading click here.

No Movie for You
El Al is investigating an incident that occurred on a recent flight from Moscow to Tel Aviv. The captain ordered the in-flight movie stopped after about 20 minutes, out of deference to a large number of Haredi passengers on board.

The flight’s service manager, Oshrat Rosenberg, explained to irate passengers that it is El Al policy not to screen films when there is a Haredi majority on board a flight. El Al released a statement saying, “We regret the incident, which doesn’t reflect the company’s policy in any way, and are looking into what happened in order to prevent such incidents in the future.”

The movie was a romantic comedy called “Aloha”. Doesn’t seem like such a big loss, at least as far as movies go. Easy solution: install wifi on all planes and stream movies directly to people’s personal devices.

For further reading click here.

Power List
Forbes magazine has released its annual list of The World’s Most Powerful People in 2015, whom they define as the “heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs [who] truly run the world.”
First on the list of 73 is Vladimir Putin followed by Angela Merkel, Barak Obama and Pope Francis. Guess who’s number 25? You got it – PM Netanyahu. Donald Trump came it at 72. By the way, this is Putin’s third year year in a row at number one. That’s kind of scary, no?

For further reading click here.

Cantor Controversy
A while back we reported about the unrest in one of the largest and most prestigious yeshivas: the Ponevich yeshiva in Bnei Brak. The yeshiva is basically split into two factions, each of which supports a different rosh yeshiva (dean). Just to give you an idea of the seriousness of these groups, one is called “the terrorists” and the other “the enemies” or “the haters” (depending on how you translate the Hebrew).

Here’s the latest incident: it is customary for a son to lead services and say kaddish each day during the year of mourning for his parent. It is also customary for a son who is observing Yartzeit (yearly anniversary of a death) for a parent to lead the service and say kaddish on that day.

Well, at the evening service Rabbi Kahaneman (leader of the enemies), who is saying kaddish for his mother who passed a few months ago, approached the lectern from which to lead the evening service. One of the “terrorists” informed him that Rabbi Markovitz (leader of the terrorists) was commemorating a Yartzeit that evening and wanted to lead services. R. Kahaneman was stunned and hesitated. The “terrorists” then knocked off his hat and kippah, and began throwing “shtenders” (lecterns) in his direction. When R. Kahaneman picked up his hat and tried to approach the lectern again, he was threatened by the “terrorists”. He told his followers not to protest, so they didn’t.

Both sides argued for about 20 minutes before they reached a decision. Rabbi Markowitz led the service (which happens to be the halacha in that particular case). What a mess.
(Ok, it’s a slow news day.)

For further reading click here.