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Israel News for September 18, 2015

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Bus Stoned
An Egged bus driving through the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras Al-Amud yesterday was stoned and later torched. The driver escaped unharmed. In another incident a bus driver was lightly wounded by shattered glass after stones were thrown at his vehicle near the Hizma checkpoint, at the northeastern entrance to Jerusalem.

Also that day, molotov cocktails were thrown at the Ofrit army base near Mount Scopus causing a fire, but no injuries.

In an attempt to prevent more violence on the Temple Mount during Friday prayers, the police will only be permitting men over the age of 40 to enter the area.

The general police presence will also be increased in East Jerusalem. Over 800 officers have been added to the existing force.

Let’s pray for peace in Jerusalem.

Electricity Arrears
Talk about falling behind on your electric bill. According to the chairman of the Israel Electric Company (IEC) General (res.) Yiftah Ron-Tal, the Palestinian Authority owes the electric company around 1.7 billion shekels. That’s a shocking amount (excuse the pun), and the IEC is getting close to turning off the lights in the PA.

Ron-Tal made it clear that he intended to limit the flow of electricity to the PA soon, as has already happened before, saying, “As a government company, we have to coordinate what we do with the government, but I intend – already in the coming weeks – to again limit the flow of electricity to the PA until it pays, or until the problem is solved by government decisions. This will not continue at the expense of the citizens of Israel; it’s a scandal.”

Israeli Nukes
Everyone knows that Israel has nuclear weapons, but Israel has never publicly admitted to or denied that assumption. At this year’s annual conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN agency responsible for monitoring nuclear arsenals, nineteen predominantly Arab states wanted the agency’s member states to express concern over Israel’s nuclear capabilities, call on it to join the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and have the agency regularly report on Israel’s nuclear program. That would not be good news for Israel.

Yesterday, 61 countries voted against the Arab-drafted resolution, 43 in favor and 33 abstained. Among those voting against the resolution were the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, all European Union members, Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, as well as South American countries such as Uruguay and Panama. Kenya and other countries in Africa and the Pacific also opposed the resolution. Many others abstained, including Brazil and India.

Russia, China, Turkey and South Africa joined the Arab countries in backing the resolution.

Last year, 58 countries voted against the initiative.

Nice to see that Israel still has a few friends out there in the world.

Iceland Warms Up
Yesterday we reported that the Reykjavik city council passed a motion to boycott Israeli goods. Well, the government of Iceland came out against the decision saying that it isn’t in line with the country’s foreign policy and doesn’t reflect Iceland’s relationship with Israel.
Iceland rocks!

Tel Aviv Tops List
Israelis love coming out on top (who doesn’t). Well, they’ve done so again, but this time they aren’t too happy about it. According to a report just released by UBS bank, Tel Aviv is the most expensive city in the Middle East. Second place went to Dubai.

Tel Aviv was rated as the 22nd most expensive city in the world. But when it comes to wage levels, Tel Aviv is down in thirty-third place, meaning that salaries don’t keep up with what Tel Avivians have to pay for goods and services.

On average, a worker in Tel Aviv has to work 21 minutes to buy a Big Mac, 12 minutes to buy a kilo of bread, 12 minutes to buy a kilo of rice and 75 hours to buy an iPhone 6.

On the bright side, rents in Tel Aviv are 40% lower than those in New York City. But since NYC boasts the highest rents (and high salaries), that discount might not be so bright after all.

Hey, let’s not forget the awesome beaches!

Sick Chicks
According to the testimony of the senior veterinarian at the Shufersal supermarket chain to a Knesset committee, most of the chickens sold in Israel have salmonella. That certainly ruffled the feathers of some Knesset members. The Ministry of Health agreed with his claim. So everyone agrees: make sure you cook your chicken really well in Israel.

Art Exhibitionists
A group of Spanish artists decided to demonstrate their solidarity with Palestinians and their opposition to the security wall separating Israel from the PA by posing for photographs in front of the wall in Jerusalem. Did I mention that they were naked and wearing clown noses, with their pants and underwear around their ankles? Yup, it’s true.

Well, the Palestinians were not pleased, to say the least. They considered it an insult to Islam and their cause. You try to do something nice and that’s the thanks you get. That’ll probably be the last time those Spaniards drop their pants and bare their souls (and other stuff) for the Palestinians.

Israel News for September 11, 2015

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Iran and Russia
According to Israeli defense officials, hundreds of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have arrived in Syria over the last few days to help the Assad regime fight rebel forces. They’ll most likely deploy near the Lebanese border to assist Hezbollah fighters there. Russia already has military advisors and security forces operating in Syria, and is planning to bring in combat aircraft and helicopters.

Israel believes that the commander of the Revolutionary Guards met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month in Moscow to coordinate military activities in Syria.

Upshot
Has Russia found, in Iran, its ideal partner to counter US influence in the Middle East? The possibilities are frightening. On the bright side, they’re both bent on destroying ISIS, and they’re the only ones who are willing to use ground troops to do so.

Discriminatory Labeling
The European Parliament passed a resolution calling on the European Union to issue labels for products imported to Europe from areas occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, including East Jerusalem, the Golan and the West Bank settlements.

The European Parliament motion also encouraged the EU to step up its role in promoting a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, and emphasized that “only non-violent means and respect for human rights and humanitarian law can achieve a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said that the EU motion was “discriminatory with a sharp smell of boycott,” and added that “under the guise of a technical step, this is an attempt to force a diplomatic solution instead of encouraging the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table. Europe is acting with hypocritical sanctimoniousness toward Israel when it does not consider proposing similar solutions to northern Cyprus or Western Sahara.”

PM Netanyahu has tried to block the implementation of the motion in private meetings with several European leaders including British Prime Minister David Cameron. In a statement the PM said, “The European Parliament decision is unjustified, it is just a perversion of justice and a distortion of reason, and I think that it also harms peace, it doesn’t advance it. The roots of the conflict are not territories and the roots of the conflict are not the settlements. We already have a historical memory as to what happened when Europe marked products of Jews.”

France Wants Jews
Last year 7,000 Jews emigrated from France to Israel. Another 8,000 are expected to leave this year. But the French want their Jews back.

According to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal, the French government is concerned that the large number of educated and professional Jews leaving the country is causing a brain drain. They’ve sent their economic minister, Emmanuel Macron, to Israel to try and convince French immigrants to return.

While anti-semitism is assumed to be the main reason for increased Aliyah, the weak French economy seems to be playing a significant role too. In any case, France’s loss is Israel’s gain.

Israeli Wealth
Forbes Magazine has released its list of the top 100 wealthiest people in Israel. Every one of them is a billionaire, in shekels ($1 = close to 4 Shekels). The aggregate wealth of the top 100 equals 500 billion shekels.

The top position on the list went to Patrick Drahi at 60 billion shekels. A distant second went to Eyal Ofer with 34.3 billion. It’s doubtful that anyone who made the list is complaining. Well, in Israel, you never know.

Mission Impossible Accomplished
A married woman left her abusive husband and fled to Israel. She wanted a divorce. But there was a problem: the woman fled from a Muslim country that has no diplomatic relations with Israel. The husband was still there.

It took five years, but due to the incredible efforts of a special unit of the Bet Din (rabbinical court) in Israel that deals with obtaining divorce documents in difficult situations, she has finally received her Get (divorce).

After long and difficult secret negotiations through intermediaries in a third country, the Bet Din sent in three undercover rabbinic emissaries to the Muslim country who obtained a signed document from the husband directing them to write and deliver the divorce document. They made it back to Israel, and the woman is now free to remarry.

Drivers Don’t Pray
The Rosh Yeshiva (dean) of the Ponevich Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, one of the most prestigious in the world, has ruled that students in the yeshiva who have a driver’s license will not be allocated a seat in the yeshiva for Rosh Hashanah prayers. In the past every student got a seat in the Yeshiva without exception.

The affected students received phone calls from the administration over the last few days informing them of their predicament. Most of them happen to be 25 yrs. or older, and they aren’t taking this sitting down (literally). They claim that it’s really not the Rosh Yeshiva but the gabbai (facilities manager, sort of) who is responsible for the ruling, because he needs more available seats. The students plan to ignore the order and come to services anyway. Should be a fun service.

Israel News for September 3, 2015

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Shots from Gaza
Several shots were fired from Gaza yesterday at Israeli moshav Netiv Ha’asarah. Three homes were hit. Miraculously, no one was injured even though the inhabitants were home. In one of the homes a bullet hit the TV that the kids were watching at the time.

The IDF is sure that the shots came from Gaza, but not so sure that the shots were deliberate. Hamas has a training camp right near the border in the area.

In any case, the air force quickly responded by hitting the Hamas military area where the shots originated from. The IDF said that they hold Hamas responsible for any attacks coming from Gaza and for keeping their side of the border quiet.

Budget Approved
The Knesset yesterday approved the 2015-2016 budget in its first reading with a narrow margin of 57 in favor and 53 against. It still needs to be approved in two additional readings to become law. 

In presenting the budget, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said “this budget includes a significant increase for the social ministries, with an increased budget for education, health, welfare and public security.”

The main challenges Kahlon faced in getting the budget approved were the promises that had been made to individual parties, especially the charedi parties, during the coalition building process. Many of those promises could not be honored within the proposed budget.

Economy Minister Aryeh Deeri of Shas was noticeably absent from the vote and threatened that if his proposal to eliminate all VAT (value added tax) for the poorer sectors is not implemented, his party will vote against the budget in the second and third readings.

One of the largest bones of contention is the size of the defense budget. According to the Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist, it stands at 55 billion shekels, but the political establishment is estimating the final number to be much larger. Any increase in the defense budget is likely to mean cuts in the welfare budget or an increase in the national deficit.

The opposition strongly opposed the budget.

PM Gets Tough
PM Netanyahu is getting tougher on security. In a meeting yesterday regarding the security situation in Jerusalem and on Highway 443, he told the IDF to reassess its standing order on opening fire on stone and fire-bomb throwers.

The current order, which was issued after the Duma attacks, prohibits soldiers from firing at stone throwers unless the soldiers feel that their lives are in immediate danger. The order was meant to prevent increased violence by avoiding Palestinian casualties. That seems to be working. Unfortunately, stone and fire-bomb throwing seems to have increased.

The PM wants the attacks to end. He stressed that his policy is, “zero tolerance for stone throwing and terror.”

As a result of the meeting, two new Border Police companies and another 400 police officers will be added to the existing forces in Jerusalem and additional security will be added along the 443.

Firemen Attacked
A fire broke out in a building in an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem last night. Five firefighting units responded. Firemen entered the building and rescued five people, including a mother and her children. They put out the fire. Then the neighborhood came out to attack them with stones. Police forces that were on the scene protected the firefighters from their grateful audience.

This wasn’t an isolated incident. It seems that rescue workers that respond to calls in Arab neighborhoods routinely get attacked. Not very nice.

Charedi Minister
It finally happened, without hell having to freeze over. For the first time in over 50 years, there will be a charedi cabinet minister in the Israeli government.

Yesterday, Yaakov Litzman was sworn in as Minister of Health after a Knesset vote of 83 to 10 in favor of his appointment. Among those who voted for him were opposition leaders Isaac Herzog and Yair Lapid, as well as all of the Labor party Knesset members.

Litzman had held the position of Deputy Health Minister in accordance with the charedi position of not accepting government ministerial portfolios based on their ideological objections to secular government in the Holy Land. But when the High Court ruled that he must either become full minister or quit, the Council of Torah sages of his Agudas Yisroel faction gave him the green light to become minister.

After his swearing in Litzman received congratulations from most of the Knesset members. He even got some hugs, but just from the men.

Druze Shortchanged
The Israeli Druze population contributes more than its fair share of combat fighters to the IDF. Many Druze soldiers fought valiantly and were decorated for their service during Operation Protective Shield (Gaza War) last year. Unfortunately, many of their homes aren’t even connected to the electrical grid. That’s caused a group of veterans to return the decorations they received during Protective Shield to protest their situation.

MK Nissan Slomiansky of Bayit Yehudi met with representatives in the Druze town of Dalit Al-Karmel to hear their grievances. He sympathized with their problems, but tried to convince them to keep their commendations.

So the Druze have their ribbons and medals, but still not much electricity.

They deserve better.