Posts

Israel News for November 7, 2016

/by

Jerusalem Arabs Squatting
As the deadline for the implement of the Supreme Court’s order to evacuate the settlement of Amona nears, Jerusalem’s mayor Nir Barkat has sent the Attorney General a unique request. Since the eviction of the Amona residents is based on the court’s ruling that the settlement is built on Palestinian owned land, Barkat is requesting that the AG investigate the passibility of applying the ruling to Arab’s illegally living on Jewish property in East Jerusalem.

Apparently thousands of Arabs currently live on Jewish property abandoned when the Jordanians expelled all Jews from Jerusalem in 1948. Barkat is suggesting that the Arab squatters be evicted from those properties, based on the Supreme Court ruling that is calling for the eviction of the Amona residents.

Barkat said to the AG, “If the judgement of the court is to stand, it is not right for there to be one law for the Jews and another law for the Arabs. So I ask you to hold a hearing to determine the state’s legal position on this matter.”

For further reading click here.

EU Recommends Reparations
The European Union committee responsible for relations with North Africa and the Middle East has recommended that member states seek reparations from Israel for buildings destroyed by Israel which were financed by the EU.

The buildings in question are all located in Area C of the West Bank, which is fully administered by Israel and comprises about 60% of the territory, including all Jewish settlements. The buildings demolitions were constructed without the proper permits.

The Foreign Ministry pointed out that according to the Oslo Accords, Israel alone is responsible for civilian issues in Area C, including planning and building. It said, “As is customary in every country of laws, Israel does not allow construction without proper permits. In this case the construction is done without government approval in a non-residential area and therefore Israel executed its authority and demolished the buildings.”

Germany strongly opposed the EU committees decision. The decision is non-binding.

For further reading click here.

Missing Soldier
In August of 1997, IDF soldier Guy Hever left his artillery base in the Golan and has not been seen since. The IDF has conducted several searches over the years but no information has ever been found on what happened to Hever. It will conduct a new search this week, focused on the Golan Heights and Jordan Valley, although it claims that the search is not based on any new information obtained.

The IDF released a statement saying, “The State of Israel and the IDF are deeply committed to its missing sons and to those who are in captivity. The IDF will continue to do everything in its power to resolve the case of Guy Hever.”

For further reading click here.

No Phone Searches
The IDF will no longer be allowed to search the phones of soldiers without a warrant, even if they have the soldier’s consent. An appellate court overturned the conviction of a soldier that was based on a search of his phone without a warrant.

Each year the military police search over 2,000 phones of soldiers with their consent, which is usually obtained through threats of confiscation of prosecution. The searches are done in a cellphone laboratory and provide access to a vast amount of data, including data the user has erased. This can include personal correspondence, medical documents and even legal advice that might be covered by attorney-client privilege.

For further reading click here.

Israel News for May 16, 2016

/by

TERROR IN JERUSALEM
A terrorist stabbed a 26 year old Haredi man on Hanevi’im Street in Jerusalem this morning. The man was walking with his family near the Damascus gate of the Old City when he was attacked. He was wounded while attempting to fight off the attacker. The terrorist fled the scene but was pursued by police and arrested.

In an unrelated story, a 36 year old terrorist carrying Israeli police uniforms was arrested on Saturday at a checkpoint in the West Bank. Police received a tip off about the man, allowing them to prevent a likely terror attack.

For further reading click here.

NAKBA DAY
In the wake of Israel’s Independence Day celebrations last Thursday, Arabs on both sides of the Green Line commemorated Nakba Day on Sunday. Nakba, which means catastrophe, refers to the Arab defeat during the 1948 war, during which hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, many with the intention of returning after an Arab victory. Every year on May 15th, Arabs in Israel and the West Bank commemorate their defeat and displacement, and mourn the creation of the State of Israel.

At 12pm, a 68-seconds-long siren sounded in Palestinian towns and villages, marking the 68 years that have passed. Cars stopped and pedestrians stood still in the cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem during the commemoration. Following that, Palestinians rioted in several locations with clashes breaking out near the checkpoint at Rachel’s Tomb.

Arab students (subsidized by Israeli tax payers) held a ceremony to commemorate Nakba Day at Tel Aviv University on Sunday afternoon. Activists from right-wing NGO Im Tirtzu protested nearby against the ceremony, waving Israeli flags.

There apparently were no concerts or barbecues.

For further reading click here.

LONG WEEKEND
Likud MK David Amsalem and Kulanu MK Eli Cohen are proposing a bill in the Knesset to give Israeli workers one long weekend per month. Israelis currently get Fridays and Saturdays off, but Sunday is a regular work day. The hours lost during the long weekend would be spread out over the rest of the month. The proposal calls for a three year trial period, during which time the possibility for a standard four day work week would be discussed.

The average working week in Israel is 43 hours, three hours more than the EU average, but productivity is 30% lower than in the EU. The hope is that more time off will increase productivity during working hours.

Manufacturers Association of Israel president Shraga Brosh told Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) that such a bill if enacted would cost the Israeli economy at least NIS 1.5 billion annually and should only be introduced as part of a comprehensive package to raise productivity in the economy. He didn’t say what that would look like.

Don’t forget, Israeli workers also get all of the Jewish holidays off — but another day off a month can’t hurt, can it?

For further reading click here.

NEGEV TREMBLES
Early this morning, souther Israel was struck by a a 4.9-magnitude earthquake. The quake was felt throughout the Negev region, with tremors detected from Eilat to Be’er Sheva. No injuries or property damages were reported.

For further reading click here.

DRAFT DODGER
The yeshiva student arrested two weeks ago while attempting to enter an Eilat night club, wearing secular clothing, was released from jail today. The man was arrested by military police for avoiding the draft by claiming a yeshiva exemption, which they claim is fraudulent given the man’s seemingly unorthodox behavior. But his behavior didn’t seem to phase extreme Haredi elements who launched protests and demonstrations on his behalf.

After he left jail, wearing the standard yeshiva uniform, he was warmly greeted by family and rabbis and proceeded to complete a tractate of the talmud (siyum). Has he repented, or will we be seeing him around Israel’s hot night spots in the near future? Doesn’t seem like it would make much of a difference anyway, at least regarding his army service.

For further reading click here.

RABBINICAL COURT RULES
The Supreme Rabbinical Court (Bet Din) in Jerusalem has taken another step towards helping women whose husbands are refusing to grant them divorces. The court ruled that rabbinical courts in Israel have the power to prevent non Israeli citizens from leaving the country if they are found guilty of refusing to grant a divorce.

Here’s the case: an American Haredi couple with three children were living in Lakewood. About a year ago the husband left his wife and moved to New York, while refusing to grant her a Get (divorce). The man recently took a short trip to Israel. While in Israel his wife (who apparently is living in Israel) brought a claim against him in the local rabbinical court in the city where he was staying. She also asked the court to prevent him from leaving the country. The man claimed that the court has no power to against a non citizen. The court agreed with the man that the rabbinical court doesn’t have the power to prevent a non Israeli citizen from leaving the country.

The decision was then appealed to the Supreme Rabbinical Court, which ruled that they do in fact have the power to prevent a non citizen from leaving the country. Now the court will continue proceedings against the man to “persuade” him to give his wife the divorce.

Don’t mess with the Bet Din.

For further reading click here.

Jerusalem terror attack

Israel News for December 15, 2015

/by

Terror Attack
A 21 year old Palestinian from Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem, Abed Almohsin Hassoneh, rammed his car into a group of people standing at a bus stop at the entrance to Jerusalem yesterday afternoon. Fourteen people were injured, including a 15 month old boy who was evacuated in critical condition. The terrorist was shot and killed by security officers before he managed to get out of his car to stab people.

After the attack PM Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, where he ordered protective barriers erected at hundreds of Jerusalem bus stops.

The IDF will also deploy two reservist battalions to the West Bank next month to help stem the terror attacks. The reservists will replace conscripts on routine security assignments so the conscripts can train.

For further reading click here.

Abbas Incites
Yesterday PA President Abbas referred to the last three months of violence as a “justified popular uprising,” saying that young Palestinian demonstrators were “driven by despair that a two-state solution is not coming.”

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev condemned Abbas’s comment saying, “There can never be justification for wanton attacks on civilians like we saw today.”

Abbas isn’t alone in his thoughts. According to a poll released by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), two thirds of Palestinians support the current wave of stabbings against Israelis and favor an armed uprising to achieve their nationalistic aspirations. On the bright side, 73% were opposed to young girls taking part in the stabbings.

Only 45% of Palestinians think that a two-state solution is feasible. Regarding Abbas, 65% want him to resign and believe that Hamas would win a new election. The reason for their dislike of Abbas is that they don’t feel that he’s been supportive enough of the recent violence.

Khalil Shikaki, head of the PSR, believes that the poll suggests that violence will continue through 2016 and that it could include heavily armed terrorists.

Not a very optimistic forecast, with or without Abbas.

For further reading click here.

Insufficient Evidence
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told Israel Radio that although the Duma arson attack that killed members of a Palestinian family was clearly perpetrated by Jewish suspects, there was insufficient evidence to bring them to trial. Three suspects are currently being held and interrogated by the Shin Bet. The High Court of Justice ruled on Sunday that they can continue preventing them from meeting with their attorneys.

For further reading click here.

EU Firm
Despite protests by Israel against the EU decision to label goods produced in the West Bank and the Golan, the EU is not backing down. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said after talks with foreign ministers on Monday that the EU is “united on these technical guidelines on the indication of origin, which is in no way a boycott.”

For further reading click here.

Pollard Parole
After 30 years you’d think that the information Jonathan Pollard passed on to Israel is no longer relevant to US security. So why are his parole terms, which include monitoring of his computer at home and at work, so strict? That’s the question Pollard’s lawyers are asking District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan in a bid to have his parole conditions relaxed. The judge is requiring the U.S. Parole Commission to better state its reasons for the parole conditions before ruling on the request.

Pollard’s attorneys cited declarations in which former U.S. National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane and former Senate Intelligence Committee member Dennis DeConcini say information Pollard once possessed is of no value to anyone today.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Tinio told the judge, “The majority of the information that Mr. Pollard had and passed along 30 years ago, your honor, remains classified.” She said the Justice Department’s National Security Division told her that his classified information would be labeled top secret, meaning it could be expected to cause “exceptionally grave damage to national security” if it was released.

However, Tinio did say that the government was willing to continue negotiations over Pollard’s parole. So there is hope.

For further reading click here.

Israel and Turkey
Is there hope for the restoration of Israeli-Turkish relations that broke off in 2010 after the Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla that killed 9 Turkish citizens?

The Turkish Daily Sabah news site cited Turkish President Erdogan as reiterating three preconditions for the restoring of relations between the two countries: an apology for the flotilla raid, compensation to the victims’ families and the lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

While Erdogan reportedly noted that only the first condition has been met, Israel did agree to compensate the families of the flotilla victims. Lifting the blockade of Gaza, however, is a deal breaker for Israel, at least for the foreseeable future.

According to Erdogan, “This normalization process would be good for us, Israel, Palestine and the entire region. The region definitely needs this. I don’t believe the Israeli public is pleased with the current state of relations. We need to consider the interests of the people of the region and introduce peace.”

Meanwhile, back in Turkey, for the first time in history the Chief Rabbi of Turkey lit the menorah on the eighth day of Hanukkah in a public square in Istanbul, in the presence of Turkish government officials, Muslim clerics, foreign diplomats and, of course, members of the Jewish community.

Can you feel the love?

For further reading click here.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surrounded by Knesset members after a vote on the state budget for 2015-2016, November 18, 2015.

Israel News for November 19, 2015

/by

Budget Finally Passes
Knesset members had a rough night last night, staying up till the early hours of the morning to vote on Israel’s 2015-2016 budget. After many long hours of debates, which began in the afternoon, the budget was approved by a slim majority of 61 in favor to 59 against. The final vote took place after the lawmakers voted on over 1,500 different pages of objections, covering over 30,000 specific reservations to the budget, which required over 420 different votes.

The voting got off to a rough start when the electronic voting system kept breaking, causing chaos. There was also a fair share of confusion when opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog accidentally voted in favor of the government on one of the objections, to the amusement of PM Netanyahu and some ministers. But then Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel also mistakenly cast his ballot with the opposition, breaking the government’s slim majority of one. The specific paragraph being voted on then needed to be taken back to the Knesset Economic Committee to be approved before being brought back to the floor for a “do-over”, resulting in a three hour delay.

By law, the government had to pass the budget by today or the government would have fallen. The opposition attempted to delay the voting by insisting on voting on every article but the government managed to push through a shortened voting process, preventing a filibuster by the opposition which would have include the 30,000 reservations and would have take 11 days to vote on.

Opposition to the budget was fierce. Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid said at the start of the Knesset budget debate, “This is not a debate It’s a party for the chevra. Today a budget will be approved where everyone is getting something except the citizens of Israel”. Opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog said, “The Prime Minister doesn’t care that it’s impossible to live here with a rising cost of living and no solution to the housing crisis”.

The two year budget provides for 383.8 billion shekels ($98.2 billion) in 2015 spending and 424.8 billion shekels ($108.6 billion) in 2016. The 2015 budget was never approved because Netanyahu’s governing coalition broke up, which led to elections.

For further reading click here.

Hitting Back
Israel is planning to strike back at EU countries who have decided to distinctly label Israeli products made in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan.

The countries Israel plans to take measures against are the UK, France, Spain, Denmark, Ireland, Croatia, Malta, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Slovenia, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium and Finland.

The measures Israel plans to use include a re-evaluation of the EU’s role in the peace process, summoning the ambassadors of the 16 countries to the Foreign Ministry for an official rebuke, and restricting meetings between ambassadors and Israeli officials.

Israel will also be much stricter regarding entry of foreign delegations to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In certain situations, their entry may even be denied. Same goes for EU projects in those areas.

Finally, Israel will limit dialogue with the EU on matters important to the Europeans such as terror fighting techniques.

However, Israel is being careful not to hurt itself in the process. According to a senior government source, “It would be foolish to take steps that will also harm us. We had to walk a tightrope between things we wanted to do so that they would get the message and not hurting ourselves.”

For further reading click here.

Baby Race
The doomsayers have always predicted the demise of the Jewish State based on a rapidly increasing Arab population along with a decreasing or stagnant Jewish one. Well, it looks like they might need to rethink their forecast.

According the statistics just released by Israel’s Central Bureau of statistics, the birthrate of Jewish and Arab women in Israel is about even. At the end of 2014, Jewish women in Israel had a birth rate of 3.11 children and Arab women had a birth rate of 3.17 children. Slightly more than a decade ago, there was nearly a two-child gap in the birthrate, with Arab women at 4.3 compared to Jewish women at 2.6.

These numbers don’t include Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. But still, the numbers are something to smile about. Maybe the future isn’t that bleak after all.

For further reading click here.

Israel’s Rich
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics has released new figures that prove that a significant portion of Israelis aren’t doing too bad financially, despite what you hear.

According to the survey figures, the proportion of households owning two or more apartments rose from 3.2% to 9.1%, primarily since 2008. The figures also show that 44,000 households, or 1.8% of all Israeli households, own three or more apartments. And apartments in Israel are not cheap.

At the same time, the figures show that the proportion of people renting homes is rising while the percentage of homeowners is declining, which underscores that many Israelis can’t afford home prices, which are only going higher. On the bright side, with all those Israelis owning second and third apartments, there’s bound to be a plentiful supply of rentals.

For further reading click here.

Flying High
Israeli high-tech companies aren’t the only ones with turbo charged growth. El Al airlines just announced that their net profit for the third quarter of 2015 was up 820% over profits in the same quarter last year. Reasons for the surge include substantially lower oil prices and a lot more passengers. To be fair, last year’s third quarter included Operation Protective Shield, which caused a drop in travelers to Israel. But still, let’s give EL AL a high five. Now if they could only get the flight attendants to be little nicer.

For further reading click here.