Posts

boy israeli flag

Israel News for May 12, 2017

/by

Moving Right
According to a study just published by a respected Israeli think tank, Israel’s younger population (aged 15-24) is moving to the Right. The study found that 67% of Jewish youth in Israel today define themselves as Right-Wing, while only 16% associate themselves with the Left. Only 40% categorized themselves as secular, while the rest claimed to be religious, including 15% who classified themselves as Haredi (ultra-orthodox).

Most of the young people believe that the number one problem the government must deal with is the cost of living issue. They also are losing trust in the courts, the police, the Knesset and even the IDF.

For further reading click here.

Soccer Vote
FIFA, the international soccer federation, decided to postpone until next year a vote on whether to prohibit Israeli teams based in the West Bank from competing in the international league. FIFA regulations prohibit a member’s association from holding competitions on the territory of another member’s association without the latter’s permission, and the PFA considers the West Bank to be Palestinian—not Israeli—territory.

PM Netanyahu reacted to the decision saying, “We won another victory in Israel’s battle for its international standing. We thwarted an attempt to undermine Israel’s standing in FIFA. This is an important achievement. We will continue to defend the State of Israel and will continue to strengthen our international standing.”

For further reading click here.

Ancient Pigs
Archeologists have recently determined that the ancient Philistines, who migrated to the Israeli coast from the Aegean (Cyprus, Turkey, Greece), brought pigs with them — herds of them. Pigs are easily transportable, as opposed to cows, are low maintenance and provide a tasty meal for those not bound by Jewish law — or Moslem law.

You won’t find many pig farms in the area today, but if you know where to look you can find your swine delights in specialty delis, usually in areas with large Russian immigrant populations.

For further reading click here.

Conversion Bill
The Interior Ministry, headed by former Shas leader Aryeh Deri, has submitted a bill to the Knesset that would require the State to recognize only conversions under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate.

This would apply to conversions performed in Israel. Conversions performed by Reform, Conservative or Orthodox rabbis abroad are recognized by the State for purposes of the Law of Return. But in order to register for marriage with the Israeli Rabbinate (which is the only way to get married in Israel) the conversion must be performed by an Orthodox rabbi who is on an official Chief Rabbinate list of acceptable rabbis.

In 2016 the Supreme Court ruled that the State must recognize conversion performed in Israel by private Orthodox rabbis. The proposed bill would change that.

For further reading click here.

Kabbalistic Wedding
On Saturday night, hundreds of thousands of Jews will celebrate the “hilullah” of Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi), the second century sage who is believed to have authored the Zohar, the cornerstone text of the kabbala (Jewish mysticism), in Meron (near Tzfat), where he is buried. The Aramaic word “hillulah” literally means wedding, but it is used to commemorate the Rashbi’s day of death, during which he is believed to have revealed the deepest secrets of Kabbalah to his close circle of students (a good reason to celebrate).

The day is also Lag B’omer, the 33 day in the traditional counting of the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot. During that time period the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva (the Rashbi’s teacher) were stricken by a plague and died as punishment for their lack of mutual respect and brotherly love. But on the 33rd day, Lag B’omer, the dying ceased.

The celebration at Meron is highlighted by the burning of a huge bonfire that is lit by many prominent Hassidic Rebbes, with the Boyaner Rebbe leading off the festivities. Thousands of smaller bonfires are also lit in the Meron area and throughout Israel — and barbecue, marshmallows and amores are often not far behind.

It’s also customary for young boys to get their first haircuts at Meron (after letting it grow until age 3), so barbers eagerly join the crowds and do a brisk business — as do vendors of all sorts of cabalistic amulets and charms.

Ten of thousands of people are camping out at Meron for Shabbat. Hundreds of buses carrying thousands more will be making the trek after Shabbat ends. Some rabbis have demanded that the celebration be moved to Sunday night so as to avoid potential desecration of Shabbat by people either traveling to or preparing for the event on Shabbat. But they were ignored. Tradition stands.

Any event that can bring together hundreds of thousands of Jews from different religious walks of life is something to celebrate. May the merit of Rashbi and the Jewish unity at Meron bless Israel and the Jewish People with peace and success.

girl with Israeli flag

Israel News for April 28, 2017

/by

Population Stats
With Israel Independence Day next week, the country’s population statistics are out and looking strong. The population in Israel is currently 8,680,000, up 159,000 (1.9%) from last year. The Jewish population is 6,484,000, which is about 75% of the total population. Arabs make up just over 20% with 1.8 million people. There are close to 400,000 people classified as non-Arab Christians or members of other religions.

Within the Jewish population 44% classify themselves as non religious, 24% as traditional, 12% as “modern” religious and 11% as Haredi (ultra-orthodox).

Regarding happiness, 89% of those surveyed said they were happy with their lives in Israel, 59% were happy with their financial condition and 52% assumed that their lives would improve in the future.

There are eight cities with over 200,000 inhabitants: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon Letzion, Petach Tikva, Ashdod, Netanya and Bersheeva.

To read more statistics click here.

Senate Warns UN
The 100 members of the US Senate signed a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning the UN to stop picking on Israel.

The letter said, “While much good is being done and has been done by the body, many of its member states and agencies are using the UN’s privileged platform to advance an ant-Israel agenda. Too often, the UN is exploited as a vehicle for targeting Israel rather than as a forum committed to advancing the lofty goals of its founders. These actions have at time reinforced the broader courage of anti-Semitism…”

The Senators stressed, “…we are united in our desire to see the United Nations improve its treatment of Israel and to eliminate anti-Semitism in all its forms.”

The letter pointed out several specific steps the UN should take to improve the treatment of Israel including the termination of funding for agencies and committees related to the BDS movement, and the stopping of anti-Israel resolutions at UNESCO, UNRWA and UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The letter ended with a strong demand for Guterres to, “engage member states in a comprehensive effort to directly confront and root out this [anti-Israel] bias.”

To read the entire letter click here.

Trouble Up North
A Patriot anti-ballistic missile was fired from the northern Israel to destroy an drone that had penetrated into the Golan from Syria. This comes in the aftermath of a reported Israeli attack on Hezbollah weapons depot in the Damascus International Airport early Thursday morning. The weapons are regularly sent to the Assad regime by Iran.

In an unrelated event, a Lebanese citizen was arrested by police in Kiryat Shmona, just over the Lebanese border, after he was spotted by citizens at the towns central bus station. The man was found to have infiltrated from Lebanon. Police are investigating.

For further reading click here.

Bennett in Charge
Bayit Yehudi leader and Minister of Education Naftali Bennet won his party’s primary election by a landslide, consolidating his position of leadership. Bennett won a whopping 80% of the vote. He said, “The choice was not about me. Rather, the choice was about the way… the way to maintain Israel’s security without compromise, to preserve our Jewish identity, to maintain unity and to open the party’s ranks. Anyone who believes in our values, this is his home.”

For further reading click here.

Help Israel
The World Jewish Congress has launched a campaign to stop FIFA, the international soccer association, from potentially banning Israel from the organization.

The WJC has launched the #LetIsraelPlay campaign on social media to defeat the boycott movement’s attempt to kick Israel out of FIFA.

To participate:

1) Visit the FIFA Facebook page and tell them to keep politics out of football.

2) Paste this video (https://goo.gl/mdQpob) and the following message to their Facebook wall before May 11:

FIFA, one of the world’s most important sports organizations, is contemplating the world’s biggest mistake — to expel Israel from FIFA. We can not let this happen!

Israel News for April 20, 2017

/by

Gaza Sisters
Two sisters entered Israel from Gaza yesterday in order to receive their cancer treatments. Luckily, security forces at the Erez Crossing searched them. They discovered explosive making materials hidden inside medical supply tubes. According to the Shin Bet, an initial investigation indicated that the explosives were sent by Hamas and were intended to be used in terrorist attacks in Israel in the near future.

The Shin Bet stated: “This is a continuation of the attempts of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, led by Hamas, to take advantage of the humanitarian infrastructure and medical assistance that Israel provides to the residents of the Gaza Strip to carry out terrorist attacks in Israel.”

For further reading click here.

Soccer Crisis
The latest diplomatic crisis facing Israel is playing out on the soccer field. The Palestinian soccer federation has asked FIFA, the international football (soccer) association, to ban Israeli teams that play across the “Green Line”. That includes teams from Ma’aleh Adumim, Ariel, Kiryat Arba, Givat Ze’ev, Oranit and the Jordan Valley — all of whom play in low level leagues.

FIFA’s bylaws bar any country from setting up teams in another country’s territory, or letting such teams play in its own leagues without the other country’s consent. The Palestinians want this clause used against the settlement teams and argue that if Israel doesn’t suspend them from its leagues, Israel itself should be suspended from FIFA.

FIFA is set to meet in Bahrain next month. Israeli diplomats have been ordered to work on convincing their host countries to prevent FIFA from taking action against the “settlement” teams or from suspending Israel from the international league.

For further reading click here.

Less Taxes
Starting next week, buying a smartphone in Israel will be a lot cheaper. Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon has signed an order canceling the import tax of mobile telephones as part of his “Family Net” tax cut plan. Currently, importers must pay purchase tax of 15% on the import of mobile phones and smartphones as well as 17% VAT. For example the cheapest iPhone 7 model in the iDigital chain, which currently costs NIS 3,749, should now cost only NIS 2,868. Samsung’s Galaxy S7, which currently costs NIS 2,799 should be reduced to NIS 2,141.

For further reading click here.

Iran Passes
The Trump administration has notified Congress that Iran is complying with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal and has extended the sanctions relief given to the Islamic republic in exchange for curbs on its atomic program. The certification of Iran’s compliance, which must be sent to Congress every 90 days.

Despite the sanctions relief, Iran remains on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism for its support of anti-Israel groups and is still subject to non-nuclear sanctions, including for human rights abuses and for its backing of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.

At the same time, in a letter sent late Tuesday to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the administration has undertaken a full review of the nuclear agreement.

For further reading click here.

Hamilton Advice
The Haredi magazine Mishpacha wrote about how much PM Netanyahu enjoyed seeing Hamilton on his last trip to NYC. In fact, Netanyahu said he made a suggestion to producer Lin-Manuel Miranda on how to improve the play [of course]. The PM said that he read that when Alexander Hamilton was a child in the Caribbean, his tutor was a Jewish woman who taught him to recite the Ten Commandments in Hebrew. Later in life, Hamilton expressed admiration for the Jewish people, saying they have a “unique destiny” that is “part of God’s greater plan.” That, Netanyahu said, should go into the play.

— Source