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Israel News for August 23, 2016

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Josef’s Tomb Mayhem
A busload of Breslov Hassidim attempted to visit Joseph’s Tomb last night. The tomb is located in Shechem, which is under Palestinian Authority (PA) control and illegal for Israeli citizens to enter without special permission. Israelis also need a military escort to visit the tomb. The Hassidim didn’t have either.

The bus was stopped at the PA checkpoint, where it came under attack by rock throwers. The 32 passengers escaped on foot towards the tomb. Other Hassidim also managed to reach the tomb on foot (there are apparently other less conventional ways of reaching the tomb as opposed to by bus). In total around 60 Hassidim reached the tomb. Some of them started throwing stones at the local Arabs. Basically, it was a balagan (Jewish chaos — which is much worse than the Gentile variety).

IDF forces entered the area, extracted the Hassidim and took them in for questioning. Two Hassidim were lightly wounded by rocks.

Bottom line: Jews need special permission and military protection to pray at the tomb of Joseph. Does anything about that sound off??

By the way, the story of Joseph is also found in the Koran, where he is referred to as a prophet. So apparently the tomb is actually a Moslem shrine. Many Moslems also claim that the tomb is really the burial place of a Moslem cleric who died two centuries ago, and that the actual tomb of Joseph is located near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

For further reading click here.

Expanding Hebron
Israeli authorities confirmed yesterday that permission has been granted for expanding the Jewish enclave in Hebron. There are currently 1,000 Jews living in several enclaves in the city, which has an overall population of over 200,000 Arabs. This would be the first time in a decade that any expansion of the Jewish presence in Hebron would be undertaken.

Yishai Fleisher, a spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron, welcomed the expansion, saying it “would be good news for the Jewish community here.” However, another community spokesman, Noam Arnon, said he is skeptical that the government would risk international ire and grant such approvals. He said, “This is a government that caves under pressure. As a result, the chance for success here is very low.” Kamel Hmeid, the Palestinian governor of Hebron, called it “one of the most dangerous decisions” by Israel saying, ”What is happening is a cooperation and collusion between the government and the settlers.” The Palestinian Authority vowed to turn to the Israeli Supreme Court, United Nations and international courts to stop the plan.

Hebron was King David’s first capital city, where he reigned for seven years before moving to Jerusalem. More significantly, it is the location of the Cave of the Patriarchs — the burial tomb of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. The burial place of Rachel is located in Bethlehem (Rachel’s Tomb).

The expansion is meant to be a 28 unit apartment building located in a small compound near the yeshiva. Six families currently live in caravans in the compound, which is also used by the army.

The compound is owned by the State and had been leased to the Hebron Municipality, which had used the compound as a bus station at one time. When the lease expired, the planning for the residential project began.

The property was originally owned by Jewish residents of the city who fled after the 1929 massacre.

For further reading click here.

Israel Attacks Syria
Israeli aircraft attacked a Syrian mortar position in the Golan Heights in response to a mortal shell that fell on the Israeli side of the Heights. The mortal shell was apparently an accident, but the IDF was clear in its statement saying, “it holds the Syrian regime as responsible for any action originating from within its borders, and will not tolerate any attempt to undermine Israel’s sovereignty or the security of it citizens.”

For further reading click here.

Turkey Condemns Israel
In the wake of the Turkish Parliament’s ratification of the rapprochement with Israel, Turkey condemned Israel’s bombardment of Gaza as “disproportionate”. The IDF launched a powerful attack Sunday night in response to a rocket fired from Gaza that landed in Sderot.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “The fact that our ties with Israel have normalized does not mean that we will remain silent in the face of such attacks that target the Palestinian people. On the contrary, we will continue to (defend) the Palestinian cause,” it said, calling Israel’s actions “against international laws and especially against consciences.”

For further reading click here.

African Visit
Israel’s Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold, along with a small Israeli delegation, visited the capital of the West African, Moslem majority, country of Guinea and met with its president and cabinet ministers. Israel established formal relations with Guinea in July, after PM Netanyahu visited the region.

The Foreign Ministry Director General also visited two other African countries this week, but the names of those countries have been kept secret.

For further reading click here.

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Israel News for August 17, 2016

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IDF Raid
A large IDF force entered the al Fawwar refugee camp in Hebron on Tuesday to arrest terror suspects and search for illegal weapons. Palestinians attacked soldiers with molotov cocktails, improvised explosives and rocks. IDF forces responded with crowd control measures and confirmed that 23 Palestinians were wounded.

For further reading click here.

Terrorists Busted
The Shin Bet announced that it has arrested eight people who were part of aWest Bank terror cell recruited by Hezbollah. The suspects were arrested at the beginning of June 2016 before they were able to carry out an attack, and have been indicted by the Judean Military Court. In addition to collecting intelligence on Israeli patrols, the suspects also practiced shooting with hunting rifles, and practiced building IEDs.

An investigation revealed that Hezbollah attempted to recruit Israeli-Arabs and West Bank Palestinians via several different pro-Palestinian Facebook pages.

For further reading click here.

Illegal Entries
According to IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, there are currently between 50,000 and 60,000 Palestinians that enter Israel illegally every day, without work permits. He said, “Among those in possession of legal permits there were no terrorists in the latest wave of terror and I don’t think there were any even in the last decade.”

He stressed that there are still 100 kilometers without a security fence, near Jerusalem and Hebron, which need to be secured in order to stem the flow of illegals. He also said that we “need to increase the punishment against those who employ the illegal aliens, those who provide them with lodging places and those who transport them.”

There are currently approximately 800,000 valid entry permits in Israel. In order to obtain a permit, a person must be 22 years old, married, with no security or criminal background. Enforcement against the Israeli employers who employ the illegal workers is recognized as being deficient and in dire need of improvement in order to solve the problem of the illegals.

For further reading click here.

Yeshiva Surge
According to the latest figures from the Jerusalem Institute of Israel Studies and the Israel Democracy Institute, the number of full time Haredi yeshiva students rose 8 percent in 2015 to 108,390, 67% of whom are married. The change comes after a consistent decline from 2012 to 2014, when the number of ultra-Orthodox men studying Torah full-time decreased by 8 percent.

The recent surge is attributed to an increase in government funding as a result of the Haredi political parties being part of the coalition. Under the previous government (2012-2014), which included Yesh Atid, the state cut its support for yeshiva students who didn’t serve in the IDF by about 50 percent. That government had also passed a law which granted a full military exemption to 20,000 men, who as a result no longer needed to enroll in a yeshiva to avoid being drafted.

With the entrance of the Ultra Orthodox parties into the government in 2015, the state increased the yeshivas’ budget from 564 million shekels in 2014 to 1.1 billion shekels in June of 2016. That budget doesn’t include guaranteed income payments to married kollel students.

On the other hand, more Haredi men are entering the work force than ever before, reaching over 50% for the first time. The non Haredi workforce participation rate is 91%.

Think about this for second: there are over 100,000 adult, full time yeshiva students in Israel. That’s a first in Jewish history, by a long shot. Who said we aren’t in the messianic era?

For further reading click here.

Campus Outreach
The Diaspora Affairs Ministry, headed by Naftali Bennet, has allocated 250 million shekels ($65.6 million) for a two year project to “strengthen Jewish identity and the connection with Israel” among university students around the world.

The budget, a third of which comes from the government and the rest from Jewish groups and philanthropists, will be divided equally between Chabad, Olami and Hillel, which operate on hundreds of university campuses.

Bennet said, “The activities on campuses throughout the world are the real answer to the growing anti-Semitism and the delegitimization of Israel on campuses. For the first time since the founding of the state, the State of Israel understands that it’s not just the state of Israeli citizens, but the state of all Jews throughout the world.” He added that the activities of the project will not be focused on religious law, but many in the American Jewish communal world are skeptical, particularly because Chabad and Olami are both Orthodox organizations.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry claims that it wasn’t informed about the initiative, and that it is simply a political gift to Bennet and his Bayit Yehudi party.

In any case, students on campus will hopefully get the opportunity to strengthen their Jewish identity, thanks to the Jewish State.

For further reading click here.

Judoka Sent Packing
The Egyptian Olympic delegation sent home the judoka who refused to shake the hand of his Israeli opponent after losing his match to the Israeli. The Israeli, Or Sasson, went on to win the bronze medal.

The International Olympic Committee, which set up a disciplinary commission to investigate the incident, said the Egyptian’s conduct “was contrary to the rules of fair play and against the spirit of friendship embodied in the Olympic values.”

For further reading click here.

Israel News for August 11, 2016

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Tunnel Correction
Yesterday we mistakenly reported that 10 terrorists were killed when the terror tunnel that they were digging collapsed. According to press reports the ten were injured, not killed. It was just a case of wishful thinking on our part, and we apologize for the mistake (although perhaps some of them subsequently died??).

In any case some people have commented that the people digging the tunnels are not really terrorists, but rather they are innocent civilians forced to dig the tunnels by Hamas thugs who threaten to kill their families if they don’t comply. If that’s true, it’s certainly unfortunate and it’s even more of a reason for the UN and EU to stop propping up the Hamas government and immediately cutt off all aid, including the humanitarian aid that either directly or indirectly results in the strengthening of the terror organization.

In fact, the nations of the free world should form a military coalition and depose the Hamas government, like they did in Libya and Iraq and are currently trying to do against ISIS. Are Hamas terrorists that much different than ISIS terrorists?

But wait, Hamas confines their terror to Israel, so the world either doesn’t care or it expects Israel to take care of herself. Which brings us back to the tunnels. They need to be destroyed, regardless of who digs them. And when they do collapse, we’ll give a cheer, because it means that Israel has just become a bit safer.

Palestinian Tours
The US-based Jewish organization T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights and the controversial left wing have announced that they will begin offering Jewish groups organized day trips to the West Bank to meet with Palestinians and IDF veterans who will share with them their perspectives on issues relating to Israeli-Palestinian relations.

The objective of the new trip initiative is to “empower more American Jews to meet both Palestinians and IDF veterans who have served in the territories, to listen deeply to their narratives, and to bring these perspectives into working toward a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.”

Executive director of T’ruah Rabbi Jill Jacobs hopes that the trips will help the Jewish participants understand that “the current situation of occupation is having a deadly effect on both Israelis and Palestinians. It’s literally killing us. It’s killing us both physically and it’s killing us morally. It’s threatening Israel’s ability to survive, it’s violating the human rights of Palestinians every single day.”

No doubt about where she stands on the issue.

For further reading click here.

Doctors Strike
Today is not a good day to get sick in Israel. Doctors at state hospitals have called a 24 hour strike. They’re demanding a significant increase to their budget for the implementation of a program that would shorten waiting periods at public hospitals, additional interns to allow the doctors to rest during their shifts, and the scrapping of plans to discipline hospital administrators who exceed their set budget.

State hospitals will work according to Shabbat protocols, wherein all nonessential treatments and surgeries will be postponed. The strike is expected to increase the workload in hospitals and thus extend already prolonged waiting periods. Patients who do not require urgent care are advised to postpone their visit, or alternatively go to an HMO clinic instead.

Stay well!

For further reading click here.

Tehina Danger
About 200 tons of tehina salads made by “Shamir Salads” are being recalled from store shelves due a salmonella contamination discovered at a manufacturing plant.

For more details about the recall, click here.

PM Stuff
The Prime Minister is expecting a new residence and a new “Air Force 1”, which will end up costing around 650 million shekels. The finance Ministry feels it’s too expensive. But the PM wants it. So now they’ll fight it out.

By the way, President Rivlin, who would also use the aircraft, has stated that he doesn’t really need it and is fine flying commercial. The Prime Minister doesn’t agree.

For further reading click here.

Summer Lag
You might have noticed that August is a very slow time for Israel news. The Knesset is on vacation, as is most of the country. We’re trying our best to find stories that we think you’d like to read. But as they say, no news is good news, especially in Israel.

Israel News for August 4, 2016

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Fireworks Attack
Violence has drastically decreased in East Jerusalem, but it hasn’t disappeared. Last night policemen in Ma’ale ha-Zeitim had fireworks launched directly at them from the Arab neighborhood of Ras al-Amud. This isn’t an isolated incident. Residents of the Jewish Ma’ale ha-Zeitim have been suffering fireworks attacks for years. The police is working on arresting the offenders and confiscating fireworks stocks. According to Joshua Wander, a member of the Ma’ale ha-Zeitim security committee, “There has been a significant drop in the number of attacks compared to last year, but there are still stone-throwing and attacks on the residents.”

To watch a video of the attack, click here.

Homes Demolished
IDF forces destroyed the homes of the two terrorists who committed the Tel Aviv Sarona Market attack, in the village of Yatta near Hebron.

To see images of the demolition, click here.

Hamas Strike
About 100 Hamas prisoners in the Israeli Nafcha prison have started a hunger strike to protest the transfer of several units of prisoners to different prisons. The reason for the transfer was to make it difficult for the terrorists to communicate which each other and with Hamas leaders outside the prisons. Several Hamas leaders were involved in the prisoner shuffle.

The prison authority is constantly confiscating mobile phones thrown in from across the prison fences or smuggling in by visiting relatives.

Hamas prisoners are threatening other forms of disorder in addition to the hunger strike. There are currently 1,700 Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails.

For further reading click here.

Tunnel Barrier
The Defense Department is accepting bids from companies to build an underground concrete barrier around Gaza to block tunnels from entering Israel. The Gaza border with Israel is 60 kilometers.

The concrete barriers will extend several stories underground and will include above ground sections as well. Besides being used as a physical barrier against terror tunnels which cross into Israel, the sophisticated barrier will also be able to detect tunnel digging close to it, something which will enable the IDF to destroy these terror tunnels before they pose a threat.

Work is set to begin in October and will be divided among four Israeli companies. The project is estimated to cost over 2 billion shekels. Gaza will not be paying for the wall.

For further reading click here.

Epic Irony
In an epic case of irony, it turns out that Israel has been purchasing gas masks, since 1967, from two German companies who supplied the Nazis with gas masks to protect them at the gas chambers in Auschwitz. The two companies have a lock on the Israeli market, and supply the Defense Ministry, the Firefighting and Rescue Commission, Israel Railways, the Israel Police and the Israel Prison Service.

One of the companies, MSA, responded to comments about its past saying, “As a company whose foundations are based in ethics, decency and the commitment to protect people, MSA strongly condemns the horrors Nazi Germany committed against humanity. For over 100 years, our sole mission has been to protect the well-being and safety of people worldwide. MSA’s masks helped in keeping firefighters, police officers, emergency teams, industrial workers and soldiers—including in the Israeli army—from harm.”

The Israeli government isn’t bothered by the history of the companies either. But not everyone is happy with the arrangement. Likud MK Oren Hazan is currently working on a bill to prevent in the future the purchase and use of equipment from companies that worked with the Nazis.

For further reading click here.

Jaffa Protest
Leaders of the elected Islamic Council in Jaffa have erected a protest tent to demonstrate their opposition to Jews moving in to predominantly Arab neighborhoods of the city, calling the Jews “settlers”.

Jewish groups have been purchasing property and moving into Arab neighborhoods in the Jaffa in an organized fashion, in an attempt to strengthen the Jewish character and presence in the city. Does living in Jaffa (which is technically part of Tel Aviv) make a Jew a settler?

For further reading click here.

Israel News for August 1, 2016

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Terror Thwarted
Security forces last night found six homemade pipe bombs in a car driven by an Arab Israeli man from the southern town of Rahat, during a routine stop at a checkpoint in the West Bank. He was traveling towards the city of Kvar Saba.

For further reading click here.

Mosque Fire
A massive fire broke out last night in the largest and most important mosque in the northern city of Acre. The mosque is considered second in importance to the Al Aqsa mosque. Firefighters, assisted by hundreds of residents, battled the fire. The fire was started as a result of an electric failure.

Acre is a city in which Jews and Arabs live in relative harmony. There was no suspicion among the Arab residents that the fire was started by Jews. In the words of one Arab resident, “There is no way that someone set the mosque on fire in the heart of the city. This is a place in which Arabs and Jews live together and have good relations. We never suspected that any person would want to harm a mosque – Not today or any other day.”

For further reading click here.

General Heads to DC
IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot arrived in Washington yesterday for a four day visit to meet with military and defense officials and discuss military cooperation between the two countries.

One of Eisenkot’s main objectives is to attempt to bridge gaps related to the military aid agreement that Israel wants to finalize within the next couple of months (or sooner). The agreement is signed every ten years. The new one will hopefully increase US military aid to Israel from $3.1 billion to $5 billion per year.

The are a couple of conditions to the aid package that Israel has a problem with. According to the new deal, Israel is prohibited from using the money to make purchases in Israel, which could have a significant negative effect on Israel’s defense industry and lead to thousands of layoffs. Israel currently is permitted to spend up to 26% of the US aid in the country.

Another sticking point prohibits Israel from using the money to buy fuel, which would require Israel to find an extra $400 million in it’s own fiscal budget. The US wants as much money as possible to be used for purchases in the US.

For further reading click here.

New Ministers
The government has approved several new ministerial appointments. Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) who is currently Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister, was also given the Environmental Protection portfolio.

Welfare Minister Haim Katz (Likud) will take on all matters relating to employment and to Holocaust survivors, currently under the jurisdiction of the Economy Minister. The rest of the Economy Ministry, currently held by PM Netanyahu, will be given to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu). Netanyahu still holds the communications, regional cooperations and foreign ministry portfolios.

For further reading click here.

IDF Exemptions Revoked
The IDF provides exemptions for yeshiva students who study at least 45 hours per week at one of the 1,000 institutions recognized by the Education Ministry, according to the Israeli Defense Service Law. But the IDF is now cracking down on men who aren’t exactly acting in a “kosher” way.

According to a senior official in the IDF’s Manpower Directorate, some 4,000 ultra-Orthodox men aged 17-24, who received an exemption from military service so they could study Torah, have been found to be living a secular lifestyle. Most have already been drafted.

Hundreds have appealed the decision, with some providing proof they do meet the criteria as yeshiva students and having their exemption reinstated. Many claim that they were undergoing a temporary “crisis of faith” which caused them to drop religious observance, but that they have subsequently repented. While that argument might be a valid theological one, it doesn’t usually work for the army.

The IDF Manpower Directorate has been using private detectives and scouring social media pages to identify the “no longer religious” men.

The senior IDF official explained, “Many in the Haredi sector have a Facebook page. As soon as we realize that the young man does not meet the conditions for exemption, we revoke it after summoning him for a hearing in which we present him with the evidence and allow him to appeal the decision. Going abroad or working instead of studying at the yeshiva are also considered violations of the requirements. We receive the information from different sources.”

He added, ”We give the time to study to whoever needs it. We’ve discovered a lot are registered to a yeshiva, but don’t actually attend. We’ve always enforced—what’s new today is the use of social media in ultra-Orthodox society. We can easily reach them on Facebook and can do a lot of detective work using a smartphone.”

For further reading click here.

Israel News for July 27, 2016

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Terrorists Captured
Last night IDF and Police forces from the Duvdevan, Yamam and Kfir units killed Mohammed Jabarah al-Fakih, the 29-year-old Hamas terrorist who murdered Rabbi Michael Mark and wounded Mark’s wife and two of their children in a roadside ambush on July 1st near Otniel. The operation was executed in the village of Surif, north of Heron. Three other terrorists and several family members suspected of helping al-Fakih were also arrested in the raid. No Israeli soldiers were injured in the operation.

Hamas and Palestinian media and websites praised al-Fakih as a martyr and hero who fought to the death.

The Units
Duvdevan is a special unit whose members go into Arab areas disguised as Arabs to make arrests.

Yamam is the Police anti-terrorist unit (think anti-terror S.W.A.T)

Kfir is an infantry brigade that operates in the West Bank. Its primary missions include counter-terror operations, capturing terrorists, patrols, manning checkpoints and regular security activities.

For further reading click here.

Terror Attempt
A female Arab terrorist charged at soldiers manning the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem Tuesday morning. She was shot in the legs by soldiers before she could cause any harm. A knife was found in her bag.

For further reading click here.

Soccer Fans Busted
A special task force of 400 Israeli police officers and security personnel raided homes throughout the country and arrested fifty members of a group of Beitar Jerusalem soccer fans called La Familia. Some of those arrested are suspected of attacking a rival team’s fan with an axe last year. All are suspected of having participated in violent incidents. Police also found explosives, grenades and various types of weapons. Several of those arrested were IDF soldiers, including one officer. Additional arrests are expected.

For further reading click here.

Controversial Rabbi Clarifies
Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, the head of a pre-army academy in Eli who was reprimanded for making controversial statements degrading gays, issued a letter to the Director-General of the Defense Ministry clarifying his comments.

He wrote, “My comments at the rabbinic conference last week were interpreted by many in a way I never intended, as if I had called for the exclusion of certain populations or parts of them from the IDF, or to harm the sense of camaraderie we all place our trust in.” He added, “Everyone has a place in the IDF, regardless of their background, their worldview, or their personal inclinations. The criticism I voiced did not express a lack of faith [in the system], rather it came from a sense of love and pain.”

He did not retract his initial comments.

For further reading click here.

Dems Burn Flag
Protesters outside of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia burned an Israeli flag while chanting “intifada”. One person waived a Palestinian flag. I don’t think something like this happened outside of the Republican National Convention, did it?

The National Jewish Democratic Council condemned the flag-burning on Twitter, calling it “Disgusting and totally reprehensible. These protestors aren’t only wrong, but are fundamentally anti-progressive.”

For further reading click here.

Israel News for July 22, 2016

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Parade Happens
Over 25,000 people participated in the gay pride parade in Jerusalem yesterday. Police arrested 48 people suspected of trying to disrupt the event and attack participants. There was no violence at the parade.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and Jerusalem District Police Commander Yoram Halevy laid flowers at the place of Shira Banki’s murder (at last years parade) before the march began. Barkat said, “I understand the pain and criticism of those who don’t agree with my decision not to participate in the march. I chose a different way to honor the memory of Shira Banki, a sweet girl who was murdered because of baseless hatred, and I lay, together with the commander of the Jerusalem District Police, a flower at the place of the murder. I pray with all my heart that on this day, we will all of us unite against any display of incitement, violence.”

For further reading click here.

Rabbi Reprimanded
Defense Ministry Director General Udi Adam reprimanded Rabbi Yigal Levinstein for remarks he recently made in which he referred to gays as perverts and criticized the IDF for being too careful in its efforts not to harm civilians in combat. The reprimand was mainly directed against the anti-gay comment. General Adam demanded that Rabbi Levinstein “clarify” his comment.

Yesterday, close to 350 rabbis signed a letter supporting Levinstein and criticizing what they called “an attempt to silence Israel’s rabbis.”

Levinstein is the co-founder and head of a pre-military yeshiva academy in Beit El that has produced many high ranking IDF officers. His co-director, Rabbi Eli Sadan did not sign the letter, but also did not criticize the comments. He said, “Even if we have criticism of certain things in the army, we are not opposed to the army, of course. We will continue to fight together for the sake of the country, and when problems arise we will solve them with dialogue, not war.”

For further reading click here.

Innovation Center
PM Netanyahu, President Rivlin and former President Shimon Peres participated in the launching of The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Jaffa yesterday. All three men emphasized that, while Israel is poor in natural resources, it is rich in human resources.

Simon Peres is credited with being the architect of Israel’s defense and aviation industries as well as enabling Israel’s nuclear capability.

For further reading click here.

Jihadi Threats
A Jihadi group has published threats against Israeli and American olympic athletes on social media. The posts call on “lone wolf” attackers to take part in the jihad and become martyrs.

The post specifically mentioned the Israelis: “From amongst the worst enemies, the most famous enemies for general Muslims is to attack Israelis. As general Muslims all agree to it and it causes more popularity for the Mujahideen amongst the Muslims.” The post also called to kidnap Israelis to serve as bargaining chips to free Muslim prisoners.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s federal police arrested 10 people on Thursday on suspicion of belonging to a group backing ISIS and preparing acts of terrorism during next month’s Olympics.

For further reading click here.

Polish Revisionism
Polish officials are publicly expressing the anti-semitism that is ingrained in Polish society. Poland’s Education Minister Anna Zalewska recently questioned whether the perpetrators of the 1946 Kielce pogrom, during which 40 holocaust survivors were murdered, were Poles. She said, “Let’s leave it to historians to sort out.” What she is implying is that it was Russian soldiers, or perhaps even Jews, who committed the heinous murders. How could anyone even think that Poles would murder Jews? Right.

The mayor of Jedwabne, the town in which Poles herded 340 Jews into a barn and burned them alive, has ordered the exhumation of the bodies to prove that the Jews were actually murdered by German soldiers, and not by Poles. The testimonies of numerous witnesses and other evidence that confirms that there were only a few German soldiers in the town at the time of the massacre and that Poles committed the murders don’t seem to matter. The desire to deny Polish involvement is stronger than any evidence.

Other Polish government officials, including the current president, have also denied Polish involvement in the murder and persecution of Jews during and after the holocaust.

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder has demanded apologies from the education minister and the mayor. Even if he gets them, will it change anything?

For further reading click here.

Israel News for July 19, 2016

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IDF Permits Demonstrations
The IDF has modified its rules to permit soldiers and officers to participate in non-political demonstrations. According to the new rules, conscripts and officers up to and including the rank of major are permitted to take part in public activities, provided that they do not pertain to IDF actions, party political matters, or matters of state. The permitted activity must take place on the soldiers’ own time and out of uniform. The demonstrators must not be able to be identified as IDF soldiers.

The new rule allows soldiers and officers to march in the upcoming gay pride parade in Jerusalem this Friday.

For further reading click here.

Flag Law
The Knesset yesterday passed a new law that increases the penalty for desecration of the Israeli flag to a maximum prison sentence three years and a a fine of 58,400 shekels ($15,100). The previous maximum sentence was one year and the fine was 300 liras — which in today’s currency would be around zero.

No more flag burnings in Mea Shearim?

For further reading click here.

Soccer Solution
Defense Minister Leiberman has proposed a new solution to fight Palestinian terror, and it’s not the kind of hard line tactic you’d expect. The DM said, in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee of the Knesset, that he would establish ten new soccer fields in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, to give Palestinian youth something more productive to do than throwing ricks at Jews. Makes sense, right?

Building soccer fields is part of Leiberman’s overall strategy of rewarding Palestinians that do not engage in terror and punishing only those who do (as opposed to collective punishment).

Hey, whatever works.

For further reading click here.

Mexico Trade
Israel’s ambassador to Mexico said that trade between the two countries could triple in the coming years. Israel is currently Mexico’s biggest trading partner in the Middle East and 42nd globally. In 2015, total trade between the countries was $841 million.

Mexico’s exports to Israel include cement, fruit, cars and crude oil. Israeli exports to Mexico include pharmaceuticals, chemical based products and technology. Over 200 Israeli companies have offices in Mexico, and that number is expected to rise. Around 50,000 Jews live in Mexico.

Will Israel be sharing wall building technology and expertise with Mexico in the near future? We’ll find out soon.

For further reading click here.

South Tel Aviv Torah
A small yeshiva is opening in the Neve Sha’anan neighborhood of South Tel Aviv. In recent years the area has become the home to thousands of refugees from Sudan and Eritrea. Many Jewish residents have moved, and those who remain feel besieged in their own homes by the foreign population and accompanying rise in crime and racial tensions.

The head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Achiad Ettinger, said, “Our mission is to become a center of Torah learning that also contributes to the community.” He added, “All we can do is take positive action, create a connection with the local population, and provide a social presence. We are creating social programming for the youth of the neighborhood, we study Torah with them, and we plan to bring young, idealistic couples to the neighborhood to give the community psychological strength.”

For further reading click here.

Gaza Tunnel
A tunnel collapsed in Gaza last night, killing at least one Islamic Jihad terrorist and leaving another four either wounded or missing. Nine days ago another tunnel collapsed on members of the terror group. Digging terror tunnels is a dangerous business. May they continue to gain martyrdom.

For further reading click here.

US Aliyah
Two thousand Jews from America and Canada will be making aliyah this summer, with the help of the Nefesh B’Nefesh organization. The first group of 218 landed in Israel early today.

Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, greeted them at the airport. He said, “The immigrants arriving from the United States and Canada are coming not out of distress but rather out of excitement to take part in the largest national project of the Jewish people. We must ensure that the State of Israel remains a place in which every Jew feels at home, a place that ignites Jews’ imagination and strengthens their identity and security.”

“And your children will return to their borders – V’shavu Banim L’gvulam”

For further reading click here.

Israel News for July 14, 2016

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Rabbinic Court Rules
The Supreme Rabbinic Court of the Chief Rabbinate issued a ruling in the much publicized case of an American immigrant woman who was converted to Judaism by Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, a prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi in the US. When the woman tried to register for her upcoming marriage in the Petach Tikva rabbinate, the local rabbinic court ruled that her conversion was invalid, since Rabbi Lookstein was not on the list of rabbis approved by the Chief Rabbinate to perform conversions.

The case was appealed to the Supreme Rabbinic Court, which upheld the ruling of the lower court and ordered the woman to proclaim her acceptance of the Mitzvoth (commandments). This acceptance would serve as a backup conversion, which is done when the validity of the initial conversion is thought to be questionable. The woman at first refused to make the declaration, but eventually relented in the interest of being allowed to register for her marriage.

The court’s ruling is viewed by many as an attack on all of the conversions of Rabbi Lookstein. But that’s not so clear. The Chief Rabbis praised the courts ruling while also confirming that Rabbi Lookstein’s conversions are absolutely “kosher”. The court also said that their ruling has no bearing on any other of the rabbis conversions.

The entire question came down to whether R. Lookstein was on an approved list of rabbis or not. But the court couldn’t just refer to the official list, because there really isn’t one master list. There apparently are several versions of the list, depending on who you ask for a judgment.

So it seems as though, in the absence of a list, the court had no hard evidence to either confirm or deny R. Lookstein’s conversion. So they took what they considered to be the safe route and made the woman convert again, sort of (she did not have to immerse in a mikvah, which is a primary requirement for conversion, although they did say that the woman’s standard pre-wedding immersion will also serve the purpose of acting as a conversion immersion).

Since the Chief Rabbis have now publicly confirmed that R. Lookstein is on the approved list, there should be no further issues regarding his conversions in Israel. We hope.

However, the fact that the judges of the court didn’t rely on the approval of the Chief Rabbis is disturbing and confusing. Were they trying to make a point of displaying their judicial independence?

Does this mean that other rabbinical courts can decide to deny conversions by rabbis even though those rabbis are approved by the Chief Rabbinate?

The only way to assure that something like this doesn’t happen in the future is for the Chief Rabbinate to publish one official list of approved rabbis and mandate that all rabbinical courts and marriage registrars abide by it.

And btw, shame on all the “journalists” who keep referring to Ivanka Trump in their headlines of how the Israeli Rabbinate is nullifying her conversion. It’s just not true. They’re just trying to get clicks (they call it click bait). One ruling by three judges doesn’t change or effect anything beyond the specific case they’re ruling on.

Another Ruling
Since we’re on the topic, the Supreme Rabbinical Court has handed down a five year prison sentence to man who refuses to give his wife a Get (Jewish divorce document). The court gave the husband 10 days to reconsider before heading to prison.

Yup, the rabbinical court has the power to send people to prison in cases of Get refusal.

For further reading click here.

IDF Chief Rabbi
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot confirmed yesterday that Rabbi Col. Eyal Karim will be appointed as the Chief Rabbi of the IDF, despite the public controversy surrounding some of the rabbi’s past statements, including permitting soldiers to disobey orders they consider to be contrary to Torah and prohibiting women from serving in the IDF.

A statement by the Chief of Staff’s office said, “Col. Karim made clarified during the conversation on all the matters that have come up in recent days, and he clarified beyond any doubt that he and all IDF soldiers are completely subject to IDF orders and the IDF Code of Ethics. The rabbi promised that he personally and the rabbinate headed by him will respect every single person, regardless of religion, sex and sexual preference, and because he sees the IDF as an army of the people absorbing of its recruits, no matter who they are. The chief of staff spoke with Col. Karim about the chief rabbinate’s tasks and how he envisages the rabbinate under his command, and he felt that he and the rabbi see eye to eye on these issues.”

Last night Karim publicized a letter to all IDF soldiers. In it, he stated, “It is inconceivable that any soldier or commander would act contrary to orders.” He also wrote, “I understand the diversity and variety that exists amongst IDF soldiers and the important contribution that every soldier makes without regard to their sexual orientation. We will continue being everybody’s rabbinate.”

For further reading click here.

El Al Pilots
El Al pilots have been involved in legal battles with management, demanding improvements in working conditions. Management is claiming that the average salary of an El AL pilot is high enough to compensate for any hardships. The average salary of a pilot is currently around 96,000 shekels per month. Not too bad. But I guess it’s all relative. Do you want the pilot on your flight to be disgruntled?

For further reading click here.

Israel News for July 13, 2016

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Terror Ramming
Three Palestinian men tried to ram their car into security forces who were dismantling an illegal weapons production facility in the village of a-Ram. Security forces shot and killed one of the men and wounded the other. The third man was arrested. No Israelis were hurt.

The IDF closed down a total of 16 weapons factories in the West Bank in a major crackdown yesterday.

For further reading click here.

Chief Rabbi Clarifies
Rabbi Col. Eval Karim, who was appointed as the next IDF Chief Rabbi, responded to critics by clarifying his positions in a meeting with the head of the Manpower Directorate Maj. Gen. Hagi Topolanski yesterday.

Karim confirmed that he in no way sanctions wartime rape by soldiers, and that the statement he once made permitting it was made exclusively in a theoretical context. He also clearly stated that he was in favor of drafting women into the IDF, as opposed to a statement he once made prohibiting women from serving.

He also claimed that he permits soldiers from being present at events where women are singing, which seems to contradict a 28 page legal opinion he offered which prohibited women singers from performing at IDF events and permitted male soldiers from being excused from such an event.

It’s still unclear whether the rabbi’s clarifications will be enough to placate his critics, as more controversial statements of his come to light. Most of those statement were made in the context of responses to questions on the website kipa.co.il.

Examples of Karim’s controversial statements include his position that soldiers may refuse an order that goes against Jewish law, that wounded suicide bombers should be killed, and that the Torah prohibits women from testifying in a Bet Din (Jewish legal court) because “a woman’s sentimental nature does not allow her to withstand a cross examination at court.”

For further reading click here.

Republican Platform
The Republican Party’s Platform Committee has unanimously agreed to omit references to a two-sate solution in its new platform.

The two-state solution has long been accepted by both the Democratic and Republican parties as well as by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). When the Republicans tried to omit the two-sate solution from their platform in 2012, AIPAC opposed the move. This time they didn’t.

The new platform says, “The U.S. seeks to assist in the establishment of comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East, to be negotiated among those living in the region. We oppose any measures intended to impose an agreement or to dictate borders or other terms, and call for the immediate termination of all U.S. funding of any entity that attempts to do so. Our party is proud to stand with Israel now and always.”

Other language on Israel “reject(s) the false notion that Israel is an occupier” and describes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and “indivisible,” both changes from the 2012 platform.

AIPAC spokesman Marshall Wittmann said, “We appreciate that both parties’ platforms have now included strong pro-Israel language which is reflective of the broad bipartisan consensus in support of the Jewish state.”

J Street called the new Republican platform language, “dangerous and irresponsible.” The left-leaning Jewish group said, “It breaks with over half a century of bipartisan US consensus on Middle East policy and disavows the important achievements of previous Republican presidents in seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians. It would place the Republican Party to the right of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who continues to maintain that he supports the two-state solution.”

The Democratic platform, which was recently approved, does include the two-state solution saying, “We will continue to work toward a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiated directly by the parties that guarantees Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty, and dignity.”

The Republican platform will still need to be approved by the full Republican National Committee ahead of the convention in Cleveland next week.

For further reading click here.

Hezbollah Missiles
Addressing a UN Security Council discussion relating to the security situation in Lebanon 10 years after the Second Lebanon War, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon presented evidence of how south Lebanon has turned into a Hezbollah stronghold.

Danon said the Hezbollah currently has 120,000 missiles pointed at Israel. That’s a larger missile stockpile than all of the European NATO countries combined. At the end of the Second Lebanon War Hezbollah only had 7,000.

Damon said, “Hezbollah hasn’t been stopped. They chose to establish their firing positions next to schools and other public buildings, thereby endangering the innocent civilian population. It is the responsibility of the UN security council to get Hezbollah out of south Lebanon.”

For further reading click here.

Israeli in Gaza
A bedouin Israeli citizen has crossed the border fence into Gaza yesterday and is now missing. The man is a shepherd who lives with his family a few miles from the border. He is considered to be mentally unstable.

Security forces were alerted of the breach in the fence and raced to the scene but were too late to stop the man. He is thought to have been captured by Hamas. He is the third Israeli civilian to cross the border and be held by Hamas. The other two are a bedouin and an Ethiopian, both mentally unstable.

For further reading click here.

Saudi Rankings
The Saudi Arabian based Center for World University Rankings has ranked theHebrew University of Jerusalem as the best university in the Middle East and #26th in the world (out of 25,000). Other Israeli universities to finish in the top 100 were the Weizmann Institute of Science, at 41, and Tel Aviv University, at 81.

Yes, the ratings agency is based in Saudi Arabia, and still…

For further reading click here.