Posts

Israel News for September 17, 2015

/by

< back to sign up

Here We Go Again
Remember Mohammed Allan, the Palestinian prisoner who conducted a 66 day hunger strike and stopped after the High Court temporarily suspended his administrative detention? Well, the good news for Allan is that he finally got well enough to be released from the Ashkelon hospital he was recovering in. The bad news is that he was rearrested moments after his discharge.

Background
Allan was arrested and held in administrative detention for being an Islamic Jihad terror operative. The administrative detention law allows authorities to detain suspects without formally charging them or bringing them to trial. The reason for the law is to protect sources and witnesses who would be in danger if formal charges detailing the specific crimes of the suspect were released.

Allan went on a hunger strike to protest the administrative detention law. His health condition reached the critical stage where the government considered force feeding him to save his life, which would be legal according to a recently passed Israeli law. To avoid that, the government offered to release him if he went into exile for four years. He declined the offer, and the case went before the High Court.

The court decided to temporarily suspend his administrative detention. Allan and his supporters considered that a victory and Allan ended his hunger strike. He continued to receive medical treatment and nourishment at the Ashkelon hospital where he had been detained.

At the time of the case, the government had made it clear that the only way they would agree to release Allan was if it was determined that he had sustained severe brain damage from his hunger strike, which would make him no longer a security risk.

Thanks to his good luck and skilled Israeli doctors, Allan didn’t suffer brain damage, or at least enough to no longer deem him a security risk. So as expected, he was rearrested before being released. In response, Allan has resumed his hunger strike.

Upshot
It is unlikely the government will agree to release someone they believe to be a terrorist. Besides the obvious security risk, it would be a signal for other prisoners to go on their own hunger strikes to get released. The question now is whether the government will end up force feeding Allan, if his health deteriorates to it’s previous levels again.

Stop Stoners
Alexander Levlovich, 64, was driving home from a Rosh Hashanah dinner with two passengers on Sunday night. As he was driving through Arnona to his Armon Hanetziv neighborhood, both of which are located in East Jerusalem, his car was stoned, causing him to lose control and slam into a pole. Yesterday, he was buried.

During a tour of Levlovich’s Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanetziv, PM Netanyahu told reporters that “we’re changing the policy to a war on stone-throwers, not just in Jerusalem and the roads leading to it, but also in the Galilee and the Negev.”

The PM, the Defense Minister and the Internal Security Minister all want to allow the police to use snipers against stone throwers, just like the IDF does. The Attorney General is looking into the matter for the PM, to determine if it’s legal. The ultimate goal: to put a stop to the stoning attacks.

Meanwhile, there were three days of violent riots between police and Arabs on the Temple Mount resulting in numerous injuries on both sides.

Iceland Slams Israel
The city council of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, has adopted a motion to boycott Israeli-made goods. According to the motion, the boycott will be in place “as long as the occupation of Palestinian territories continues.”

Upshot
Does Iceland actually buy stuff from Israel? It doesn’t really matter. It’s the thought that counts.

Chief Rabbis Speak Out
Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi David Lau and Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef released a joint statement warning Jews to steer clear of an upcoming conference in Jerusalem organized by the International Christian Embassy saying that a major purpose of the event and the organization is to convert Jews to Christianity.

The statement said that, “even though it may be that the conference organizers are friends to the State of Israel, in practice the event constitutes a spiritual danger and undermines [the state’s] Jewish character.”

Upshot
Seems like the chief rabbis are just doing their job. The evangelical Christians have stated clearly that one of their missions is to convert the Jews in order to hasten the coming of their messiah. So shouldn’t rabbis warn Jews to avoid the risk of being converted? (No offense to our Christian readers) Isn’t the primary job of a rabbi to protect and enhance Judaism and Jewish spirituality? Go rabbis!

Shaked’s New Diggs
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) is doing pretty well, at least in her standard of living. She just purchased a 2700 sq. Ft. House in North Tel Aviv for 6.7 million shekels ($1.74 million), which is comparable to buying a 5000 sq ft house in a trendy Manhattan suburb. She’s selling the Tel Aviv penthouse that she’s lived in for the past few years, if you happen to be in the market. Before getting into politics Shaked worked as a software engineer and then as marketing manager for Texas Instruments in Israel. Shaked is 39, married with two children. Her husband is a fighter pilot. Go Ayelet!

Israeli Salad Woes
Despite the high prices of food in Israel (especially if it’s imported), you could always depend on getting inexpensive tomatoes and cucumbers that taste way better than anything produced in the US. That’s probably why Israeli salad consists primarily of, you guessed it: tomatoes and cucumbers. That might have to change.

Due to the intense heat wave and natural price inflation around holiday time, cucumbers have doubled in price and tomatoes have jumped 87% since the beginning of September.

In an attempt to make Israeli salad available even to the poorest consumers, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel permitted veggie imports. But his announcement came just 4 business days before the start of Rosh Hashanah, which didn’t leave enough time to import anything. Israeli salad lovers (which is just about everyone, right?) are so mad they probably will not be granting Ariel forgiveness, which could be a big problem for him come Yom Kippur.

Save the Israeli salad!!

Israel News for August 25, 2015

/by

< back to sign up

Terror Cell Arrested
Security forces arrested a four man terrorist cell that was planning to shoot Jews praying at Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem (Nablus). The four were being trained and armed by an Islamic Jihad operative from Gaza. They were gathering intelligence on the daily routine of the prayer goers at the Tomb in preparation for their attack. Thankfully, that’s as far as they got.

President Rivlin Speaks
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met yesterday at his residence with elected leaders of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Rivlin expressed his full support for the settlements in the territories saying, “Our right to this land is not a matter of political debate. It is a basic fact of modern Zionism. We must not give anyone the sense that we are in any doubt about our right to our land. For me, the settlement of the land of Israel is an expression of that right, our historical right, our national right, stemming from a love for the land of Israel, [and] from a recognition of our roots, which come together here.”

He sympathized with the settlers who are facing increased violence in the aftermath of the Duma attack that killed a Palestinian toddler and his father, but emphasized the need for restraint. He said, “Our sovereignty in this land means responsibility for all those who live here, and obliges all of us to uphold the strictest of moral codes, which is inherent in each and every one of us.”

Asylum Seekers Released
In compliance with a High Court ruling ordering the release of asylum seekers being held for longer than 12 months in the Holot facility in the Negev, the government will release 1,500 Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers by Wednesday.

Background
There are over 45,000 asylum seekers, primarily from Sudan and Eritrea, who almost all entered the country illegally, usually by infiltrating through Israel’s southern border with Sinai.

Since they are fleeing from war-torn countries where their lives are in danger, they are considered asylum seekers and cannot, according to Israeli law, be deported back to their home countries unless they pose a clear security threat (which they don’t).

In order to control this influx of African asylum seekers, which poses a demographic threat to the stability of the country, the Knesset passed the Anti-Infiltration law allowing the government to imprison the illegals for up to 3 months and then detain them for up to 20 months. These measures are meant to persuade the migrants to leave the country. The High Court reduced the 20 month detention term to 12 months, but kept the rest of the law in tact.

In anticipation of the release of the 1,500 Holot detainees, the government issued regulations forbidding them from returning to Tel Aviv and Eilat, which is where most of the asylum seekers in Israel live.

Representatives from hotels in the Dead Sea came to Holot to recruit close to 200 workers. Many of the others are heading to Arad and Beersheva.

Upshot
Both the Israeli government and the High Court have made it pretty clear that they do not want asylum seekers, primarily from Sudan and Eritrea, to remain in the country. But since they can’t simply deport them, their objective is to make life so difficult for them that they agree to voluntarily leave. Approximately 9,000 have already left. But life has got to be pretty bad for anyone to want to return to Sudan or Eritrea. So the government will keep tightening the screws and the Africans will keep fighting for survival until…well, we’ll have to wait and see how this ends.

Assad Speaks Out
In an interview with Hezbollah television, President Assad of Syria addressed Israel’s attack on Syrian government targets, which was in response to a rocket attack on Israel from territory under his control. In that attack Israel hit numerous government and pro government military targets and killed the four terrorists believed responsible for firing the rockets. Assad said that, at this time, defeating the anti government rebels in Syria takes priority over fighting with Israel. He also claimed that Israel was supporting the rebel groups and using them as proxies to fight Syria. So really, by fighting the rebel groups he’s fighting Israel. Interesting logic.

Gay Pride Murderer indicted
The Jerusalem District Court indicted Yishai Schlissel, the Gay Pride Parade attacker, for one count of murder and six counts of attempted murder.

A document was recently uncovered that has put the police in a tight spot. The document was presented at a special meeting of the Jerusalem police district ten days before the gay pride parade and specifically identified Schlissel as being a threat of the highest degree. That means the police should have been keeping an eye on him. They obviously didn’t. An investigative committee examining possible police negligence is hard at work to find out what went wrong.

Hasidic Crowd Control
Tomorrow the Gerrer Hasidim will celebrate the wedding of their Rebbe’s grandson in Jerusalem. But unlike the standard large charedi gathering, which often includes lots of pushing and jostling for good viewing positions, this event will hopefully be different.

The Rebbe’s gabbai (sort of like the chief of staff and personal secretary) released a letter ordering all Hassidim planning to attend the wedding to pick a spot and stay in it for the duration. That means no moving around, pushing or positioning. In other words, just be a mentch (ask your grandma what that means). And in case you think you can do as you please, the letter says that the venue will be recorded with cameras, so don’t even think about it.

The goal here is to avoid the kind of tragedy that occurred at the funeral of a prominent rabbi some months ago where a young man was trampled to death in the pushing during the funeral procession. Hopefully, the new Gerrer rules will do the trick.

israelAM for August 21, 2015

/by

< back to sign up

Hunger Strike Ended
Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Allaan decided to end his hunger strike yesterday as a result of the High Court’s decision to suspend his administrative detention. He’s still too sick to eat, but he should be able to in a couple of days. (clearly there’s a difference between being on a hunger strike and just not eating).

Who Won?
While Allaan’s family and supporters are claiming victory, the High Court’s decision doesn’t really do much to change Allaan’s long term situation, other than allowing him visitors. As soon as he gets well enough, the administrative detention order gets reinstated. Ironically, the only way Allaan wins by getting set free immediately is if he is found to have irreversible brain damage. Doesn’t seem like much of a victory in that scenario.

The real winner in this case seems to be the government. It avoided being blamed for the death of a prisoner, ended a hunger strike without having to force-feed, and can continue detaining a terror suspect once he gets well or release him if he is no longer a security threat due to irreversible brain damage.

Israel Strikes Syria
After four rockets were fired into northern Israel from Syria yesterday, the IDF hit back hard. The Israeli army used tanks, artillery and aircraft to attack 14 military targets in the Syrian government held Golan Heights, from where the rockets were launched. Israel claims that the Iranian backed Islamic Jihad is behind the attack, and holds the Syrian government responsible for not securing their territory. Syrian state radio confirmed the attacks but claimed minimal damage.

There has been occasional shooting into Israel from Syria that has spilled over from fighting inside of Syria. But yesterday’s rocket attack into Israel was clearly intentional. A senior IDF officer said, “For us this is a clear act of aggression meant by the Iranians to use the chaos in Syria to escalate tensions in the region,” he said.

The officer said that although the rocket attack was carried out by Islamic Jihad forces, it is not connected to the threats of reprisal by Islamic Jihad related to the hunger strike of their operative Mohammed Allaan. He claimed that the attack is part of an Iranian strategy to use the chaos in Syria to “heat up” Israel’s northern border.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon openly blamed Iran and warned Western nations not to ignore Iran’s attempts to destabilize the region and harm Western interests and Israel. He said, “Following the signing of the nuclear deal with Iran and the removal of the economic sanctions imposed on it, what we saw tonight might be the promo to a richer and more murderous Iran. One that can streamline money and large amounts of weapons to terrorist organizations to harm Israel and Western interests in the region and beyond.”

Update
Early this morning the Israeli airforce penetrated 10 kilometers into Syria and destroyed a car carrying the four Islamic Jihad militants believed to be responsible for firing the rockets into Israel yesterday.

UN vs. Israel
The United Nations political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman is not very happy with some of Israel’s recently passed anti-terror laws. In a speech to the Security Council yesterday he criticized the law increasing the penalties for stone throwers, the law permitting force-feeding of prisoners, and the administrative detention law, saying that they threatened to worsen an “already-precarious human rights situation.”

Background
The stone-throwing law passed by the Knesset in July says that stone throwers proven to have acted with the intention of causing bodily harm can be imprisoned for up to twenty years. Otherwise, they can get up to 10 yrs for attacking civilian targets and 5 yrs for attacking police or military targets.

The force-feeding law that was also passed in July gives the government the right to force-feed prisoners who go on hunger strikes. The government has yet to force-feed anyone, in part due to the refusal of Israeli doctors to perform the procedure, which most consider to be inhumane.

The administrative detention law allows authorities to detain terror suspects for six month intervals (that can be renewed) without revealing the charges or holding a trial. The law has been primarily used against Palestinian terror suspects where the authorities believe that revealing the charges would pose a security risk. Recently, several jewish terror suspects were also placed in administrative detention.

Upshot
So while innocent civilians are being beheaded bombed and terrorized just hours away by ISIS, Assad and just about everyone else with some power, Israeli anti-terror legislation is on the UN agenda for human rights violations. Seems a bit distorted, don’t you think?

Cops and Crime
According to Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, there are 132 police officers on active duty who have been convicted of criminal offenses. He also said that 21 policemen were fired this year after being convicted of crimes or following disciplinary procedures. Last year the number of convicted cops who were fired was 34, and in 2013 it was 40.

Erdan didn’t reveal the nature of the active duty officers’ offenses, but most of the penalties ranged from suspended sentences through community service to fines. That implies that the crimes weren’t that bad. Should police officers really be committing any crimes at all?

Soccer Players Win
The players who protested the scheduling of National League (Liga Leumit) soccer games on Shabbat brought their case to labor court, and won. Labor Court Judge Arielle Giltzer-Katz decided in favor of the players and informed management that since it lacked a permit for working on Shabbat, it would be breaking the law by doing so.

The Israel Premiere League, the first tier soccer league, does play games on Shabbat. None of their players seem to be protesting.

[notphone]

The Israel news you need in one email each morning.

[/notphone]

[phone]

The Israel news you need in one email a day.

[/phone]

Israel News for August 19, 2015

/by

< back to sign up

Stoning Attack in Jerusalem
Stone throwing attacks are increasing in the predominantly Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem. Last night four Jewish teenagers and one Arab were injured when the bus they were in was stoned in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor. Two cars were also stoned.

Ironically, the Jewish teenagers, three girls and a boy, were active in efforts to improve peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews.

The Knesset recently passed a law increasing the punishment for rock throwers to up to 5 years in prison. The Arab Knesset members vehemently protested the law, calling it vengeful, and claimed that rock throwing by Arabs was a legitimate form of protest against what they call the Israeli occupation. Even when those rocks wound or kill. Right.

Hunger Strike Continues
Doctors at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon woke Palestinian hunger-striker Mohammed Allaan from an induced coma yesterday, and are continuing to give him medication and intravenous nutrition. Allaan, now able to communicate, declared that he rejects the government’s offer to release him on the condition that he leaves the country for four years, and that he will continue his 64 day hunger-strike. He wants to be released in September.

Islamic Jihad claims that now that Allaan is conscious he will intensify his hunger strike and refuse all medical treatment, which will lead to a drastic deterioration in his condition. Islamic Jihad is considering ordering a mass hunger strike in Israeli prisons in solidarity with Allaan. There are already several prisoners who are on a hunger strike in solidarity with him.

Palestinian security officials warn that if Allaan dies it will lead to even more tensions in the region and an increase in terrorist attacks.

Herzl Meets Abbas
Israeli opposition leader Yitzhak Herzog met yesterday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Herzog emphasized the importance of Abbas doing everything possible to prevent Palestinian violence and acts of terror in order to prevent a third intifada. He also told Abbas that he believes a peace agreement can be reached between the two sides within two years, if serious negotiations are resumed.

After the meeting Herzog said, “The terror of recent days is liable to lead to a third intifada, and that must be prevented with everything at our disposal. That means an uncompromising war against terror, and on this subject I’m even more extreme than Netanyahu.”

Shabbat Wars Escalate in Jerusalem
The Jerusalem municipality is planning to start enforcing fines against grocery stores (makolets) that are opened on shabbat. Municipal law allows places of entertainment and culture to do business on shabbat, but all commerce is forbidden.

Secular activists claim that this is simply a case of the municipality folding to the will of the ultra-orthodox, who protested last week against the opening of the Yes Planet cinemaplex on shabbat. They claim that the restrictions apply to a small number of businesses who have been open on shabbat for decades and that there is no reason to change the status quo.

Background
Two years ago the Supreme Court accepted the appeal of grocery stores against the Tel Aviv municipality, ruling that the Tel Aviv shabbat laws discriminated against small grocery stores that could not afford to pay the fines that larger establishments paid in order to stay open. This forced the Tel Aviv municipality to modify their policy.

Recently, the Jerusalem municipality also changed their policy by delineating specific neighborhoods in the city, like Talpiot and Ein Kerem, where they would have less enforcement against grocery stores opened on shabbat, and neighborhoods where they would increase enforcement, like the center of town. As a result of the increased enforcement, eight grocery stores in the center of town are expected to close on shabbat. The store owners are furious and have vowed to battle this out.

Creating Land
One of Israel’s greatest long term challenges is the scarcity of land available for residential construction, especially in the center of the country. The municipal engineering department in Herzliya might have a solution: offshore building. The proposed plan involves building two artificial islands 1.5 kilometers from the southern coast of Herzliya, opposite the existing marina. The project would cost billions of shekels and enable the construction of 40,000 housing units. For now 650,000 shekels will be spent on an initial feasibility study. Imagine the views.

Real Estate Magic
If you’re looking to buy an apartment in Kfar Saba, a popular residential city not far from Tel Aviv, you might want to check out the new development being advertised by Trigo Investment Group. For only $89,000 you can purchase the right to an apartment in a development they are planning to build. There’s only one catch: the city hasn’t approved the project. So the city is demanding that Trigo stop advertising the project. Trigo seems to think that they aren’t doing anything wrong. As Theodore Hertzl said, “if you will it, it is no dream.”

Ketchup Wars
As if there wasn’t enough conflict in Israel, now there’s a fight about condiments. Osem, Israel’s giant food manufacturer, has filed a complaint with the Health Ministry against American food giant Heinz. Their claim is that Heinz Ketchup cannot be technically called ketchup in Israel, since it doesn’t have the amount of tomato paste required by Health Ministry regulations. The regulation requires 10% tomato solids while Heinz only contains 6%.

So, Osem is demanding that Heinz use “tomato seasoning” instead of ketchup on their Hebrew labels. Apparently, the regulations don’t apply to non-Hebrew labels, so English readers will still be able to enjoy good old “ketchup” while Hebrew only Israelis will have to settle for “tomato seasoning”.

In the tradition of classical Talmudic reasoning, Heinz’s local importer Diplomat is filing its own petition asking the Health Ministry to revise the regulation from 10% tomato solids down to 6%.

The Histadrut, Israel’s all powerful (and only) labor union is against revising the regulation, claiming that doing so would harm children by depriving them of their tomato fill. The fact that Osem is one of Israel’s largest employers might have something to do with it too.
How important is this? Think about it. Would you put “tomato seasoning” on your burger?

Returning Home
A chartered flight sponsored by Nefesh B’Nefesh landed in Israel yesterday carrying 232 Olim (new immigrants) from North America. Fifty nine of them will be enlisting in the IDF as lone soldiers.

“And your children shall return to their borders,” — Jeremiah 31:16

Israel News for August 11, 2015

/by

< back to sign up

Conversion Controversy
A group of prominent religious zionist rabbis have established a Bet Din (religious court) to perform conversions. They performed their first conversion on a group of minors on Monday. The Chief Rabbinate along with almost all charedi rabbis are vehemently against this court.

Background
The Chief Rabbinate has always had sole jurisdiction for all matters pertaining to marriage, divorce, death and conversions in the State of Israel. That means that only the courts established or sanctioned by the Chief Rabbinate can perform conversions. This wasn’t much of a problem until the 1990’s, when the Soviet Union collapsed and over a million Jews from behind the iron curtain immigrated to Israel. While they were considered eligible for the Right of Return by Israeli law simply by having a single Jewish grandparent, according to the Jewish religious law (halacha) that states that only the child of a Jewish mother is considered to be Jewish, at least a third of the immigrants weren’t technically Jewish.

Many of these “non Jewish“ Jews formally converted in the army via special army sanctioned religious courts or through the regular rabbinate court system. But when some leading rabbis noticed that these converts weren’t following Jewish law after their conversions, they sounded the alarm and pressured the charedi controlled Chief Rabbinate to prevent or even retract what they considered to be invalid conversions.

Most rabbis associated with the religious zionist camp disagreed with the Chief Rabbinate and felt that the Rabbinate had an obligation to allow these Israelis with Jewish fathers (but not mothers), many of whom were serving in the IDF and fully integrated into Israeli society, to convert and become officially recognized by the religious courts.

Conversion supporters attempted to pass a conversion reform bill in the Knesset which would have allowed the chief rabbis of every city and town to set up their own conversion courts. This would allow potential converts to use religious courts in cities with pro conversion chief rabbis. The bill passed initially, but was subsequently canceled just last month under pressure from the new government’s charedi coalition partners.

Fed up with the opposition of the Chief Rabbinate to easing their restrictions on conversion, the religious zionist rabbis, lead by many prominent rabbinic figures, have finally said enough is enough and have formed their own conversion court. The court is focusing primarily on converting minors who are already attending religious schools, which is permissible according to a great many prominent rabbinic experts (poskim).

Upshot
Even though they seem to have a solid basis in Jewish law, the new conversion court is vehemently opposed by the Chief Rabbinate, which is basically run by the charedi establishment. There doesn’t seem to be any way that the Chief Rabbinate and charedi rabbinic authorities will ever accept the new court and the conversions that they perform. On the other hand, there’s no way that the religious zionist rabbis can accept the stringent ruling of the Chief Rabbinate that they believe to be incorrect and harmful to Jewish continuity in Israel.

Since the Chief Rabbinate controls all marriage registration in the country, it is unlikely that these converts will be allowed to marry in the future, unless they change their position. The alternative would be for the religious zionist rabbis to overturn the Rabbinate’s authority and perform the marriages, which would likely spell the end of the Chief Rabbinate. This battle is just beginning to heat up and the religious status of thousands hang in the balance.

Force Feeding
Palestinian prisoner Mohammed Allaan, a member of Islamic Jihad who has been on a hunger strike for 54 days, was transferred yesterday under heavy security from Be’er Sheva’s Soroka Medical Center to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center. Apparently, doctors at Soroka, backed by the Israel Medical Association (IMA), have indicated that they will refuse to force-feed him against his will if ordered to do so. The IMA claims that force-feeding constitutes torture and treating a patient against his will violates medical ethics. It is known to be a highly invasive and painful process that can be life threatening if executed on a struggling patient.

Background
A hunger strike law was passed in the Knesset last week whereby the state can force-feed hunger strikers whose lives are in danger, even against their will. Although Allaan is currently in intensive care he is not thought to be in mortal danger, so doctors can still not force him to accept food or medical treatment. He would be the first prisoner to be force fed under the new law.

The US has force fed prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and the practice is legal in certain states.

Last year there were 724 prisoners that went on hunger strikes in Israel. This year there have been 30. Last month Israel freed another Islamic Jihad member after 56 days of hunger strike that nearly killed him.

Upshot
Doctors at Barzilai have also indicated that they will refuse an order to force- feed Allaan against his will, saying their ethical considerations are no different from those at Soroka and they will not force feed him as long as he is conscious. Looks like finding a hospital to carry out the law won’t be that easy.

Dog Walkers Attacked
A husband and wife from a settlement in Samaria took their dog out for a morning run. When they took a shortcut near a neighboring Arab village they were noticed by a few Arabs who quickly sounded the alarm. Suddenly, the couple found themselves confronted by about 20 men from the village accompanied by European activists with cameras. The Arabs started throwing rocks at the couple and shouted death threats.

The couple tried to explain that they were just out for a run and had no intentions of entering their village. It didn’t work. Luckily they were able to run away and alert the security forces, who then entered the village to search for the attackers. The couple weren’t harmed and will most likely be changing their jogging route. [source]

Violent Charedi Protests
There were violent demonstrations by charedim in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem yesterday protesting the arrest of a yeshiva student who hadn’t properly arranged his draft deferment and the attempt to forcibly draft a young woman from Elad who hadn’t bothered applying for a religious exemption. Demonstrators threw stones at police and at firefighters who arrived to extinguish burning garbage bins set on fire by the demonstrators. Three suspects were arrested for attacking policemen. It’s unclear what happened to the draft dodging yeshiva student, but there seem to be plenty of battle ready men among the demonstrators.