Tag Archive for: Israel News

Big Promise
Despite mounting pressure on him to resign in the face of multiple corruption investigations against him, PM Netanyahu dismissed the pressure and promised to lead his Likud party to a “big” victory in the 2019 general elections. Netanyahu made the statement at a press conference in Argentina, where he his currently visiting as part of a 10 day trip to Latin America.

Regarding the rumors that he might resign, the PM said, “It’s nonsense. The support for me in the Likud party is so powerful. You have to come and see. Not only to the meetings. Come with me to the streets and see it. I don’t remember support like this since 1996, not for me or for my wife. I see tremendous power. There is no other word to describe this.”

For further reading click here.

MK Resigns
Shas MK Yigal Guetta resigned his Knesset seat today in the face of criticism from his Ultra-Orthodox party members for attending the weeding of his gay nephew. In a recent radio interview Guetta revealed that he had attended the wedding out of respect for his sister. Even though he didn’t attend the actual ceremony, just showing up at the event was reason enough to stir up a swarm of rabbinic reproachment. Guetta will remain active in the Shas party.

For further reading click here.

Haredi Draft
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the amendment to the law which set an annual quota for Haredi conscripts was unconstitutional. The original law, spearheaded by Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, allowed Haredi men of military age to delay their service on the condition that the annual quota of Haredi conscripts was met. The annual quota was seen as a breakthrough in the attempt to remedy the situation in which Haredi men did not serve in the IDF.

When PM Netanyahu formed his coalition in 2015 with the backing of the Haredi parties, the law was amended to significantly lower the Herd conscript quota. But with the court’s almost unanimous decision to cancel the amendment, the quota will have to be increased within a year. The ruling was attacked by the Haredi leadership and praised by Yair Lapid.

For further reading click here.

Russian Warning
Russia has warned Syrian President Assad not to attempt to retaliate against Israel in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike against the country’s Scientific Studies and Research Center last week. Israel has not admitted to the attack.

For further reading click here.

Shanghai Flights
Chinese airline Hainan Airlines has launched a new Tel Aviv-Shanghai route. Ticket prices will start at $500. Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin, currently on a visit to Shanghai, said, “I congratulate Hainan for opening the route from Shanghai to Israel as part of its fruitful cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism. When I became minister, one of my main goals was to increase tourism from China, and we are now seeing a major rise in tourist traffic from that country. I believe that by the end of the year, we will break the record for tourist entries from China, with the number of Chinese tourists visiting Israel exceeding 100,000.”

For further reading click here.

Illegal Kippot
Inspectors from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority confiscated Kippot (skullcaps) made of snake skin and crocodile skin from a new judaica store in Jerusalem’s Old City on the suspicion that they were imported illegally without the required permits. The store was selling the exotic items for thousands of shekels. Hard to believe there’s actually a market for this stuff?

For further reading click here.

No Policy Shift
Last week US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman gave an interview to the Jerusalem Post in which he said that the Israeli left-wing is opposing the “alleged occupation” of the West Bank. His words implied that the West Bank was not really “occupied” territory. Official US policy however does consider the West Bank to be occupied territory.

Heather Nauert, the State Department’s spokeswoman, was asked about Friedman’s choice of words on Thursday and replied: “Our position on that hasn’t changed. The comment does not represent a shift in U.S. policy.” When asked why the sitting American ambassador in Israel therefore used those words, she repeated the same answer.

For further reading click here.

Trump Optimistic
At a news conference with the Emir of Kuwait at the White House yesterday President Trump expressed optimism at reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. He said, “I think we have a chance of doing it, I think the Palestinians would like to see it happen, I think the Israelis would like to see it happen and usually when you have two groups that would like to see something happen, good things can happen. I think there is a chance that there could be peace.”

Trump will meet with both Netanyahu and Abbas on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly later this month.

For further reading click here.

Sara in Trouble
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced today that he intends to indict Sara Netanyahu, the PM’s wife, over her alleged misuse of vast sums of public funds to purchase extravagant meals from restaurants and chefs.  

Mandelblit determined that between September 2010 – Match 2013, Mrs. Netanyahu, along with Deputy Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Ezra Saidoff, claimed that no cook was employed in the PM’s residence, allowing her to order meals from restaurants and chefs reaching a total cost of around NIS 359,000 ($102,000).

Following an investigation into the matter, it turned out that cooks had in fact been employed there throughout the entire period.The investigation raised suspicions that invoices for the meals were then forged in order to exceed the limit placed on food costs by splitting payments across numerous invoices.  

Mandelblit notified Mrs. Netanyahu’s attorney of his intention to indict her after which she will be called in for a preliminary hearing, before the attorney general makes a final decision to proceed.

PM Netanyahu responded on Facebook to Madelblit’s announcement by placing the blame for the fraud on on Meni Naftali, who was the residence caretaker at the time of the unusual spending. He posted, “Expenses on food and meals in takeaway trays were magically inflated during Meni Naftali’s time as chief caretaker of the residence, and no less magically plummeted when he left. They told us about the garden furniture, the electrician, the bottles, the waiters, the caretaker. Now all we’re left with is the unbelievable, false story about the trays, most of which were ordered by Meni Naftali. And that too will evaporate come the hearing.”

For further reading click here.

Terror Down
According to a monthly report published by the Shin Bet, there were 110 terror attacks in Israel in the month of August. Most of the attacks (83) consisted of the throwing of Molotov Cocktails (firebombs). This is a dramatic decrease from the July total of 222 terror attacks. The spike in July was apparently related to the crisis surrounding the Temple Mount.

To read the full report click here.

Eagle Returned
One of the few eagles still remaining in the Golan Heights Gamla Nature Reserve recently flew over the Syrian border. It was wearing a tracking device. The eagle was captured by Syrian rebel forces. Similar incidents have lead to accusations of Israeli espionage via the tracking device. But this time the rebels returned the eagle to Israel as a gesture of thanks for Israel’s humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.

The eagle was transferred to the Ramat Gan Safari’s wildlife hospital with a leg injury and is recuperating nicely.

For further reading click here.

IDF Exercise
The IDF today launched its largest military exercise in the last 20 years along its northern border with Lebanon. Thousands of troops will take part in the 11 day exercise on land, sea and in the air. Israel’s missile defense system will also be a part of the exercise.

For more details about the exercise click here.

Chief Justice
Judge Esther Hayut has been appointed the next chief justice of Israel’s Supreme Court to replace the retiring Miriam Naor. She will be sworn in at the end of October and serve for a 6 year term. The daughter of Holocaust survivors from Romania, Hayut has served on the Supreme Court since 2003.

For further reading click here.

Israeli Aid
Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett announced that Israel plans to donate 1 million dollars in emergency aid to Houston’s Jewish community. The funds will be earmarked to help the 60,000-strong community repair and rebuild schools, synagogues and a community center damaged in the storm and floods.

He said, ”For years, the Jewish communities stood by Israel when it needed their help; now it is our turn to stand by Houston’s Jewish community.” The aid money will be submitted for government approval at an upcoming Cabinet meeting.

For further reading click here.

Munich Massacre
Today is the 45th anniversary of the Munich Massacre, in which terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. President Rivlin will be traveling to Munich today to unveil a new memorial to the victims of the massacre.

In remembrance of the tragic event and the innocent Israelis who lost their lives, the Israel Forever Foundation has published two posts that reflect on various aspects and lessons of the tragedy.

To read the post remembering the athletes, click here.

To read the post reflecting on the lessons we can learn, click here.

Unexpected Hotels
If you’re looking to stay in a luxury hotel in Israel but want to avoid the usual locations frequented by tourists, here’s a list of five hotels in unexpected locations you should consider. It includes luxury hotels in Hadera, Nahariya, Dimona and Yerucham.

To see the list click here.

Court Ruling
On Monday Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that that illegal aliens (who are primarily from African countries) refusing to be transferred to a third African country cannot be detained for more than 60 days. According to the existing law, infiltrators who refuse to be deported can be held against their will indefinitely at a detention center in the Negev until they are “convinced” to be deported.

The decision was made by a panel of five judges, in response to an appeal submitted the end of 2015 to the Be’er Sheva District Court by two Eritrean citizens and six human rights organizations, including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and a center for refugees and immigrants.

In the ruling, Naor stressed that while an infiltrator could be held for more than 60 days for refusing to cooperate with authorities, refusing deportation does not constitute such a refusal, and could not be used to keep infiltrators locked up.

She said, “Interpreting refusal of deportation as a refusal to cooperate cannot coexist with the need for a true, free-willed, voluntary and autonomous agreement (for deportation).”

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, however, criticized the judges’ decision. “The decision not to allow the state to expel infiltrators against their will is very problematic, as it takes away from the state a very important tool and allows any infiltrator who wants to stay to remain in Israel.” He added, “We have to take care of the citizens of the State of Israel, the residents of south Tel Aviv and other cities whose lives are not worth living.”

Deri is planning to sponsor an amendment to the law that would allow the state to deport infiltrators from the country against their will.”

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked also attacked the court’s decision yesterday, stressing that the principles of Zionism and maintaining a Jewish majority in Israel must take precedents over issues relating to human rights.

Commenting on the court’s ruling Shaked said, “The question of the Jewish majority is never relevant. It’s irrelevant when the issue is African illegal aliens setting up camp in south Tel Aviv, effectively creating a city within a city while pushing out the original residents. The court’s response was striking down—and then striking down again—the law attempting to deal with this phenomenon.”

While saying that she strongly believes in the importance of safeguarding the human rights of all individuals, she made it clear that she believes that doing so must not threaten the continued stability of a Jewish majority in the land of Israel. When the two clash, the latter must always prevail.

For further reading click here.

No Strip
The Tel Aviv District Court ruled yesterday that stripping cannot be considered “entertainment,” and revoked a business license belonging to a Ramat Gan strip club.

In the ruling Justice Michal Agmon Gonen wrote, “Stripping is using a woman’s body as a tool to titillate and sexually satisfy the male viewers, and women should not be used merely as tools to achieving someone else’s objectives.”

The suit against the strip club, which is located in the Diamond Exchange complex, was filed by the Ramat Gan municipality, which claimed that the only activity a club in the region may supply its patrons is “entertainment”. A lower court initially ruled in favor of the municipality. Then the club owner turned to the appellate court which overturned the lower court’s decision. The municipality then brought the case before the District Court.

Even though most strippers do not consider their work degrading, Judge Gonen ruled that, “It can be determined that a certain activity objectifies women and injures their dignity, even if they themselves don’t consider that to be the case.”

Gonen’s ruling can lead to the closing of other strip clubs throughout the country.

The club’s owner intends to bring his case before the Supreme Court.

For further reading click here.

Hebron Autonomy
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman yesterday granted official status to the Jewish community of Hebron, represented by the Hebron Municipal Committee. The committee will have administrative authority over all the Jewish residents of the city and all Jewish owned property. The Jewish community will no longer be reliant upon or under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority’s Hebron municipality.

It was further determined that in the case of road hazards and the like in the PA controlled section of the city, the head of the municipal committee would inform the mayor of Hebron to deal with it. Should the matter not be dealt with within a reasonable period of time, the municipal head may deal with the matter himself with the approval of the Civil Administration.

The Jewish community welcomed the decision to grant it autonomy.

For further reading click here.

Terror Families
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met last night in Ramallah with families of Palestinian prisoners (including terrorists) being held in Israeli jails and receiving medical care while serving their sentences. According to a report in the Palestinian Wafa news agency, the family members asked Guterres “to act seriously to save the lives of more than 6,500 male and female Palestinian prisoners who are being subjected to serious harm.”

Chairman of the Palestinian Prisoners Authority, Issa Qaraqe, asked Guterres to convene a special meeting in the UN General Assembly on the matter. Guterres responded, “We understand the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners, and are working with the relevant officials in order to stop their suffering.”

Guterres also visited the grave of Yassir Arafat as part of his four day visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

For further reading click here.

Back to Egypt
Eight months ago Israel’s Ambassador to Egypt and his staff were forced to leave the country because of security threats. Yesterday the Ambassador David Gorin returned with eight staff members, where they will resume work from the ambassadors residence in suburban Cairo. The Israeli Embassy in central Cairo has been closed since protesters stormed it in 2011.

For further reading click here.

Super Mom
If you think you’ve got a busy schedule, you need to watch this video about a mother of 19. Yup, you heard right. The dad should get some credit too. They’re originally from Brooklyn and live in Safed (Tzfat).

To watch the video (Hebrew) click here.