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Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef

Rabbinic Leadership Split Regarding Visiting Kotel

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In the wake of the brutal attack yesterday on a Jewish family on their way to visit the Kotel (Western Wall) by an Arab terrorist who murdered Aharon Banita-Bennett, 21, and Rabbi Nehemia Lavi, 41, and seriously wounded Bennett’s wife and two year old son, senior rabbinic leaders in Israel have issued pronouncements instructing their followers regarding whether or not they should visit the kotel.

Rav Yitzchak Yosef, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, emphatically urged everyone possible to visit the Kotel on the final day of Sukkot and Simchat Torah to pray for the wounded and to fulfill the commandments of the holiday. He added that it is inconceivable for there to be a situation where Jews are afraid to visit the Kotel. His views were echoed by the Rabbi of the Kotel, Rav Shmuel Rabinovits and by the minister of religious affairs MK David Azulai.

Most of the prominent Chassidic Rebbes instructed their followers to refrain from visiting the Kotel.

The Gerrer Rebbe, the leader of the largest Chassidic sect in Israel, instructed his followers not to visit the Kotel until further notice. Other Chassidic Rebbes, including the Boyaner Rebbe and Vishnitzer Rebbe, did the same.

Rav Chaim Kanievsky, considered to be the leader of the Lithuanian (non Chassidic) community, advised that, “One may visit Yerushalayim during Yomtov but one must not come near to the Old City until the situation calms down”.

There was no statement from Rabbi David Lau, the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel, but one would assume that he would agree with his Sephardic counterpart Rav Yosef in encouraging Jews to visit the Kotel.

Thousands of Jews flocked to the Kotel today for Hashana Rabbah prayers. The main routes to the Kotel are heavily protected and deemed extremely secure.

The rabbis who are telling their followers not to visit the Kotel are obviously basing their decisions on their assumption that doing so would be placing your live in danger. But there are certain things that a citizen of a sovereign nation must do to protect the independence and integrity of that nation even if it means risking life to do so. Serving in the army is a primary example of something that “endangers one’s life” but is an obvious requirement in a sovereign state. Well, maybe not so obvious to the rabbis who prohibit their followers from serving.

Not visiting the Kotel because of terror threats is an act of surrender to the enemies of Israel seeking to destroy the Jewish people. Perhaps Jews should stick to the main, secure, routes when walking to the kotel to avoid danger, but staying away out of fear shouldn’t be an option for a free people in an independent state. Staying away out of fear is what Jews would have done (and still do) in the diaspora.

Are some rabbinic leaders still living in exile even in their own sovereign state?

It sure looks that way.

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abbas at UN

Palestinian Authority President Abbas at the UN

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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had an eventful time at the UN this week.

On Wednesday Abbas raised the Palestinian flag for the first time at the UN, after a resolution permitting non member states to do so was recently passed by a landslide majority of the UN general assembly. The US didn’t send a representative to the event, but other Western nations including France did. Abbas promised that the flag will soon be raised in Jerusalem, “the capital of our Palestinian state.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Wednesday a day of “pride” and “hope” for Palestinians around the world. He urged the Palestinians to pursue their long-held dream for their own state by first uniting Gaza and the West Bank, and he urged Israel and the Palestinians to revive negotiations that collapsed last year and conclude “a successful peace process that will lead to the unfurling of the Palestinian flag in its proper place – among the family of nations as a sovereign member state of the United Nations,” Ban said.

But wait…there’s more.

In his official address to the UN general assembly on Wednesday, Abbas stated that he is no longer bound by agreements, including the Oslo Accords, that have defined relations with Israel for the past two decades and are meant to form the basis for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.

Abbas demanded that Israel “assume all of its responsibilities as an occupying power.” He stopped short of suspending security cooperation with Israel.

PM Netanyahu’s office issued a statement in response, saying that Abbas had delivered a “speech of lies that encourages incitement and unrest in the Middle East.”

Netanyahu called on Abbas to “act responsibly” and answer his proposal for direct negotiations with Israel without any preconditions. “The fact that time after time he (Abbas) does not respond is the best proof that he has no intention of reaching a peace agreement,” he said.

[bctt tweet=”“The fact that time after time he (Abbas) does not respond is the best proof that he has no intention of reaching a peace agreement” – Bibi” via=”no”]

Upshot
Will Abbas’s speech lead to any practical change on the ground, other than the potential of inciting terror attacks? According to Palestinian analyst Hani al-Masri in Ramallah, Abbas was just trying to attract attention and pressure Israel. “This is a threat not a plan. Abbas has no plan, otherwise he could have spelled it out in his speech.” Nevertheless, his move will definitely not result in anything positive for Israel. Things could get much worse for both sides.

You can read more about this topic here.

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Israel News for August 28, 2015

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Hamas Tales
One year after the end of operation Defensive Shield (Gaza war), the Arab news station Al Jazeera has released a documentary called “black box” that’s generating some buzz in Israel. The film presents the Hamas version of the events of Friday Aug. 1, 2014 in Rafiah, when Lt. Hadar Goldin was kidnapped and killed and Major Benaya Sarel and Staff Sergeant Liel Gidoni were killed.

Background
According to the Israeli version, an IDF unit that was on patrol was attacked by a suicide bomber who detonated near the soldiers. Heavy exchanges of fire ensued and one of the soldiers, Lt. Hadar Goldin, was captured by Hamas terrorists and taken deep into a tunnel. Another officer chased them into the tunnel but was unable to rescue Goldin who was already dead. The officer was able to retrieve conclusive evidence of Goldin’s death, which was used by the IDF rabbinate to officially declare that Goldin was killed in action.

In the documentary, a Hamas operative tells the Al-Jazeera interviewer that IDF troops collected the body of a Hamas fighter, Walid Tufik Massoud, who was dressed in an IDF uniform believing it was Lt. Hadar Goldin and did not chase after him and his kidnappers into the tunnels. The Hamas operative claims that the IDF only noticed Goldin was missing two hours after the incident. By that time they had withdrawn all their troops from the area and Rafah was a black box, which they had no access to, so the IDF began bombing the area indiscriminately under the Hannibal Directive.

The IDF claims that it knew Massoud was a terrorist.

In a press release the Goldin family rejected the claims in the documentary and reiterated their full faith in the IDF, the defense establishment and the State of Israel. They see them as the only source of trustworthy information. They called for increased pressure on Hamas to return the bodies of Hadar Goldin and Sergeant Oron Shaul, so that they can receive a Jewish burial.

The IDF did not comment on the film.

The documentary also features new footage of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, during his captivity, with the Hamas commander of southern Gaza, Muhammad Abu Shamala, who was later killed in operation Defensive Shield. Shalit was captured in 2006 during a cross-border attack by Hamas militants. He was released as part of a 2011 hostage deal in which the Israeli government released 1,027 prisoners.

Upshot
Who do you believe: Hamas or the IDF? Seriously.

New Warships
Now that Israel has valuable offshore gas developments, they need to be sure that they can defend them. The Israeli Navy currently has eleven warships and its decided to add another four. The ships will be built in Germany and will be delivered in five years. Israel was prepared to pay a maximum of $100 million per ship, but the Germans offered to do it for $90 million (pangs of guilt?).

Israel will be giving Germany the plans for the hull and electrical system. They’ll be installing the combat systems themselves in Israel, so that they won’t be caught unarmed in the event of a future anti-Israel boycott.

So, Germany will be helping protect Israeli gas.

New Charedi Minister
Earlier this week the High Court ruled that Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman of UTJ must either become the Health Minister or resign. That’s because Litzman currently performs all the functions of a minister, but since his Ultra Orthodox party has ideological issues with being part of a secular government, they traditionally do not accept ministerial posts. The court, ruling on an appeal filed by Yesh Atid, said that this situation could no longer continue. If you act like a minister, then you’re a minister (not a deputy).

The council of Torah Sages of Agudas Yisrael, which is part of UTJ, met yesterday and decided to give Litzman the green light to become Health Minister.

It’s unclear whether this decision marks a shift in fundamental Charedi ideology and its view of the secular State of Israel, or whether it’s just an acknowledgement of the benefits of keeping Litzman in the cabinet. It’s probably the latter.

Charedim vs. IDF
There have recently been a surge of threats and harassment against Charedi soldiers and recruiters. Recruiters are being hit especially hard. As an example, in a phone call to a recruiter the caller was recorded as saying,, “Let us live as Jews – do not dare to recruit men to the IDF. Shame on you. You’re a disgrace. Don’t you dare touch the soul of a Jew. You’re causing the masses to sin.”

These harassers aren’t just isolated extremists. They are reflecting a widely held attitude in the charedi community, which believes that their young men should not serve in the IDF because if they do they will lose their religious identity and become non observant. They also believe that their time is better spent studying torah rather than being soldiers.

A few weeks ago the spiritual leader of Shas, the sephardic-charedi party, announced publicly that young men should under no circumstances enlist in the IDF. He also railed against charedi IDF recruiters in very harsh terms.

Defense Minister Ya’alon was clear in his stance saying, “in the face of violence against haredi conscripts who serve in the IDF and their recruiters, Israel has an obligation to act with zero tolerance. I call on the leaders of the haredi community to condemn unacceptable phenomena such as these and to throw out violent elements.”

High Court freeze IDF beard ban
The IDF recently issued an order banning beards in order to maintain uniformity and a sense of professionalism. Some religious soldiers aren’t very happy with the new order. One of them appealed to the High Court claiming religious discrimination.

The High Court of Justice yesterday issued a temporary order to freeze the anti-beard regulation. But while the court was deliberating his case, the soldier was forced to shave despite his request to wait for the High Court’s decision.

In any case, the army regulation doesn’t include the “three weeks” or other religiously mandated periods of mourning during which Jews traditionally do not shave.

Canine Security Breach
In an embarrassing security breach, PM Netanyahu’s son Avner’s private details including his cellphone number and home phone number were published on the Agriculture Ministry’s dog database. The details have since been removed.

The Netanyahu’s recently adopted a female dog named Kaya,saving her from being put to sleep. Last week the PM posted a moving post with a picture of him with Kaya, writing “she has brought so much light into our home. I call on anyone who wants to adopt a dog, save an adult dog and bring them into your home.”

Aww.

Israel News for August 19, 2015

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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 17, 2015

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More Protests in Ashkelon
Violence broke out between police and hundreds of demonstrators close to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon where Mohammad Allaan, a suspected Islamic Jihad member in administrative detention, is currently hospitalized 61 days into a hunger strike. He has been in an induced coma since Friday, and is being given fluids and vitamins intravenously.

About 200 Arab protesters attempted to block the main junction leading into Ashkelon and attacked police with stones and pepper spray, but were dispersed by water cannons.

Outside the hospital police controlled dozens of Arab protestors demonstrating in support of Allaan and right wing Israeli demonstrators protesting against him.

In total, 15 demonstrators were arrested from both sides.

Yesterday, Allaan’s lawyer petitioned the High Court for his release on grounds of his poor health. The government responded by telling the court that it would be willing to release Allan on the condition that he leaves the country for 4 years and does not return to the region. The High Court are due to reach a decision today.

Upshot
A ruling of the High Court to release Allan could trigger a wave of hunger strikes by security prisoners in an attempt to gain their freedom. That would create an untenable situation, for obvious reasons.

More Terrorism
The string of Palestinian terror attacks in the two weeks following the Duma arson attack continued with three new stabbing attacks.

Early this morning a Palestinian approached a border policeman at the Tapuach junction in Samaria saying that he wasn’t feeling well. Then he stabbed the policeman, lightly wounded him. The attacker was shot and seriously wounded by officers.

There were two stabbings on Saturday.

The first incident occurred at around 11:30 a.m. at a checkpoint in Samaria near Route 443. A Palestinian male approached an IDF soldier and asked for water. When the soldier turned to get the water, the Palestinian stabbed him in the upper back. Another soldier at the scene opened fire and wounded the attacker.

The second incident occurred at around 6:15 p.m. at the Tapuach Junction in Samaria. A Palestinian 21-year-old male, Rafiq Kamel Rafiq, approached Border Police officers conducting a routine security check and plunged a knife into one of their backs. Another officer opened fire and killed the attacker.

In an official statement, Palestinian Authority President Abbas blamed Israel for the killing of the attacker. “The crime was a continuation of the daily killing which no one can be silent at” the statement said.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said, “Anyone that tries to harm IDF soldiers, Border Police officers or Israeli civilians should know that they are taking their lives into their own hands. The fight against Palestinian terrorism, both of the organized and ‘lone wolf’ nature, is complex and requires an iron hand, patience and judgment, and this is how we act.”

Protests Against Cinemaplex
Last week a new cinemaplex called Yes Planet opened in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem, bordering on the Arab neighborhood of Abu Tor. It’s the only cinemaplex in Jerusalem that’s open on Shabbat.

The fact that it’s located nowhere near any of the city’s predominantly religious neighborhoods didn’t stop groups of Charedi men from protesting, in two of their own neighborhoods. The protests resulted in some scuffles with police, several closed off streets, minor damage to a few cars and buildings — but at the cinemaplex, it was business as usual.

In a statement, the leader of the protesters said, “this is just the beginning of the protests.”  Meanwhile, the cinemaplex goers are excited about their new weekend entertainment venue. The cinemaplex management has no intention of closing on Shabbat.

So, It looks like both the protests and the movies will continue.

Threats Against Rabbi
Rabbi David Stav, the Chief Rabbi of Shoham, the head of the Tzohar Rabbinic Organization and one of the founders of the new conversion court that is operating outside of the Chief Rabbinate’s authority, is now under police protection due to threats against him. His photo appeared in the Charedi press with a big caption in red letters saying, “this man is dangerous”.

Rabbi Stav doesn’t seem too worried, but he is avoiding certain places and changing up his regular schedule a bit, just to be safe. The conversion court is proceeding as planned.

Women in Knesset
When Minister and Knesset Member Danny Danon officially becomes Israel’s UN Ambassador, he will vacate his Knesset seat, which will be filled by fellow Likud member Sharren Haskel. The Canadian born 31 year old Haskel is known for her advocacy related to environmental issues. When she’s sworn in, Haskel will bring the number of female Knesset members currently serving to 30, which is a record.

Danon will also be giving up his cabinet post as Minister of Science and Technology and Space as well as his position as chairman of the Likud Central Committee.

Maybe there was an ulterior motive for the PM to give Danon his new position?

Cabinet Approves Gas Deal
The cabinet approved an agreement that will allow three major gas companies to develop the Leviathan natural gas fields, located off the coast of Haifa. PM Netanyahu said that the agreement will, “earn the people of the country and the state treasury hundreds of millions of shekels. This money will go for education, health, welfare, and other national needs.” The revenue to the state in the next few decades is estimated to be $100 billion, about 20 to 30 billion less than originally expected.

Huckabee Heading to Israel
Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee heads to Israel this week to raise money and meet “with a number of officials” to discuss the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran.

“The Iranian government is not to be trusted,” Huckabee said, “We’re being pushed to get into a deal that gives us nothing, but gives the Iranians the capacity to ultimately end up with a nuclear weapon, and that’s just insane.”

Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, enjoys a large base of supporters in the Christian Evangelical community, which strongly supports Israel. He’s noted that he’s been to Israel “dozens and dozens of times” since his first trip in 1973.

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Israel News for August 11, 2015

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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.