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Israel News for September 29, 2016

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Peres in State
The casket of Shimon Peres is laying in state outside of the Knesset in Jerusalem as dignitaries and thousands of ordinary Israelis pay their respects. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein were first to pay their respects, followed by a procession of Knesset members. Former US President Bill Clinton also paid respects.

The funeral will take place Friday morning. Many world leaders and dignitaries are expected to attend including US President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, former President Bill Clinton, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles, French President François Hollande, German President Joachim Gauck, King Felipe VI of Spain and the presidents of Ukraine, Poland, Belgium, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Latvia and Mexico.

Peres will be buried on Mt. Hertlz, in between former prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Yitzhak Shamir. His wife is buried in Moshav Ben Shemen. The shiva will only last until Sunday afternoon and be terminated by the onset of Rosh Hashanah.

For further reading click here.

Arab Reaction
The reaction to the passing of Shimon Peres by Arab leaders has been muted, save for a couple of exceptions. Today Bahrain’s Foreign Minister tweeted, “Rest in peace President Shimon Peres, a man of war and a man of the still elusive peace in the Middle East.” Bahrain has no official diplomatic relations with Israel.

Yesterday PA President Abbas tweeted in Arabic, “Shimon Peres’s death is a heavy loss for all humanity and for peace in the region.” He also sent a condolence letter to the Peres family in which he said that Peres had been partner to the “peace of the brave” signed by former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1993 and that he had striven for peace until the day he died.

Representatives of Egypt, Jordan and Morocco are expected to attend the funeral. A Jewish adviser to the king of Morocco will represent his country, but it is still not known who will represent Egypt or Jordan.

For further reading click here.

Flag Tribute
In an extremely rare show of honor to a foreign leader, President Obama has ordered that American flags at all government buildings and grounds and all military installations, bases and ships be flown at half-mast tomorrow in tribute to Shimon Peres.

The last two foreign leaders to receive that honor were Nelson Mandela in 2013 and Pope Joh Paul II in 2005.

Upon hearing of Peres’s passing, Obama released a statement saying, A light has gone out, but the hope he gave us will burn forever. Shimon Peres was a soldier for Israel, for the Jewish people, for justice, for peace, and for the belief that we can be true to our best selves — to the very end of our time on Earth, and in the legacy that we leave to others. For the gift of his friendship and the example of his leadership, todah rabah, Shimon.”

For further reading click here.

Victims Compensated
In 2001, 23 people were killed and 250 injured when the dance floor at the Versailles wedding hall in Jerusalem collapsed. The construction method used to build the floors of the hall were banned prior to the construction after being proven to be unsafe.

In addition to this, the Versailles hall was designed to be a two-story structure, but a third story was later added. The story on which the wedding party took place was therefore intended to be a roof, and was not designed to carry the same load as the other floors.

After years of lawsuits and disagreements regarding the allocation of compensation, the State has finally agreed to distribute all of the compensation funds without any admission of guilt.

According to the compensation outline, whoever wasn’t physically injured will receive NIS 50,000 plus interest, while those more than 20% handicapped with receive NIS 6,000 for every additional percentage of disability. The estates of those killed in the incident will be compensated with NIS 75,000 along with an additional NIS 10,000 for every year of expected decrease in life expectancy. Upon passing of victims, NIS 10,000 plus interest will also be provided for funeral expenses.

The three owners of the hall were convicted in 2004 of negligence and wrongful death and sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

For further reading click here.

Startups of the Year
The Israeli business publication “Globes” has named WalkMe, the enterprise guidance and engagement platform, as Israel’s most promising startup for 2016. The Globes also named 15 other Israeli startups as the most promising for 2016. The startups are divided into five different industry groupings including medical technologies, cyber securities, internet technologies, big data and transport.

To see a list of the companies and what they do, click here.

Israel News for September 6, 2016

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Building Collapse
A four-level subterranean parking lot in a building site on HaBarzel Street in the Ramat Hahayal neighborhood of Tel Aviv collapsed Monday morning. Four people were killed and over 23 injured (most of whom have already been released from hospital). Three people are still missing in the rubble and a frantic search has been underway throughout the night to locate them. One of the missing was in phone contact with the rescuers a few hours after the collapse, but rescuers have not been able to make contact with his since. The dead include a Palestinian Authority resident and a Ukrainian citizen.

Over 500 IDF soldiers from the Homefront Command are participating in the search. Prime Minister Netanyahu visited the disaster site before departed on his official visit to the Netherlands.

Africa-Israel Properties, the owner of the property, said it had a comprehensive insurance policy for the site worth NIS 122 million, and that although the incident had a tragic outcome it would not have a material financial impact on the company. The company said it was assisting in the rescue efforts and conducting an investigation into the collapse. The police is also investigating. The Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee will hold an emergency hearing on the disaster this Thursday.

For further reading click here.

Moscow Meetup
Palestinian Authority President Abbas has accepted an invitation from Russian President Putin to meet with PM Netanyahu in Moscow. Netanyahu has been calling for direct talks with Abbas, but has gotten the cold shoulder, until now. Apparently, Putin’s invitation carries some additional clout. The talks are expected to be held in October.

Meanwhile, PM Netanyahu kicked off a two day visit to the Netherlands today, where he will meet with the Prime Minister, the king and members of Parliament.

For further reading click here.

Rabbi Passes
The Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rabbi Eliyahu Shaar Yashuv Hakohen, passed away yesterday at the age of 89. He served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the city from 1975 until 2011.

Rabbi Hakohen was the son of Rabbi David Hakohen, who was known as “the Nazir” and was one of the leading students of the great Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hakohen Kook. A Nazir is someone who refrains from eating meat, drinking wine or cutting his hair. Rabbi Shaar Yashuv Hakohen followed in his father’s footsteps and refrained from eating meat (and fish) and drinking wine for his entire life.

He fought in the underground during the British Mandate and was part of the defense of the Jewish quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem during the 1948 War of Independence and was wounded in the foot. When the quarter fell he was taken captive by the Jordanians who operated on his foot, which resulted in him limping for the rest of his life.

Following his release from captivity the Rabbi served in the IDF for seven years, eventually becoming Rabbi of Military Command and Chief Rabbi of the Israeli Air Force. He earned a Master’s degree with honors from the Hebrew University School of Law, and was deputy mayor of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War when the city was liberated. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he volunteered and was chaplain of the brigade that crossed the Suez Canal.

Rabbi Hakohen was one of the leading figures of Religious Zionism. May his memory serve as a blessing for us all.

For further reading click here.

Trump in Samaria
The Trump campaign in Israel has opened an office in the settlement of Karnei Shomron, which is in Samaria (West Bank). The office is temporarily located in the home of Rabbi Chaim Springer, an American who moved to Israel 40 years ago. The office will be moved around to different settlements in Samaria over the next few weeks to help American citizens register to vote. According to figures provided by Republicans Overseas Israel, American citizens comprise around 25% of the Jewish population living in West Bank settlements.

This is the first time that an American campaign office has ever been opened in the West Bank, and is indicative of Trump’s stated policy to refrain from interfering in the Israeli government’s actions and policies relating to the West Bank.

Mark Zell, the American-born lawyer who serves as chair of Republican Overseas Israel, explained, “I worked along with representatives of the Trump campaign to get passed a historic amendment to the Republican Party platform, and this amendment specifically omitted any reference to Israel as an occupier and coincided with Trump’s own statements that building homes, synagogues and schools for Arabs and Jews in Judea and Samaria was an issue for the Israeli government and people to decide – not something that America should be dictating to Israel.” 

The Trump campaign already has offices in Jerusalem, Modiin and Tel Aviv, and is planning to open another three in Rehovot, Beit Shemesh and in the Gush Etzion region (also in the West Bank).

For further reading click here.

Kids Friendly Israel Day Trip to the Dead Sea Area

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It was early August, just after Tish B’av, and we decided to take a day trip with the our three young children, aged 6, 4 1/2, and 2, from our home base in Modiin (which is a city about a half hour drive from both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem). We first considered going up north, but since the rest of the country was thinking the same thing (everyone goes north in the summer — not that it’s much cooler up there) we chose to be contrarians and head south, to the lowest place on earth: the Dead Sea.

We had spoken of the salt filled sea (which is really a medium sized lake by American standards) often to the kids, and about how they could float without even knowing how to swim, and about the mud — you know, all that fun stuff that attracts tourists from around the globe. And yes, it is the lowest place on earth, which also means that you’re not supposed to get sunburned there.

We decided to head to the northern most Dead Sea beach, Kalia, which is only around a twenty minute drive from Jerusalem (or around an hour from Modiin). We left Modiin at 7:30am and made it to Kalia at 8:30am. The goal was to beat at least some of the heat and the crowds. We succeeded at both.

kalia beach dead sea

The entrance fee to the beach, which is owned by the Kalia resort, is 55 shekels for an adult and 45 for a child. The beach has clean bathrooms, changing facilities, showers and a cafe/bar — and a gift shop, of course. The cost didn’t bother me one bit when we got to the actual beach and saw that there were only about a dozen people there. In fact, I’m happy to pay for the opportunity to go anywhere fun in Israel without having to struggle with crowds.

There were plenty of chairs and umbrellas on the beach, so we settled in, left our stuff and walked into the shallow, roped off, Dead Sea waters. The heat wasn’t bad, since it was early. The water felt great. We loved it! After a couple of hours a group of Chinese tourists arrived. One of them, a middle aged man, asked if he could take photos of my son and I floating on our backs. He even provided me with a magazine to hold up as if I were reading it while floating on my back. I’m assuming that at some point we’ll end up on the guy’s Facebook page with a funny caption that will go viral throughout the Far East — hey, any publicity is good publicity, right?

Of course, what’s a Dead Sea excursion without mud? So we dug up the mineral rich mud (there’s plenty of it!) and covered ourselves with it. My skin still feels great, two weeks later! We all had an amazing time!

kalia-mud

The Fresh Pools of Ein Tzukim

We left Kalia Beach at around noon and then drove 5 or 10 minutes south to the Ein Tzukim Nature Reserve, which is billed as the lowest nature reserve in the world. The reason we chose to go there was because of the swimming pools — no not the chlorine filled kind — these are pools of water that you can swim in.

Einot-tzukim-reserve-badeteich

We paid 29 NIS per adult and 15 NIS per child at the park entrance. The attendant suggested we hang a left at the end of the road and head to the group of pools that she said were less crowded than the popular ones closer to the entrance. We followed her advice and were happy to find that she was right. There several pools in a beautiful oasis-like setting. The kids swam and splashed for a few hours. It was the perfect end complement to the Dead Sea experience.

It was a fun day for all! So if you’re looking for a day trip to do with the kids, go south and enjoy!

Israel News for August 16, 2016

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No Forgetting
The Shin Bet, Israel’s version of the FBI, has a long memory when it comes to terrorists, and will keep hunting them no matter how long it takes. Yesterday, they arrested a 21 year old terrorist over two and a half years after he a stabbed and wounded a policeman.

The Shin Bet said in a statement that it will “continue to operate with all its available resources to prevent terror attacks and to bring the perpetrators to justice, even when a long time has gone by since the attack was committed.”

You can run, but you can’t hide from the long arm of the Shin Bet.

For further reading click here.

Terrorist Demolition
Early yesterday morning Israel security forces destroyed the floor of the home where the terrorist who murdered 13 year old Hallel Yaffa Ariel lived. In accordance with government policy, the entire house was not destroyed. Dozens of Palestinian protesters tried to disrupt the demolition by attacking soldiers with rocks and firebombs. The soldiers responded with stun and gas grenades.

After the demolition, Hallel’s mother Rina Ariel said, “So long as the entire house is not demolished and the family expelled, there isn’t enough real deterrence and there is nothing to prevent the next terror attack. It’s very easy to rebuild a floor of the house. The real answer would be expelling the family and settling the house with Jews. If the hostile population knew every house of a terrorist will be given to Jews, it would cause great deterrence.”

For further reading click here.

Temple Mount
On Tisha B’av, seven Jews who visited the Temple Mount were detained by police for violating the visitation rules. That means they were probably caught praying, or at least moving their lips in what looked like prayer. Their act of extremism didn’t go over well in the Arab world.

King Abdullah of Jordan, considered to be the custodian of the Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem (although its not so clear whether the Christians would agree with his custodianship), was quick to lash out against Israel for allowing Jewish extremists to enter the mount and vowed to defend the mosque with all the means at his disposal.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also condemned Israel for its reprehensible behavior. How dare Israel allow Jews to pray at Judaism’s holiest site?!

For further reading click here.

Israeli US Votes
While PM Netanyahu has pledged to remain neutral in the upcoming US presidential elections, the 300,000 US citizens living in Israel will be allowed to cast their absentee ballots for their favorite candidate. And both parties are not taking those votes for granted.

Yesterday, the Israeli branch of the U.S. Republican party began a campaign to get American voters living in Israel to cast absentee ballots in favor of Donald Trump. The Israel branch claims that about three quarters of the eligible voters in Israel will vote for Trump.

The Democrats don’t agree. The Israeli branch of the Democratic party will soon be launching its own campaign, claiming that at least half of eligible voters in Israel will vote for Clinton.

Game on.

For further reading click here.

Air Force
An advanced training exercise called Red Flag, during which fighter jets simulate combat involving coalition forces, will take place at the Nellis Air Force base in Nevada. Israel will take part in the exercise. So will Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. Last year Israel participated in the joint exercise with Jordan.

For further reading click here.

Big News
On the night after Tisha B’av, the religious Israeli radio station Kol Achai decided to air its own version of the War of the Worlds, except that they did it about the coming of the Mashiach (Messiah). They ran an entire broadcast complete with fake news reports and real interviews with a slew of respected rabbis and other experts to simulate what might happen when the Mashiach finally does arrive.

It was pretty cool, at least initially, to hear news broadcasts reporting on miraculous events that would lead up to and usher in the Messianic era. But it was obviously all fake.

Wait. Have you been reading the headlines during the past 70 years? Here are a few examples you might want to take note of: State of Israel declared after nearly 2,000 years of exile just three years after the end of the Holocaust; fledging Jewish army defeats the armies of a dozen Arab nations; Israeli army reunites Jerusalem; millions of Jews from the four corners of the globe move to Israel; the Iron Curtain suddenly collapses and over one million Jews from the USSR move to Israel; tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews airlifted to Israel; the majority of world Jewry now resides in Israel, the Jewish homeland.

Do I need to go on? Are the headlines not clear enough? How about the flourishing State of Israel?

No simulation is necessary. The Messianic area is clearly upon us — but it’s a process that is spread over many years, and we haven’t yet reached the final climax. But it’ll happen, hopefully sooner than later. I’d really like to be around to see it. Wouldn’t you?

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.

Tisha B’av

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Tisha B’av
Tisha B’av will be observed on Saturday night and Sunday. Tisha B’av, the 9th day in the month of Av, commemorates the date that both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, first by the Babylonians in 586 BC and then by the Romans in 70 AD. The day, beginning the night before and lasting until nightfall on Sunday, is observed with fasting and reciting lamentations. Since the 9th of Av falls out on a Shabbat this year, the day is observed on the 10th of Av.

The Talmud attributes the reason for the destruction of the Second Temple to baseless hatred. The political and social situation in Israel at the time of the destruction was rife was infighting and strife. Instead of focusing on fighting the Romans, the various Jewish factions fought and killed each other before finally uniting to face the Romans, when it was already much too late. Had the Jews been united, perhaps the destruction, even the war itself, could have been avoided.

The destruction of the Second Temple marked the start of a close to 2,000 year period of statelessness and exile, filled with persecution and massacres, and culminating in the ultimate horror of the Holocaust.

Now we have returned to our homeland, reestablished our sovereignty over it (more or less, despite the efforts of most of the world to keep us vulnerable) and made it thrive. We have a second chance to correct the mistakes we made the first time around. If we can unite and exist in (relative) harmony, we can remain invincible in our land forever. That is the message, and challenge, of Tisha B’av, and why we continue to commemorate the day of our greatest defeat (what other nation commemorates defeat?).

Will we learn our lesson and correct the mistake of Tisha B’av? That’s a question that only we can answer.

May this be the last Tisha B’av we commemorate, and may we come together as one family, one people, in unity and harmony, to continue to build our homeland and our destiny in peace.

For more information about Tisha B’av click here (Chabad.org).

Israel News for July 15, 2016

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Gaza Post
If you’re planning to mail something to Gaza, forget about it. Israel is halting postal services to Gaza because people have been trying to smuggle weapons, drones and other illegal equipment into the zone. Just this year there have been 315 attempts at smuggling in contraband via postal packages.

Does Amazon deliver to Gaza?

For further reading click here.

Parade Cancelled
Organizers of the Gay Pride parade in Beersheva have cancelled the parade in the city, after the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the police to divert the parade from the city’s main street because of security concerns. The parade organizers apparently felt that it was main street or no street. So instead, they will hold a protest rally outside of the Beersheva municipality building.

Beersheva mayor Ruvik Danilovich said, “I regret their decision to cancel the parade, I hope to work together to expand cooperation with the LGBT community. The gay community is in integral part of the social fabric of Beersheba, as such the community has the freedom to act in accordance with its world view.”

The Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem will take place next Friday and is estimated to draw over 10,000 marchers and spectators. The parade was marred last year by the murder of Shira Banki and the wounding of 6 others. The parade route will be extended this year.

For further reading click here.

Foreign Engineers
The Israeli “startup nation” high-tech industry is suffering from a severe shortage of at least 10,000 engineers. To help alleviate the shortage, the Prime Minister’s Office has authorized a special team to recommend a solution which would allow companies to hire foreign workers.

Sources say that according to the plan, foreign employees will receive “specialist visas” enabling them to move to Israel for two years, with the possibility of a further extension of up to three more years. Children and spouses of the holders of specialist visas will receive permission from the Immigration Authority to work in Israel.

The Immigration Authority would create a database of 1,500 Israeli companies who would submit requests that would be expedited by the authority, cutting out much of the existing bureaucracy. No quota for foreign tech workers will be set.

In order to maintain the average salary level of Israeli tech workers, the foreign workers will receive a minimum gross salary of 20,000 shekels per month.

Netanyahu, who is also Minister of the Economy and Industry, will endorse the team’s recommendations.

For further reading click here.

Flags on Temple Mount
Dozens of people have begun posting photoshopped images of themselves holding Israeli flags on the Temple Mount. The trend is gaining momentum on Facebook. Some of the images contain famous video game characters, butterflies and other funny things.

The trend began after an Israeli named Haim Brosh shared a photoshopped picture of himself holding a flag in front of the Dome of the Rock, under the words “Carry a flag to Zion.” He was detained by police, who thought the image was real. It is illegal to have an Israeli flag on the Temple Mount (at least for Jews). Brosh was released with a warning, although it’s unclear what the warning was for.

For further reading click here.

Soccer Diplomacy
During his recent visit to Israel, the Egyptian foreign minister met with PM Netanyahu in the PM’s residence in Jerusalem. After their meeting they apparently watched part of the Euro Cup Finals match on TV. Netanyahu posted a photo on Facebook and Twitter with the caption, “Tonight Sara 7 I hosted Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry in our Jerusalem home. We made time to watch the #Euro2016Final.”

The posts sparked outrage from the Egyptian public, condemning the fraternization with the Israeli leader. Yesterday the Egyptian government denied that the foreign minister watched the game with Netanyahu, saying that he just stumbled into the room where the game happened to have been on. “The Egyptian foreign minister doesn’t watch soccer games during a formal and important visit such as this.”

Imad ad-Din Hussein, an editor from the Egyptian in the daily newspaper al-Shorouk, wrote, “I would understand if our foreign minister would watch a game, a movie or a play with an Arab official, who is a friend… But not an Israeli official.”

For further reading click here.

Israel News for July 8, 2016

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Terror Attack
A 23 year old Israeli woman was driving on highway 90 between two Kibbutzim near the Kinneret when an Arab man hurled a large rock at her car, smashing her windshield and causing her to lose control and hit the side rail. The Arab then ran to her car, opened her door and tried to drag her out while yelling in Arabic.

The woman, Rotem Aharoni, from the village of Had Nes in the Golan, fought back and managed to push the attacker away. He then ran to another vehicle and unsuccessfully tried to open the door before fleeing.

About an hour later the Arab was seen running in the fields of nearby Kibbutz Degania Bet by a Kibbutz security officer. The officer shot him in the legs and neutralized him.

A preliminary police investigation has determined that the Arab man is a Jordanian citizen who is believed to have infiltrated into Israel and wanted to hijack a vehicle on Highway 90. The highway runs alongside the Jordanian border.

For further reading click here.

IDF Training
The IDF is planning to introduce a computerized training program designed to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers. The Israeli developed program will be used in advanced training of infantry troops.

According to research conducted on veterans of the 2014 Gaza War, the risk of combat troops developing PTSD in battle declined by 70 percent for soldiers who had been trained with the program compared to those who had not.

Training consists of four, 10-minute sessions over a month. Participants are asked to complete a fairly simple and technical computer task – striking a certain key whenever a certain symbol appears on the computer screen. However, while that task is under way, the subject is also shown various figures on the screen, some threatening and some neutral. According to the researchers, these figures may have angry faces or words might appear such as “wounded” or “explosions,” which are associated with PTSD.

Researchers say the training sessions change the way the brain processes traumatic events in the battlefield and thus has a major impact on the development of PTSD.

The US Army, which helped fund the project, is also testing the program.

For further reading click here.

Flight Wreckage
Pieces of wreckage thought to be from Egypt Air 804, that mysteriously crashed into the Mediterranean in May killing all 66 people on board, were found along the coast of Netanya yesterday.

According to data recovered from a cockpit voice recorder, the pilots tried to extinguish a fire in the plane. While Egyptian investigators have not found evidence linking the cause of the fire to terrorism, they are leaning towards that possibility since large fires suddenly breaking out on planes is rare.

For further reading click here.

Yemenite Report
In 2001 a report was release by the Kedmi Committee, which investigated the disappearance of the children of Yemenite immigrants between 1948 and 1954. Now the report has been made public and posted on the National Library website.

Background
Between 1949 and 1950, Israel airlifted 50,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel in an operation called Magic Carpet. Most of them were initially housed in tent camps called Ma’abarot. Illness was rampant. Children were hospitalized without informing their parents or without any documentation or identification. Many died and were buried without their parents being informed until after the fact.

Accusations have been made that hundreds of Yemenite children were given up for adoption to childless Israeli couples by camp officials, while their parents were told that their children had died in hospital. When parents asked to see the bodies of their children they were either told that the bodies were already buried or were simply shown the bodies of other children, which were clearly not those of their children.

While the committee, headed by Judge Jacob Kedmi, did not find a factual basis to verify the systematic and organized kidnapping of the children, it did document several cases where children were given up for adoption without the parents’ knowledge or consent. The committee also described how many children were buried without the notification of their parents and “the ease with which infants were hospitalized without supervision, documentation and at times without allowing family members to visit.”

One case cited by the report says, “A mother who had made aliyah while eight months pregnant, who gave birth to her son in a tent for fear that he would be kidnapped. At the request of the father, the boy, named Yair, was brought to the nursery at camp to be circumcised, where he disappeared. The parents were told that he had died, and when they insisted on being shown the body, they were presented with the body of a 16-year-old. They never got to see their son’s body.”

The issue of the disappearance of Yemenite children is still an open wound for the Yemenite and Mizrahi community in Israel. It reinforces the perception of discrimination against Mizrahim by the Ashkenazic so called “elite”, who were pretty much in control of the state until recent years. Many would claim that they still are in control and that the discrimination continues, albeit not as blatantly.

To read the report click here.

New Railway
As part of the project to construct an electrified railway line between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (24 miles), Israeli Railways will also link Modiin to the route, reducing travel time between Modiin and Jerusalem to just 17 minutes. Travel between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, set to begin in less than 2 years, will be less than 30 minutes. Much better than sitting in traffic for an hour and a half during rush hour.

Does that mean Modiin housing prices are going up even more? It that even possible?? [An attached house in Modiin currently goes for close to a million bucks. And you thought the 5 Towns was expensive?]

For further reading click here.

Israel News for July 5, 2016

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Palestinian MD
The first medical professional to treat the victims of Friday afternoon’s terror attack on a West Bank highway that killed Rabbi Miki Mark and wounded his wife and two children was a Palestinian doctor in private practice.

Dr. Ali abu Sharkh was driving to Jerusalem for Friday prayers at Al Aqsa with his wife and brother when he spotted the overturned car on the side of the road.

Dr. Abu Sharkh recounted, “We immediately stopped. There was a young Palestinian man with his wife who were trying to help the wounded. The first thing I saw was that Tehila (Mark’s daughter) was in a state of shock. I began to speak to her in English and she didn’t understand me. Then my brother began to speak to her in Hebrew and said to her ‘don’t be afraid, this is my brother, and he’s a doctor. He wants to help you.'”

Moments later a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance along with an IDF jeep arrived at the scene. The paramedics assisted the doctor while the soldiers called for an ambulance. After the Magen David Adom ambulance arrived, the doctor continued treating the wounded until one of the Palestinian paramedics told him that he should probably leave the scene since his presence there might provoke a hostile reaction.

The doctor explained, ”I carried out my duty. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about a Palestinian or a settler. My job is to save people because they are people.” When asked if he was criticized by his community he said, “Quite the opposite. All of my friends told me that I carried out my duties with honor. We are doctors, we don’t get involved with politics.”
 
Abu Sharkh also sent a personal message to Tehila, saying “I send her my condolences and am praying that her mother will get better soon.”

Tehila has subsequently been released from the hospital.

For further reading click here.

Arab Housing
Following a court decision, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced a plan to build about 600 residential units for Palestinians in East Jerusalem’s Givat Hamatos neighborhood. The government had previously tried to prevent building Arab housing in the neighborhood.

Approval for additional Jewish housing in the neighborhood had not been approved, as a result of diplomatic pressure, since the new Jewish neighborhood would complete the surrounding of the Arab neighborhood of Beit Safafa, which would complicate any potential division of Jerusalem in a future peace agreement.

The minister for Jerusalem affairs, Ze’ev Elkin, criticized the plans saying that the 600 units for the Arab population must be balanced with construction for Jews on the same site.

He said, ”Anyone who cares about a Jewish majority in the capital of Israel can’t promote construction for the Arab population alone. I call on the prime minister to also approve construction in the Givat Hamatos neighborhood for Jews. Jerusalem needs this neighborhood and over 2,000 housing units urgently.”

Meanwhile, the PM and DM also approved a program for building 560 residential units in the settlement of Maale Adumim, outside Jerusalem, and 240 units in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramot, Gilo and Har Homa. They also reopened a tender, that was previously frozen, to build 42 housing units in Kiryat Arba.

For further reading click here.

Terrorist Graveyard
According to sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Israel will set up a graveyard exclusively for the bodies of terrorists, in order to avoid returning the bodies to their families and the subsequent funerals, which lead to incitement and violence.

The PMO also announced, in response to the terror attacks last week, that Israel will immediately deduct the amount of money paid monthly by the Palestinian Authority to terrorists and their families from tax proceeds it collects on behalf of the Palestinians.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett criticized the moves as not being sufficient.

For further reading click here.

Land Deal
A 6,000 square meter plot of land in the middle of Rishon Le’tzion that was purchased back in the late 1800’s was sold recently for 45 million shekels. The land is zoned for 22 homes with gardens. That equals NIS 2.045 million per lot. The sellers are undoubtedly thanking their ancestor for his wise real estate investment.

For further reading click here.

General’s Driver
When Max, who served as the personal driver for former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Ganz, prepared to travel to the office where he would receive his official discharge from the IDF after four years of service, he got a surprise. Waiting to drive him there in a car outside of the Kirya (military headquarters in Tel Aviv) was General Ganz himself.

Ganz drove Max to the discharge center and presented him with a T-shirt that said, “End of the road” and “Thank you for proving there are good people with whom you can walk.” He also congratulated other soldiers on their releases and wish them success in their lives as civilians.

For further reading click here.

Israel News for June 6, 2016

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Jerusalem Day
Yesterday, Israel celebrated the 49th year since Jerusalem was reunified, in 1967. At a special ceremony on Ammunition Hill, the scene of a fierce battle during the Six Day War that claimed the lives of 36 Israeli paratroopers, PM Netanyahu pledged, “We will never abandon the Kotel and our ties to the Temple Mount will never be denied.”

Speaking at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva later in the evening, the PM said, “We will not be ousted from our city or our land. I will not oust people from their homes and we will not be ousted from our homes.” He added, “There was no peace [here] for the [three] religions until Jerusalem was under Israeli sovereignty. Someone was always dispossessed. It is only when we watch over the city, under Israeli sovereignty, that there can be freedom for the three religions.”

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of marchers and spectators braved the rain to take part in the annual Celebrate Israel Parade in NYC yesterday.

For further reading click here.

Ethiopian Commemoration
As Israel celebrated the reunification of Jerusalem yesterday, the Ethiopian community commemorated the 4,000 Ethiopian Jews who died while in the process of leaving Ethiopia for Israel during Operation Moses. The majority of the deaths came as a result of starvation and disease while waiting in refugee camps to be airlifted.

Operation Moses, run by the Mossad and the CIA, succeeded in smuggling 8,000 Ethiopian Jews from refugee camps in Sudan to Israel from 1984-1985.

Thousands of members of the Ethiopian-Israeli community took part in the annual ceremony on Mt. Herzl. Also in attendance were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, and the new Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver (Yisrael Beitenu). The PM and the President both spoke about the battle against racism and discrimination.

The PM said, “I place the utmost importance on the elimination and eradication of racism and discrimination. It is an outrageous phenomenon in our country, something which is intolerable, and something which we must come out against with all of our power. (Racism and discrimination) have no place in Israeli society. You are flesh and blood part of our nation, and equal amongst equals. We salute the thousands of victims who fell during their trek from Ethiopia to Israel.”

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Tough Love
Israeli paratrooper training is grueling. But one paratrooper platoon commander has taken it a step too far. The commander is on trial in a Jaffa military court for throwing a tear gas grenade into a tent full of his soldiers in order to wake them up.

According to the investigation, the platoon leader in question asked one of his soldiers to awaken the platoon at 7am. The soldier failed to do so because, he claimed, his telephone turned off. The commander, who two days earlier had warned his soldiers that he would throw a tear gas grenade into the tent if they failed to wake up on time, fulfilled his threat.

Several soldiers were injured as a result of trying to escape the tent and many of the soldiers were made ill by the gas.

The platoon commander had a history of violent acts against his soldiers. But in spite of his actions the commander was returned to his post, pending the trial results. The brigade commander explained, “In light of the fact that it was carried out in an environment in which unconventional acts such as these prevailed, he should not be dismissed…The main message is that the correct path is to fight against incidents such as these.”

For further reading click here.

Too Crowded
How many people can the Land of Israel bare? According to Dr. Alon Tal, founder of Adam Teva V’Din – Israel Union for Environmental Defense, the most pressing issue facing Israel today is overpopulation. He said that the current Israeli population growth rate is unsustainable in many ways. “We would need to be building 60,000 new apartments each year to keep up, but that’s not happening.”

Based on Israel’s current population growth, there could be 50 million people in a few decades. Think about that for a minute.

While this sounds amazing for business, is it practically sustainable? Does this mean a larger diaspora? Or a larger Israel?

One of Tal’s recommendations is to cut the current government subsidies for each new child beyond the second. He is also a big proponent of adoption as a way of maintaining the population balance.

For further reading click here.

Ask the Rabbi
A man interested in making aliyah asked Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the premiere rabbinic authorities, where he should settle in Israel. The rabbi responded, “Jerusalem or Beni Brak.” The man then said that he couldn’t afford an apartment in Jerusalem or Beni Brak, but only in Netanya. The rabbi responded that he could live in Netanya, as long as his apartment was near Kiryat Sanz (the Chassidic enclave), “for there is Torah there.”

Did real estate values just go up there?

For further reading click here.

New Jews
Yes, there are now Jews in Madagascar. No, not Chabad. These are 121 Madacascar natives who just recently underwent Orthodox conversions to Judaism. The converts are former Messianic Christians who believe, as do many of the island’s natives, that they are decedents of members of the 10 lost tribes.

To read more about this and watch a video, click here.

Israel News for May 16, 2016

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TERROR IN JERUSALEM
A terrorist stabbed a 26 year old Haredi man on Hanevi’im Street in Jerusalem this morning. The man was walking with his family near the Damascus gate of the Old City when he was attacked. He was wounded while attempting to fight off the attacker. The terrorist fled the scene but was pursued by police and arrested.

In an unrelated story, a 36 year old terrorist carrying Israeli police uniforms was arrested on Saturday at a checkpoint in the West Bank. Police received a tip off about the man, allowing them to prevent a likely terror attack.

For further reading click here.

NAKBA DAY
In the wake of Israel’s Independence Day celebrations last Thursday, Arabs on both sides of the Green Line commemorated Nakba Day on Sunday. Nakba, which means catastrophe, refers to the Arab defeat during the 1948 war, during which hundreds of thousands of Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, many with the intention of returning after an Arab victory. Every year on May 15th, Arabs in Israel and the West Bank commemorate their defeat and displacement, and mourn the creation of the State of Israel.

At 12pm, a 68-seconds-long siren sounded in Palestinian towns and villages, marking the 68 years that have passed. Cars stopped and pedestrians stood still in the cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem during the commemoration. Following that, Palestinians rioted in several locations with clashes breaking out near the checkpoint at Rachel’s Tomb.

Arab students (subsidized by Israeli tax payers) held a ceremony to commemorate Nakba Day at Tel Aviv University on Sunday afternoon. Activists from right-wing NGO Im Tirtzu protested nearby against the ceremony, waving Israeli flags.

There apparently were no concerts or barbecues.

For further reading click here.

LONG WEEKEND
Likud MK David Amsalem and Kulanu MK Eli Cohen are proposing a bill in the Knesset to give Israeli workers one long weekend per month. Israelis currently get Fridays and Saturdays off, but Sunday is a regular work day. The hours lost during the long weekend would be spread out over the rest of the month. The proposal calls for a three year trial period, during which time the possibility for a standard four day work week would be discussed.

The average working week in Israel is 43 hours, three hours more than the EU average, but productivity is 30% lower than in the EU. The hope is that more time off will increase productivity during working hours.

Manufacturers Association of Israel president Shraga Brosh told Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) that such a bill if enacted would cost the Israeli economy at least NIS 1.5 billion annually and should only be introduced as part of a comprehensive package to raise productivity in the economy. He didn’t say what that would look like.

Don’t forget, Israeli workers also get all of the Jewish holidays off — but another day off a month can’t hurt, can it?

For further reading click here.

NEGEV TREMBLES
Early this morning, souther Israel was struck by a a 4.9-magnitude earthquake. The quake was felt throughout the Negev region, with tremors detected from Eilat to Be’er Sheva. No injuries or property damages were reported.

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DRAFT DODGER
The yeshiva student arrested two weeks ago while attempting to enter an Eilat night club, wearing secular clothing, was released from jail today. The man was arrested by military police for avoiding the draft by claiming a yeshiva exemption, which they claim is fraudulent given the man’s seemingly unorthodox behavior. But his behavior didn’t seem to phase extreme Haredi elements who launched protests and demonstrations on his behalf.

After he left jail, wearing the standard yeshiva uniform, he was warmly greeted by family and rabbis and proceeded to complete a tractate of the talmud (siyum). Has he repented, or will we be seeing him around Israel’s hot night spots in the near future? Doesn’t seem like it would make much of a difference anyway, at least regarding his army service.

For further reading click here.

RABBINICAL COURT RULES
The Supreme Rabbinical Court (Bet Din) in Jerusalem has taken another step towards helping women whose husbands are refusing to grant them divorces. The court ruled that rabbinical courts in Israel have the power to prevent non Israeli citizens from leaving the country if they are found guilty of refusing to grant a divorce.

Here’s the case: an American Haredi couple with three children were living in Lakewood. About a year ago the husband left his wife and moved to New York, while refusing to grant her a Get (divorce). The man recently took a short trip to Israel. While in Israel his wife (who apparently is living in Israel) brought a claim against him in the local rabbinical court in the city where he was staying. She also asked the court to prevent him from leaving the country. The man claimed that the court has no power to against a non citizen. The court agreed with the man that the rabbinical court doesn’t have the power to prevent a non Israeli citizen from leaving the country.

The decision was then appealed to the Supreme Rabbinical Court, which ruled that they do in fact have the power to prevent a non citizen from leaving the country. Now the court will continue proceedings against the man to “persuade” him to give his wife the divorce.

Don’t mess with the Bet Din.

For further reading click here.