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Israel News for November 11, 2016

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Terrorists Arrested
The Shin Bet, IDF and Israel Police arrested eight terror suspects in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The men are suspected of planning to manufacture and use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against IDF forces. Laboratory equipment and raw materials used to manufacture the explosives were also discovered.

For further reading click here.

Court Sends Message
The Jerusalem District Court sent a message to juveniles who carry out terror attacks that they will be severely punished for their actions. Earlier this week, Judge Yoram Noam sentenced a 14 year old who carried out a stabbing attack in Pisgat Ze’ev last October to 12 years in prison. He also sentenced a 14 and 15 year old to 11 years each for carrying out a stabbing attack at Damascus Gate in the Old City in January.

The sentences for minors are considered unprecedented in their seriousness. The judge explained, “In today’s harsh reality, stricter punishment is inevitable. Under these circumstances, the need to keep terrorists behind bars is growing, and real weight must be given to the principles of deterring the many and the individual are real considerations for the strictness of the penalties.”

He also said, “Recently we have seen that even young children aged 14 to 16 are taking an active part in acts of terrorism. However, being a minor doesn’t grant impunity from appropriate punishment when committing a serious crime. The punishment needs to express society’s dislike of these acts intended to kill a person for nationalistic reasons…and lightening the sentence could send the wrong message to the public.”

For further reading click here.

Israel and Russia
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a joint press conference in Jerusalem with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev yesterday during which they both agreed to cooperate in the fight against terror.

Medvedev said, “First and foremost it is terrorism that threatens the entire globe but here, in your area, it is felt particularly harshly. The Russian Federation also suffers from terror and it is part and parcel of the same thing. In light of this fact,” he said, “we have to fight terror together and that relates to security cooperation. With joint efforts we need to destroy the seed of terror which lies in the hands of ISIS.”

He also described Israel as the “biggest partner in the region for economic affairs” and stressed the importance of joint economic and commercial activity.

Netanyahu said, “We are determined to do two things: to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and preventing Iran from establishing a military presence in Syria.” He also thanked Medvedev for Russia’s efforts in trying to facilitate the return of the bodies of IDF soldier’s held in Gaza by Hamas.

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No Girls Allowed
Education Minister Naftali Bennet has come under fire from a group of prominent rabbis for what they consider to be his role in encouraging young religious women to enlist in the IDF. Religious women have traditionally chosen to volunteer for National Service instead of army services, following an official ruling by the Chief Rabbinate directing them to do just that.

The Education Ministry under Bennet has begun funding organizations that assist religious women who want to enlist in the IDF, and the rabbis consider that to be contrary to religious law. Dozens of rabbis signed a petition expressing their opposition and demanding that the ministry cease encouraging the women. The ministry denies that it is trying to encourage the women to enlist.

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Museum Opening
For all you museum goers, there’s a new one that just opened which you might want to check out: the Yasser Arafat Museum. You heard right. The museum honoring the former PLO terror-in-chief and chairman of the Palestinian Authority cost $7 million and is located in Arafat’s compound in Ramallah, just behind his grave. So you can also pay tribute to the arch terrorist after viewing the exhibits on display including his rifle, one of his famous keffiyehs, the sunglasses that he wore in his 1974 UN address, the eyeglasses that he used for his last decade alive and, of course, his Nobel Peace Prize. Pictures of the Arafat with various world leaders hang in the hallways.

To view photos of the museum click here.

Israel News for June 14, 2016

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Peace Proposal
In recent weeks, as the French sponsored international peace summit took form, reports circulated about the openness of PM Netanyahu to a 2002 Saudi Arabian sponsored peace proposal adopted by the Arab League. Newly appointed Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman also seemed to indicate hope in a potential peace agreement. The Egyptian president announced his intention to organize a peace summit in Cairo that would bring the Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table using the Arab League proposal as the framework. The PM reacted enthusiastically. He invited opposition leader Isaac Herzog to join the government to take part in the historical opportunity to make peace.

Hold on. At a meeting with Likud MKs last night, the PM made it clear that unless the Arabs maKe major changes to their proposal, it was a non starter. He said, “If the Arab nations grasp the fact that they need to revise the Arab League proposal according to the changes Israel demands, then we can talk. But if they bring the proposal from 2002 and define it as ‘take it or leave it’ – we’ll choose to leave it.”

Netanyahu was positive about the fact that the Arabs were interested in a peace deal with Israel, but rejected the conditions of their proposal, which include Israel’s withdrawal from the Golan and the West Bank (with minor adjustments) and the return of Palestinian refugees.

The Saudi foreign minister recently said in an interview that he rejected any dilution of the Arab League proposal saying, “Why should the Arab Peace Initiative be changed?”

Is this just the beginning of a negotiation or the end to another false hope for peace?

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UN First
For the first time since the establishment of the UN, Israel’s Ambassador has been appointed to head a UN committee. After months of behind-the-scenes diplomatic struggles, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon was elected to head the UN Legal Committee yesterday. The committee deals with sensitive topics including fighting global terrorism.

Despite fierce anti-Israel lobbying by the Palestinian and Iranian UN representatives, 109 nations voted in favor of appointing Danon. His appointment was strongly supported by the US and most European countries.

For further reading click here.

Israel and Russia
PM Netanyahu has spoken in the most positive terms about his recent visit to Moscow and his work deepening Israel’s relations with Russia. But based on an article in Pravda, one of Russia’s premier newspapers, Netanyahu’s recent Moscow visit “created the impression of failure.”

The Pravda commentator pointed out that despite protests by Israel, Russia has continued to supply weapons to Lebanon, which are being used by Hezbollah. Moscow sees Hezbollah as part of the legitimate government of Lebanon and “an essential element of structure of the Middle East.” He also points out other issues which show the tension between Israel and Russia.

The truth probably lies somewhere between the PM and Pravda.

For further reading click here.

Flag Fine
The Knesset Interior and Environment Committee has approved a substantial hike in the fine for desecrating the Israeli flag from the current 300 lirot (the old Israeli currency) to 58,400 shekels ($15,137). The committee is also discussing increasing the prison sentence for flag desecration. Under current law, the maximum punishment for debasing the flag of a foreign country is three years imprisonment, while desecrating the Israeli flag, besides the fine, carries a punishment of only one year.

Zionist Union MK Zouheir Bahloul attacked the measure, sating, “I’m against undermining freedom of expression and I think a year is a proportionate sentence. Why make it three years? It’s strange that in an enlightened nation, one of the most enlightened in the world, the flag is turned into idolatry. Soon we’ll reach the point where whoever doesn’t kiss the flag every morning will be punished.”

Israeli flag burners beware.

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Temple Mount
PM Netanyahu has lifted the ban on Knesset Members and cabinet ministers visiting the Temple Mount. The ban had been in place for eight months, and applied to both Jewish and Arab Knesset Members. The Knesset’s Ethics Committee is expected to end its own ban on Temple Mount visits today.

Arab MKs had vowed to visit the Temple Mount during the current Ramadan holiday. Now they’ll be able to do so legally. Now they’ll be able to do so legally.

Will Jewish MKs resume visits as well? If they do they might be treated to a sermon by preacher Ali Abu Ahmad who was recently recorded preaching to hundreds of followers on the Mount and ending his sermon with this sweet prayer: “Oh Allah, protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews! Oh Allah, annihilate all the Jews! Oh Allah, enable us to kill them!”

For further reading click here.

Israel News for November 27, 2015

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More Terror
At around 7:30am today, a Palestinian rammed his car into the bus stop where soldiers were standing near Maaleh Adumin. He then exited his car a ran at the soldiers with a knife but was shot and killed. Two soldiers were lightly injured.

At around 12:30pm today, a Palestinian rammed his car into soldiers at the entrance to the Beit Ummar refugee camp near Kiryat Arba, wounding four moderately and one lightly. The attacker was shot and wounded.

For further reading click here.

Terror Denier
The sixteen year old Palestinian terrorist who was shot last week after brandishing scissors in Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem is filing a complaint against the police officer who shot her. She and her fourteen year old friend stabbed a seventy year old Palestinian (thinking he was a Jew). Her friend was shot dead at the scene.

The girl told investigators that her friend asked her to go with her to Jaffa street. She claimed she had no intention of hurting anyone when suddenly her friend pulled out scissors and scratched someone. “Then people started screaming “terrorist” at me. I got scared they would attack me so I pulled out scissors in self defense and suddenly they shot me”.

After the attack the police said that the officer acted according to procedure. But once the complaint is filed they will review the facts to make sure.

For further reading click here.

Israel in UAE
Israel will be opening an official diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The mission won’t be an embassy or consulate. It will be accredited to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which is based in Abu Dhabi. It will be the first time an Israeli foreign ministry official is permanently stationed in the Gulf state. But it still doesn’t mean that Israel has diplomatic relations with the UAE.

For further reading click here.

Israel Replaces Turkey
As tensions heat up between Russia and Turkey over the shooting down of a Russian bomber by Turkish fighters, it looks like Israel might actually gain from the crisis.

Yesterday, Russia announced that it would tighten its supervision of food imports from Turkey, claiming that they were repeatedly violating food safety standards. Russian Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachyov said that at least 15% of Turkish agricultural produce imported by Russia did not meet Russian standards in both nitrate levels and the use of various pesticides banned in Russia. Turkish vegetables currently account for 20% of the total Russian imports of vegetables.

Tkachyov said that he would consider substituting Turkish imports with produce from Israel, Morocco, Iran and Uzbekistan.

This could mean a lot more business for Israeli farmers.

For further reading click here.

Missile Defense
Israel successfully tested its new Barak 8 surface-to-air missile defense system yesterday. The Barak 8 system can be deployed at sea or on land and was designed to destroy threats from the air such as drones, fighter jets, missiles, and rockets, including in the event of multiple simultaneous launches.

Israel believes that Hezbollah now possesses sophisticated Russian made missiles, which makes Barak 8 all the more vital to Israel’s security.

For further reading click here.

Ashkenazic Money
You probably can’t name most of the people whose pictures are on Israeli money (at least without looking). But there’s one thing you can be sure of: they’re all of Ashkenazic descent.

New banknotes that were approved a couple of years ago and will be released soon will commemorate famous Israeli poets, but only Ashkenazic ones. Aryeh Deri, the head of the Shas (Sephardic Haredi) party and the Minister for the Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, has requested a special government debate about the new banknotes not including any Sephardic poets.

Deri said, “People of Mizrahi (Sephardi) descent make up half of the Israeli population and it’s not appropriate or reasonable that they should wait dozens of years for the next round of new banknotes.” He added that, “For 67 years the Mizrahi public has not been represented in state symbols in proportion with its relative population size, nor in prize committees or curricula.”

He’s got a point.

For further reading click here.

Wedding of Strength
Just two weeks after her father and brother were murdered in a terror attack, Sarah Tehiya Litman married Ariel Beigel in Jerusalem last night. Thousands of people participated in the celebrations, which were filled with joyous singing and dancing. The two Chief Rabbis of Israel and the head of the Merkaz Harav yeshiva took part in the wedding ceremony.

Sarah Netanyahu came to congratulate the couple and show her support. She said, “I embrace you on behalf of myself, the Prime Minister and entire Nation of Israel, you and your younger brothers and wish for you to build a beautiful home in the Nation of Israel.”

Sarah Tehiya said, “There isn’t a moment that I don’t miss Netanel’s smile, or father’s humility and modesty, and that will always accompany me. But precisely from the pain in the month of courage before Hanukkah we will, together with all the nation of Israel, spread a great light of joy, giving and love that the nation of Israel has inundated upon us.”

For further reading click here.