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Israel News for February 25, 2016

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Victim Buried
Thousands of mourners attended the funeral of Air Force reserve Captain Eliyav Gelman in Gush Etzion last night, who was accidentally shot and killed by soldiers firing at a terrorist who was attempting to stab him.

To watch a video of the funeral, click here.

British PM
British Prime Minister David Cameron strongly criticized Israeli construction in East Jerusalem during a session of the British Parliament yesterday, saying, “I am well known for being a strong friend of Israel, but I have to say the first time I visited Jerusalem and had a proper tour around that wonderful city and saw what had happened with the effective encirclement of East Jerusalem, occupied East Jerusalem, it is genuinely shocking.”

Cameron added, “we do not support illegal settlements, we do not support what is happening in East Jerusalem and it’s very important that this capital city is maintained in the way that it was in the past.”

Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat rejected Cameron’s comments and said that the PM was unfamiliar with the realities of the situation. Barkat said, “The situation of the residents of the city is significantly better than those in the countries which surround us and, needless to say, than the situation during the British Mandate in Israel.” He added that citizens in Jerusalem have a right to live wherever they choose, irrespective of race, religion or gender.

Barkat invited Cameron, who he said was a “true friend of Israel,” to join him for a personal tour of the city. “I invite him to come and see how we have minimized the social gaps in eastern Jerusalem and I invite him to promote connections, developments, and local cooperation together with us instead of building walls and conflicts in the heart of Jerusalem.”

For further reading click here.

Yehuda Glick
Police have dismissed charges against Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick, who was accused of assaulting a Muslim woman on one of his visits there. The charges were dropped after police determined that the testimony of the plaintiff, Zoya Badrana, was fabricated.

As a result of the initial indictment, Glick was barred from entering the Temple Mount by a Jerusalem judge who said that his presence there was “inflammatory”. The dismissal of the charges against him might be sufficient grounds for overturning the court’s ruling.

After his acquittal Glick commented, “There are many here who should do some soul searching, but at this time I’m not interested in that, only in thanking God.”

For further reading click here.

Knesset vs. LGBT
A day after marking its first ever LGBT rights day, the Knesset yesterday defeated a number of bills aimed at improving the gay community’s status. Several opposition members joined the coalition in voting against the bills.

The bills, proposed by opposition members, included recognizing widowers in same sex couples, banning conversion therapy, recognizing same sex marriage contracts, and training health professionals to deal with gender and sexual inclination issues

Opposition MKs from Yisrael Beiteinu and most of the Arab MKs did not come to vote for the bills. Several other opposition members made mutual agreements with coalition members to absent themselves from the vote.

MK Amir Ohana (Likud), the first openly gay right-wing lawmaker, left the plenum without voting, while MK Sharren Haskel (Likud), head of the LGBT Knesset caucus, voted against the bills.

For further reading click here.

Haifa Scandal
Otot is an NGO that operates a hostel for homeless children in Haifa, as well as in other major Israeli cities. The Haifa hostel is located in the lower Hadar neighborhood, which apparently is not the safest place to be. The group decided to look for a better location after a number of girls staying at the hostel were sexually assaulted, cursed at and mugged in the neighborhood. A few years ago some residents threw stones at the hostel, ruined its plumbing and injured one of the girls.

Otot found a building in the central Carmel that belongs to the Rotenberg Foundation, a private foundation established in 1942 that deals with education and social affairs. The foundation agreed to rent the premises to the NGO as a hostel, and Otot has already raised some 1 million shekels in contributions for renovating the building.

About four months ago, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav found out about the agreement between the foundation and Otot and informed the foundation chairman, David Rotenberg, that he objects to the plan. As a result, the foundation suspended the decision to rent the building to the NGO pending the mayor’s consent.

In recorded conversations with MK Merav Ben Ari (Kulanu) who tried to persuade Yahav to change his mind, the mayor is heard saying, “Let them go to Kiryat Ata… Why do I have to give you a place in Haifa? Heaven forbid if they come here… If you want to continue with this there will be a world war.” He also said, “I have the autistic [children], I [should] have the homeless? What’s the matter with you?… I don’t want them in my city, let them go to Kiryat Ata.”

Talk about political correctness. Is this guy for real? Does he think he’s running for President of the U.S.?
 
For further reading click here.

Tech Shortage
The High Tech industry in Israel has been a major contributor to economic and job growth in the country. However, the industry is doing so well and growing so quickly, that it’s running out of skilled employees to hire. The limited labor supply has also driven wages up, which is great for employees but not so great for the companies. The situation is forcing companies to move, or consider moving, operations overseas to places with larger and cheaper skilled labor pools.

PM Netanyahu, who also serves as Economy Minister, wants to solve the problem by allowing companies to import skilled foreign workers. The plan, raised in a meeting this week with ministry Chief Scientist Avi Hasson, would begin by issuing work visas to hundreds of foreigners, mainly software engineers.

A forum of Israeli technological colleges has said that the answer is not to import workers, but rather to encourage more Israelis to study science, technology, engineering and math.

So if you’re a computer scientist or software engineer, Israel needs you.

For further reading click here.

Court permits lifting hands on Temple Mount

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Jerusalem District Court judge Ram Vinograd reversed the decision of a lower court to ban activist Yehudi Etzion from visiting the Temple Mount for 15 days after he was arrested for lifting up his hands in the Temple Mount compound. The court ruled that lifting up the hands was a gesture of prayer, which is prohibited on the Temple Mount for non Muslims.

Judge Vinograd called the lower court’s ruling a “slippery slope”, claiming that if lifting the hands is prohibited then wearing a head covering or gazing upwards might also be prohibited, since they can also be considered acts relating to prayer. The judge said that the gesture was not sanctioned in the past, and that if police wanted to change the instructions on proper behavior at the site, it should have done so explicitly.

Yehuda Etzion raises hands on the Temple MountYehuda Etzion raises his hands on the Temple Mount

 

Etzion and other activists visited the Temple Mount on the fast of Tevet, which marks the day that the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem began in 588 BCE and led to the destruction of the first temple two years later. At a certain point they began to walk with their hands raised. A police officer told them to lower their hands but they refused and were than detained for questioning.

In the 1980s Etzion was sentenced to seven years in prison for his involvement in a plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. Since his release he has been working to allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount and has had repeated confrontations with the police.

During court proceedings the police claimed that Etzion posed a threat to public security. They explained that the situation on the Temple Mount is explosive yet they succeeded in extracting the Temple Mount from the current wave of terror.

Etzion said, after the ruling, ”From the start it was clear to me that even under the shameful status quo which bans prayer at the Temple Mount, there’s nothing wrong with lifting the hands upwards,”

Honenu, the group which filed the appeal on Etzion’s behalf, praised the ruling and said it “hopes police will learn from the judge’s statements and stop harassing Jews coming to the Temple Mount.

For further reading click here

Israel News for December 30, 2015

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Victim Dies
Genady Kofman, 41, a maintenance worker at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, was stabbed by a Palestinian as he left work on December 7. Yesterday he died of his wounds. Kofman, who made aliyah from the Ukraine 21 yrs. ago, lived in Kiryat Arba and was a married father of two.

PM Netanyahu made a statement at a cabinet meeting today in response to Kofman’s death saying, “I say to all those who would uproot us from the Tomb of the Patriarchs – except for a few years in the previous century, we have been there for almost 4,000 years and we will stay there forever. You cannot defeat us.”

For further reading click here.

Supermarket Attack
A Jewish worker at a supermarket in Beit Shemesh was arrested yesterday for attacking and injuring an Arab co-worker. The Jewish worker was recorded on a security camera as he punched, kicked and attacked the Arab with a knife. The attack is suspected by police to be nationalistically motivated.

For further reading click here.

Election Moves
The primary for the leadership of the PM Netanyahu’s Likud party will be moved ahead to February, as requested by the PM. The early primary will most probably cement Netanyahu’s position as party leader, since no other candidate will have sufficient time to mount a competitive campaign. Nice move.

For further reading click here.

Uplifted Hands
Jerusalem District Court judge Ram Vinograd reversed the decision of a lower court to ban activist Yehudi Etzion from visiting the Temple Mount for 15 days after he was arrested for lifting up his hands in the Temple Mount compound. The lower court ruled that lifting up the hands was a gesture of prayer, which is prohibited on the Temple Mount for non Muslims.

Judge Vinograd called the lower court’s ruling a “slippery slope”, claiming that if lifting the hands is prohibited then wearing a head covering or gazing upwards might also be prohibited, since they can also be considered acts relating to prayer. The judge said that the gesture was not sanctioned in the past, and that if police wanted to change the instructions on proper behavior at the site, it should have done so explicitly.

Etzion said, after the ruling, ”From the start it was clear to me that even under the shameful status quo which bans prayer at the Temple Mount, there’s nothing wrong with lifting the hands upwards,”

Honenu, the group which filed the appeal on Etzion’s behalf, praised the ruling and said it “hopes police will learn from the judge’s statements and stop harassing Jews coming to the Temple Mount.”

Upshot
This case just highlights the absurdity of the “status quo” regulations which prohibit non Muslim prayer on the Temple Mount in any form. Besides being clearly discriminatory, the rules are just impossible to enforce, since the police are supposed to decide what is and isn’t considered to be prayer.

Even though the idea of Jews barring Jews (and other non Muslims) from praying at their holiest site is reprehensible, if the government feels that there are valid security and political reasons for doing so, the regulations should only apply to organized prayer. But preventing an individual from whispering a prayer, without using a prayerbook, is just beyond reason. Where does it end? The judge in the Etzioni case has at least set some boundaries.

For further reading click here.

Video Arrest
Police yesterday arrested the groom from the wedding where the infamous video was filmed which showed religious settlers dancing and singing while brandishing knives and guns and stabbing a photo of the child killed in the Duma arson attack. Police also arrested a 50 year old guest seen dancing with a weapon in the video and four other guests, including two minors.

A judge today decided to release all of those arrested on bail, despite protests by police.

For further reading click here.

Netanyahu Bugged
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the U.S maintained National Security Agency surveillance on Israeli officials, including PM Netanyahu, during nuclear negotiations with Iran.

The report also reveals how Israel’s military intelligence Unit 8200 and the NSA shared information and technology, but also spied on one another, in what the report said stoked mutual suspicions and fostered what a U.S. official described as “the most combustible mixture of intimacy and caution that we have.”

Bottom line: Israel and the US spy on each other. Now let’s move on.

For further reading click here.

Israel News for November 18, 2015

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Terrorist Killed
IDF soldiers from the Haredi “Netzah Yehuda” battalion on a routine patrol came under fire from three Palestinian gunmen near the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya yesterday.

The soldiers were in a military vehicle. The terrorists pulled up in a car, got out and opened fire. The soldiers returned fire, killing one terrorist and wounding the other two. None of the soldiers were injured.

Earlier today, the Shin Bet announced that seven residents of Jaljulia, an Israeli Arab town near Kfar Saba, were arrested for planning to join and fight for ISIS in Syria. Two of them were related to the Israeli Arab who paraglided into Syria from the Golan several weeks ago.

For further reading click here.

PA vs. Terror
Apparently, the Palestinian Authority is now doing it’s part to curb the wave of terror. The governor of Jenin, Ibrahim Ramadan, told Ynet that Palestinian forces recently thwarted three attempted stabbing attacks at the Gilboa crossing next to Jenin. Plainclothes Palestinian security personnel who were stationed on the Palestinian side of the crossing in order to prevent stabbing attacks, arrested three women before they managed to carry out their attacks.

Before these undercover officers were deployed, there were four attempted stabbings at that very crossing during the recent wave of terror. According to PA officials, Palestinian security personnel also intervene when there is unrest in the West Bank to prevent any shooting at the IDF and Border Police.

The IDF also think that Abbas is reigning in the violence. A month ago IDF intelligence said that Abu Mazen (Abbas) is not inciting attacks on Israelis and is even instructing his forces to take action against violence. There is currently ongoing cooperation between Palestinian security officers and the IDF to restore the calm.

For further reading click here.

Israel’s Bride
Sara Techiya Litman, who lost her father Rav Yaakov Litman and brother Netanel in the shooting attack last Friday, was meant to get married last night. Instead she is sitting shiva. But she told Ynet, “we will not let terrorism destroy us” and that the wedding has been rescheduled for next Thursday at Binyanei Hauma in Jerusalem. Sara Techiya and her fiance Ariel called on the public to come celebrate with them saying, “all of the Jewish People are invited to arise with us from the dust and rejoice in our celebration”.

Last night, an evening of enrichment and learning for women was organized at the wedding hall where the wedding was meant to take place in order to provide inspiration and support during these difficult times. Speakers included Rabbanit Yemima Mizrahi, Chief Rabbi of Tzfat Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Meitar and father of the groom Rav Beigel and other public figures..

For further reading click here.

Soldiers Protest
A couple of weeks ago we told you about the synagogue in Givat Ze’ev that that High Court ordered to demolish on the grounds that it was built on privately owned Palestinian land. The court subsequently postponed the demolition based on a request by the government claiming that the demolition would incite violence by Jewish extremists. The deadline the court set for the demolition to take place is this coming Thursday. The government has come to a compromise agreement with the community, pledging to build a new synagogue nearby. But there is still much opposition to the destruction of the synagogue.

In an unprecedented demonstration of protest, a new Facebook page has photos of IDF soldiers and Border Police holding signs saying, “I too won’t demolish a synagogue.” The signs cover the faces of the IDF and police personnel, but their uniforms are clearly visible. One sign said: “Mosques and churches are not demolished but synagogues are? Have you gone mad?”

Among the units represented on the Facebook page are the Border Police, the Tank Corps, the Golani Brigade, the G’dud 46 Brigade, the Kfir Brigade and field intelligence.

IDF soldiers are not expected to be used in the demolition, which will be carried out by Police and Border Police personnel.

Some hardline rabbis have issued statements prohibiting soldiers from following orders to demolish the synagogue. Will any of the security forces assigned the unpleasant task choose to disobey orders?

For further reading click here.

Survey Says
A survey conducted by Haifa University Sociology Professor Sami Samucha, who is an Israeli Arab, reveals some disturbing results.

According to the survey, 57% of Arab citizens of Israel feel that the recently outlawed Islamic Movement in Israel faithfully represents them. The movement incites violence related to the Temple Mount and has connections to Hamas. The survey also reveals that 18.2% of Arab Muslim citizens of Israel, and 28.1% of all supporters of the Islamic Movement, do not consider ISIS to be a radical terrorist organization, and are not ashamed of the group.

Prof. Samucha commented that the high level of support for ISIS is very troubling, particularly given that the Arab leadership in Israel and leaders of the Islamic Movement have strongly denounced the group. You think?

Upshot
The Israeli government, and the majority of Israelis, have always asserted that Israeli Arabs are loyal to the state. Is this just a delusion? If Samucha’s survey is accurate, Israel might need to rethink the way it views its Arab citizens.

For further reading click here.

Restricted Videos
Several weeks ago Israel agreed to allow the Jordanian controlled Waqf, the Muslim religious authority that administers the Temple Mount area, to place video cameras on the Mount. The cameras are meant to defuse tensions by serving as a tool to monitor Israel’s observance of the “status quo”, which prohibits non Muslims from praying on the Temple Mount. The initiative was praised by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Well, Jordan’s King Abdullah II has thrown a wrench in the seemingly well intentioned plan. The King has announced that he intends to personally monitor the video footage from the cameras and decide which segments will be released to be seen by Israel and the world.

In response to Abdullah’s announcement, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Bayit Yehudi) has called on Netanyahu to cancel the camera initiative until it is agreed to place cameras in all corners of the Mount, including the mosques, and Israel is promised full access to the footage.

In a letter to the PM Ariel wrote, “Not installing cameras in the Al-Aqsa Mosque means immunity…for the rock hoarders and throwers from inside the mosque. For the firecracker shooters, and all the inciters.”

He added, “Giving the Kingdom of Jordan, a foreign sovereign state, the right to run security cameras on the Temple Mount, without any cooperation with the Israeli Police, means one thing: an additional significant concession on the degree of Israel’s sovereignty on the Temple Mount.”

In a related story, the Jordanian King’s office is looking to hire some talented video editors.

For further reading click here.

Dutch Join Swedes
Yesterday we reported about the controversy surrounding the Swedish Foreign Minister’s apparent attempt to connect the ISIS terror attack in Paris to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Now the chairman of the Dutch Socialist Party in the Netherlands, Jan Marijnissen, has followed in her footsteps.

Referring to ISIS in a radio interview, Marijnissen said, “Their behavior eventually is connected also to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” and that the conflict in Israel “is the growth medium for such an attack.”

Will the next anti-semite in the European political leadership please stand up.

For further reading click here.

idf commandos undercover

Israel News for November 12, 2015

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Undercover Raid
Early this morning an IDF unit of about 20, disguised as a group of Palestinians escorting a woman in labor, entered a Palestinian hospital in Hebron to arrest Azam Shalaldah, 20, who was hospitalized in the surgical ward. Shalaldah was wanted for committing a West Bank stabbing attack on October 25 that left one Israeli moderately wounded.

While the force was arresting Shalaldah, his cousin, 27, returned from the bathroom and attacked the soldiers. He was shot several times. Palestinian sources reported that he died. Shalaldah was taken into custody. Shalaldah’s brother, who was also in the room, was tied up but not hurt.

Message to terrorists: you can run, but you can’t hide.

For further reading click here.

Terror vs Revenge
Muawiya Alqam, 14, one of the two young boys who committed the stabbing attack on Jerusalem’s light rail on Tuesday, said on Wednesday that he decided to carry out the attack because his cousin had been shot while committing an attack near the Damascus Gate. Alqam’s family denies that he had intent to commit a terror attack.

Whether it was terror or revenge, he admitted to attacking someone with a knife and stabbing him. Guilty. The only question is the punishment, which will depend on the intent.

For further reading click here.

Israel vs. EU
In the wake of the European Union’s decision to distinctly label Israeli products made in the West Bank, Israel announced that it will be cancelling several meetings with the EU on various subjects. The Israeli Foreign Ministry also reprimanded the EU ambassador to Israel and conveyed a similar message to senior EU officials at a meeting in EU headquarters in Brussels.
In a word, they’re pissed.

For further reading click here.

Rabbis for Temple Mount
Seventy senior rabbis from the religious zionist movement have signed a petition under the headline, “We won’t give up the Temple Mount.” The petition was distributed during the PM’s recent visit to Washington and was seemingly directed at him and President Obama.

The signatories on the petition include rabbinic leaders spanning the wide range of political philosophies within religious zionism. Included in the signatories are R. Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Safed, R. Shlomo Riskin, Chief Rabbi of Efrat, R. Chaim Druckman, head of the Bnei Akiva yeshivas, Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern, Old City Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, Samaria’s Chief Rabbi Elyakim Levanon and former Chief Military Rabbi Avichai Ronsky.

The body of the petition reviews the historical existence of the two Temples on the mount and relevant prophesies speaking of the messianic age. It says, “The two temples of the people of Israel stood on the Temple Mount for some 1,000 years, before the religion of Islam even existed. No one has the authority to give up the Temple Mount. The Israeli government can definitely set the practical arrangements on the Temple Mount today, but they are only temporary.”

The rabbis concluded by saying that the Jewish people continue to pray that the prophecies of the rebuilding of the Temple should happen speedily and in our days. Amen.

For further reading click here.

Damascus Bombed
Arab press sources in Syria and Lebanon are reporting that the area around the Damascus International Airport was hit by airstrikes on Wednesday and they’re claiming that Israel is responsible. Israeli officials had no comment. Could it be true? Well, it depends on who was bombed. If it was rebel forces, then it could just as well have been the Russians or maybe even the Americans. But if it was government forces then…hmm.

For further reading click here.

Cheaper Hotels
Hotel rates in Israel might be getting a lot cheaper, but you’ll have to wait a few years for it to happen. Israel’s Tourism Minister Yariv Levin announced a new national plan to reduce hotel room prices by 20% in 5 years, at a joint press conference in Jerusalem with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon on Wednesday.

The plan of action is to shorten the hotel construction process by streamlining regulations, which will increase the supply of hotel rooms on the market. The higher the supply, the lower the prices.

Finance Minister Kahlon said, “The plan will lower vacation costs. The financial and real estate benefits of building hotel rooms, and the opportunity to receive more tourists here, are blessings. If the project succeeds, it will make hotel rooms in Israel accessible to the bottom segment of society. Hotel rooms will not be exclusive to the wealthy and to high-earners.”

So hang in there all you low earners and bottom feeders. You might finally get that vacation you’ve been dreaming of — or at least a night in a hotel room.

For further reading click here.

Five Bucks
What would someone do for five bucks? More than you’d think. Just go on the Israeli owned website Fiverr, where you’ll find thousands of freelancers from all over the world offering their services for $5 (hence the name). If you think there’s no money to be made from that, think again. The company just announced that they raised $60 million from venture capitalists, which is in addition to the $50 million they previously raised. But your chances of getting that major design project done for $5 might be history. Fiverr is planning to allow freelancers to charge higher prices. That means more money for the freelancers and the company. As for your project…you get what you pay for.

For further reading click here.

Blessing in Disguise
The Palestinian terrorist who stabbed three people last Monday in Rishon Lezion inadvertently saved the life of one of his victims. Daniel Cohen, 31, was stabbed multiple times in his upper body and seriously wounded in the attack. When doctors performed emergency surgery on him, they found a deadly tumour in his intestines, which they removed. Cohen said that he felt pains in his intestines for several weeks prior to the incident but didn’t have time to deal with it. “The terror attack saved my life,” he said.

Cohen, father of five and a Kashrut supervisor, was travelling between jobs when he was attacked at the bus stop. Cohen said the assailant attacked him from behind choking him and trying to behead him. He was stabbed multiple times in the stomach, jaw and chest, before he managed to fight the assailant off. The terrorist proceeded to stab two others before being trapped in a shop where police arrested him.

For further reading click here.

Israel News for November 3, 2015

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More Terror
In Netanya on Monday evening, a 22 year old Palestinian stabbed a 70 year old Israeli man, seriously wounding him. Police shot the attacker and arrested him.

Earlier on Monday, a 19 year old Palestinian from Hebron stabbed an 80 year old woman and two men aged 35 and 26 in Rishon Letzion. Police arrested the terrorist.

In both terror attacks the police had to protect the arrested terrorists from angry mobs.

In a recent interview with Yediot Ahronot, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid insisted that the only solution to the terror is for Israel to completely separate from the Palestinians. He didn’t explain the logistics of such a separation, but he was clear that it cannot be a unilateral separation but rather one that is agreed upon by both sides. He also said that Saudi Arabia would be open to helping this occur. In Lapid’s vision, the IDF would be permitted to enter the Palestinian zone whenever necessary.

Has Lapid forgotten that the Palestinians want their own state, complete with sovereign borders and a military to defend them, with Jerusalem as its capital? Lapid is offering them basically what they already have, surrounded by a hermetically sealed wall to keep them out of Israel. Does he seriously think that they’ll accept that, or that Saudi Arabia will help convince them to? Seems like some very wishful thinking.

Watch the interview here.

Returning Bodies of Terrorists
Despite the cabinet’s decision not to return the bodies of terrorists to their families, the IDF has decided to return the bodies. Palestinian clan leaders and activists have been carrying out a campaign consisting of private discussions with Israeli military officials as well as organized protests to convince the Israelis that not returning the bodies will cause more unrest and violence. The campaign seems to have worked.

Five bodies were recently returned to families in the Hebron area. The bodies were given elaborate funerals and official Palestinian Authority ceremonies and honors. As a result, Israel is now demanding that all funerals of returned terrorists take place at night, so as to minimize the attendance and fanfare.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Sunday morning that returning the bodies will continue if there’s a guarantee that the funerals will be kept low key. Otherwise, he’ll have the bodies buried in Israel.

For further reading click here.

Jail Time
The Knesset yesterday approved a law to impose a minimum prison sentence of 2 – 4 years on rock-throwers if there is evidence proving intent to harm. The law was approved by a vote of 51-17.

The law also approved fines and law suits against families of minors convicted of throwing rocks for nationalistic reasons or as an act of terrorism. In addition, National Insurance benefits (including child support) will be revoked from parents of such a minor.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, the architect of the law, said Israel needed to find creative solutions to stop the recent wave of terror, adding the law will “force parents to take responsibility and pay the price for their children’s actions”.

If being killed or going to prison is not enough of a deterrent for these kids, maybe hitting their parents where it really hurts will be.

For further reading click here.

Police Ban Visits
Several weeks ago PM Netanyahu banned members of knesset from visiting the Temple Mount. But it seems that the police didn’t get the message, or maybe just ignored it. That’s changed.

On Monday, acting Police Chief Commander Bentzi Sau placed a temporary ban on all MKs from visiting the Temple Mount. This comes in the wake of the unauthorized visit of Joint List MK Basel Ghattas to the Mount last week, which several ministers and public officials claimed was a direct incitement to violence.

For further reading click here.

No more fireworks
Economy Minister Aryeh Deri signed an order yesterday banning the import of garden fireworks to Israel at the request of Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan. The fireworks are frequently used in attacks on Israeli security forces during violent demonstrations on the Temple Mount and in Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem. They have also been used in attacks on Jewish homes in these neighborhoods. The police say these fireworks can be lethal and the harm they can cause far outweighs any economic damage to the importers.

Fireworks are commonly used at Muslim wedding celebrations. We’ll take dull Muslim wedding over terrorism any day.

For further reading click here.

Netanya Expands
If you’re thinking of moving to Netanya, or if you happen to own land there, you might be in luck.
Construction is beginning on a new neighborhood in the western part of the city that will include 3,000 housing unit, over 2 million sq.ft. of commercial space, public buildings and a park.
Owners of plots of land included in the building plan made a nice return on their investment. Lucky them.

For further reading click here.

Stray Cat Strut
In these times of ongoing terror and heightened stress, it’s comforting to know that Israel’s cabinet is totally focused on dealing with the crisis. Well, maybe not all cabinet members.

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel is focusing his attention on solving what he believes to be a major issue for Israel: stray cats. If you’ve been to Israel you know that there are stray cats just about everywhere. The Environmental Protection Ministry spends over one million dollars annually on neutering and spaying stray cats, in an attempt to control their numbers.

Ariel, who is a member of the religious Bayit Yehudi party, believes that neutering or spaying animals is against Jewish law. He therefore suggested that Israel’s cat population be transferred to a foreign country. His idea didn’t go over very well with just about everyone, from politicians to animal rights groups.
Ariel subsequently retracted his proposal, but still wants to end the government’s neutering program and instead use the money for research into the stray problem.

Is he serious?

For further reading click here.

Israel Film Festival
The Other Israel Film Festival, taking place from November 25 – 12, presents dramatic and documentary films, as well as engaging panels about history, culture, and identity on the topic of minority populations in Israel with a focus on Arab citizens of Israel,, who make up twenty percent of Israel’s population. The festival will present the films Colliding Dreams, Censored Voices, Dégradé, Jeruzalem, Mussa, Oriented, Partner With The Enemy and more.

For more info click here.

Israel News for November 2, 2015

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More Terror
On Sunday afternoon a Palestinian driver rammed his car into three Border Police officers near the Palestinian village of Beit Anun near Kiryat Arba, which is near Hebron.

Two male and one female officers, all in their twenties, were injured in the attack. One suffered severe wounds to his head, while the other two were lightly injured.

Soldiers opened fire at the car, but the driver fled the scene. Hours later he turned himself in to the police claiming it was an accident. He was arrested and transferred to Shin Bet custody for interrogation.

Earlier on Sunday, a Palestinian man attempted to stab an IDF soldier during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians, also near Beit Anun. A Border Police officer shot and killed the assailant. None of the soldiers were wounded.

PA President Abbas has ordered military funerals for all terrorists. He also ordered a financial grant to be given to the families of terrorists, and permitted the waving of the Hamas flag at funerals. So much for trying to restore calm.

For further reading click here.

Haredim Go Arabic
On Friday we reported that the Haredi magazine, Mishpacha, published a message in Arabic pleading with Arabs not to murder members of the Haredi community, since they are not permitted to visit the Temple Mount. This message unleashed a storm of protest from everyone with a sense of Jewish unity. Some people tried to defend the magazine by saying that the message didn’t really mean what it said. Well, those folks are gonna have to rethink their apologetics.

The Badatz, which is the ruling council of the Edah Haredit (the Haredi Community), has launched a campaign to get the message across to the Arabs that Haredim don’t visit the Temple Mount and therefore should not be harmed. The campaign is being spearheaded by a group from the Satmar hasidic sect and will include advertisements in the Arabic press in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

There’s nothing ambiguous about this campaign. The message is clear: if you’re going to murder Jews, please make sure they aren’t Haredi. They really are not to blame.

Upshot
Besides the obvious, disgusting and divisive message that the Haredi leadership is sending, do they really believe that Arab terror is based on Jews visiting the Temple Mount? Does anyone believe that Arab terror would stop if Jews stopped visiting the Mount?

The terror didn’t start only after the 1967 Israeli reunification of Jerusalem. The underlying goal of Palestinian terror is to drive the Jews out of the entire land of Israel. That includes Haredim.

The targets of Palestinian terror are Jews, regardless of whether they pray three times a day or go to the beach on Saturday morning. No PR campaign will change that.

The Haredi leadership is still living in an era when the Jews of Israel lived in ghettos and were defenseless and at the mercy of their Arab rulers. Times have changed. Israel no longer begs for Arab mercy. Neither should the Haredim. Doing so divides the Jewish people and weakens it in the eyes of its enemies. Just stop.

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Deri Resigns
Economy minister Aryeh Deri of the Shas party has resigned from the cabinet. Deri was seen as a stumbling block to the approval of a deal to develop Israel’s recently discovered offshore gas resources by private companies.

The deal had been stalled by the anti-trust commissioner who ruled that the government was giving too much power and control to a conglomerate of private energy companies at the expense of the citizens of Israel. Deri, as Economy Minister, had the power to overrule the anti-trust commission but refused to do so. With his departure, PM Netanyahu will take over the Economy Ministry portfolio and will push the deal forward.

Is this a good thing for the people? PM Netanyahu thinks it is. Let’s hope he’s right.

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Shalom Chaver
Saturday night marked the 20 year anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Approximately 100,000 people gathered in Rabin Square, where he was murdered, to commemorate the event and pay tribute to his memory.

In an effort to give the event a non-partisan appeal, no sitting politicians were invited to speak. Former President Bill Clinton addressed the crowd and encouraged them to carry on Rabin’s legacy saying, “He refused to give up his dream of peace in the face of violence.”

In a video message, President Obama called Rabin a leader who “understood the dangers Israel faces, but he also said the Palestinians are not to be ruled over forever by force.”

“Yitzhak speaks to us still,” Obama said. “Let us demonstrate that we oppose violence and extremism of any kind, and let us exhaust every opening for the peace we know is just and possible.”

Shalom Chaver.

For further reading click here.

Henkin Memorial
Hundreds of people participated in a service to commemorate the one month anniversary of the murder of Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin. The couple was shot to death by Palestinian terrorists while driving with their four children on a highway in the West Bank.

Rabbi Yehuda Henkin, the father of Eitam, presented a new book that his son had just completed on the Laws of Shabbat. Naama’s mother, Hila Armoni, spoke about raising her grandchildren and the challenges of dealing with their feelings of sorrow and loss.

The warmth and solemnity of the evening was disrupted when Rabbi Meir Mazuz, the head of the Yeshiva Kisey Rachamim (seat of mercy) in Bnei Brak, addressed the crowd and said that the murder of the Henkins was Divine punishment for the gay pride parade in Jerusalem earlier this year. He also warned people not to visit the Temple Mount.

It’s unclear where the Rabbi got his insight into the cause and effect of Divine punishment. Maybe he should check back with his sources.

For further reading click here.

Tough Girl
Everyone knows Israeli women can be tough. Now it’s been proven in the ring. Israeli kickboxer Nili Block won the World Kickboxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on Saturday, after defeating her Croatian opponent in the finals of the women’s under 60kg category.
Do not mess with Nili!

For further reading click here.

Israel Events
On Sunday, November 22, the Ma’aleh Adumim Youth Orchestra will perform at Carnegie Hall. The orchestra, part of The George W. Schaeffer Music Conservatory in Ma’aleh Adumim, is composed of musicians who are handpicked from school music programs and invited to continue their musical education, and are taught by the some of the country’s leading artists. The event is organized by the Bnai Zion Foundation. Proceeds from the event will benefit Ma’aleh Adumim.

For more info click here.

Israel News for October 28, 2015

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More Terror
Two Palestinians approached two Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in the Jewish area of Hebron last night. One of them tried to stab one of the soldiers. The other soldier shot and killed both attackers. The soldiers were not injured.

Several hours earlier, two Palestinians stabbed a 19 year old Israeli soldier in Gush Etzion. Another soldier shot and killed both attackers. The wounded soldier is in stable condition at Sharei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

For further reading click here.

Jail for Leader
The head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, will start serving his 11 month prison sentence on November 15th. Salah’s appeal was rejected yesterday by the Jerusalem district court. The court also rejected the state’s appeal to extend his sentence to three and a half years.

Salah was convicted of incitement last March, based on a sermon he delivered back on 2007. Arab leaders, including Knesset members, are calling the sentence unjust and discriminatory. They claim that Jewish leaders and rabbis have made statements that they consider incitement against Arabs, but they have not been arrested and tried for them.

Israeli defense officials believe that keeping Salah behind bars will reduce incitement and help curb the wave of violence and terror. However, his imprisonment could provoke demonstrations that could turn violent. There’s also some fear that Salah’s replacement, who is considered to be even more radical, might stir up trouble.

By the way, this won’t be Salah’s first prison experience. He was previously imprisoned for funneling money to Hamas. So maybe he’s not such a good guy after all.

For further reading click here.

Amir’s Brother
After serving more than 16 years in prison for his involvement in the conspiracy to murder Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Hagai Amir, the brother of Rabin’s assassin Yigal Amir, is up to no good again.

Twenty years after Rabin’s murder, Hagai Amir has been detained by Israeli police on suspicion of incitement following a Facebook post claiming that Rabin’s murder was preordained and predicting that God would also cause Israeli President Rivlin to “pass from the world”. His post was in response to Rivlin’s recent statement that Rabin’s assassin would never be released as long as he was president.

Amir stands by his statement with no regrets.

For further reading click here.

Boy Recovers
The 13 year old Jewish boy who was stabbed and critically wounded in a terror attack in Pisgat Ze’ev earlier this month was discharged from Hadassah Hospital yesterday in “good condition”. The boy was initially hospitalized with no pulse, and hovered between life and death for days.

The second victim of the same terror attack, a 21 year old man, who was seriously wounded was discharged from the hospital on Sunday.

For further reading click here.

Return to Wall
Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall (Kotel), urged Jews to continue visiting the Kotel. The number of visitors has dropped dramatically since the beginning of the terror wave.

The rabbi assured people that the way to the Kotel through the Jewish quarter was extremely secure and safe. He added,”I believe that during this period it is our duty to visit the Western Wall, hold the planned bar mitzvahs and pray to God. Let’s be strong and avoid rewarding terror.”

For further reading click here.

Live Streaming
Israeli and Jordanian officials said yesterday that new surveillance cameras should be installed within days at the Temple Mount, with the goal of streaming the footage live on the Internet for maximum transparency.

A Jordanian official said that both Muslim clerics and Israeli officials will monitor the images for now, but that “the ultimate goal is for the footage to be seen on the Internet, by everyone.”
Israeli officials confirmed the plan, and in a statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said it hopes to start the process “as soon as possible.”

The sooner everyone can see exactly what happens on the Temple Mount, the better for everyone. Well, maybe just for Israel.

On a related note, Israeli Arab Knesset member Basel Ghattas visited the Temple Mount today, in defiance of PM Netanyahu’s directive prohibiting lawmakers from visiting the site. Ghattas, who is Christian, claims to have seen Jews praying on the Temple Mount. It won’t be long before we can go to the video tape to see for ourselves.

For further reading click here.

Israel Supports US
The UN General Assembly voted 191-2 in favor of a resolution to condemn the commercial, economic and financial embargo against Cuba by the US. The only country to join the US in voting against the resolution was Israel. What else is there to say?

For further reading click here.

German Army
Who would’ve ever thought this could happen? Three weeks ago 110 soldiers from the German Army’s 1st Panzer Division, led by Brig. Gen. Ernst-Peter Horn, arrived in Israel for joint urban warfare training exercises with Israeli troops. The general visited Yad Vashem and the soldiers toured Jerusalem and joined Israeli families for Shabbat dinner.

A lot of dead men are turning over in their graves, both German and Jewish.

For further reading click here.

Trick or Treat
This Halloween, don’t be surprised if you’re greeted by an IDF trick or treater. That’s because Walmart is selling Israeli soldier costumes for kids. Walmart’s website displays a child wearing the uniform with the Hebrew word for IDF (Tzahal) on the shirt and a red beret with an Israeli army insignia on it. The kid is holding a toy Uzi machine gun, which is not included with the $27 costume. I guess a lot of Jewish kids are going trick or treating this year. But maybe they should consider skipping Arab neighborhoods.

For further reading click here.

Israel News for October 27, 2015

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Gaza Strike
The Israeli Air Force struck Hamas targets in Gaza last night in response to a rocket fired into an empty area of Southern Israel.

In Jerusalem, a third victim of the terror attack on bus #78 in Armon Hateziv died of his wounds. The man was 76 year old Richard Lakin, an educator and writer originally from Massachusetts.

Cameras Removed
In the wake of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s announcement that Jordan and Israel had agreed to install video surveillance cameras on the Temple Mount, Israeli police removed cameras installed by the Waqf, the Muslim religious trust that runs the site. The PM’s office issued a statement defending the move and confirmed that cameras would be installed by professional technicians approved by both Jordan and Israel.

Facebook vs. Hamas
Facebook has taken a stand against incitement to violence by Hamas and shut down numerous Hamas related pages and groups. According to a statement by Hamas, “Facebook has closed, over the past two days, a large number of pages run by and close to the Hamas movement’s media in the occupied West Bank…that played a key large role in supporting the Al-Quds intifada.”

The closures included pages based in Ramallah, Galilee, Nablus, Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Salfit, Tubas and Jenin, as well as the page of Muslim Youth League in the West Bank and some Palestinian university pages. Facebook also froze the accounts of dozens of publishers and administrators who run the pages. Hamas also announced that the page of its official spokesperson, Husam Badran, had been shut down.

Way to go Facebook! There’s no excuse for allowing pages that incite violence against anyone to continue. Let’s hope they keep up the good work.

For further reading click here.

Terror and Food
The recent terror wave has affected Israeli stomachs. According to figures just released, supermarket sales dropped by 7% in the first two weeks of October as more Israelis chose to stay home because of the security situation. Online sales increased by 30% in the same period, but the increase didn’t make up for the in-store sales drop.

Retail clothing stores have also been badly hit during the past two months. Jerusalem has taken the worst hit with significant sales drops in the city center, Mamilla and the Malcha Mall. Large malls in Tel Aviv, Petach Tikvah, Ashdod and Beersheba have all seen drops of around 40%.

Once this wave of terror is over, there might be a big surge of spending as Israelis who’ve lost weight by not eating as much are forced to buy new clothing that fits. Let’s hope.

For further reading click here.

Yigal Amir
Yigal Amir, the assassin who murdered Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, is serving his life sentence in solitary confinement in the Rimonim Prison. According to the rules of his incarceration, he is permitted to walk in the prison yard and to study, as long as he is accompanied by another prisoner.

The prison authority has approved two prisoners to be allowed the “honor” of serving as Amir’s escorts. One is a convicted rapist and the other is a kidnapper. They’ll be accompanying him for an hour and half on his walk and for a two hour Talmud study session. That’s quite an image.

In a disturbing survey of 480 participants in the National Religious (Zionist) community, 55% believe that Yigal Amir did not kill Rabin while 68% think that his life sentence should be commuted.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of Yitchak Rabin’s assassination.

For further reading click here.

Prison Warden Fired
The Israel Prison Service (IPS) fired Colonel Shimon Bibas, the warden of the maximum security Nafha prison after terrorist prisoners were found with cell phones.

Dozens of prisoners managed to smuggle in the cell phones, which they allegedly used to help coordinate terror attacks. The IPS asserted that it is “waging an all-out war” on contraband cell phones, “through technological means, undercover agents,” and other measures.

For further reading click here.

The Flag
Knesset member Yoel Hason of the Zionist Union party is calling on the Prime Minister to fire Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely for stating in a recent interview that she believes that the Israeli flag should fly over the Temple Mount. He thinks that saying that in these tense times is wrong and dangerous. She obviously disagrees, but says that her personal opinions do not affect her commitment to carrying out government policy.

For further reading click here.

Haredim Demonstrate
The Haredi community is usually viewed as siding with the Right on the political spectrum. But not when it comes to the Temple Mount.

Haredi extremists (it’s all relative) held a demonstration in front of the home of Rabbi Yosef Elboim, a Belzer Hasid, after they discovered photos of him with a group of Jews on the Temple Mount. The photos were in an article by a Reuters correspondent who tweeted the link. Evidently some of the extremists are on Twitter.

The demonstrators called Elboim a “murderer” and held up signs publicizing the prohibitions issued by most Haredi rabbinic leaders prohibiting Jews from visiting the Temple Mount because of the fear that they might enter areas of the mount that are considered too holy to enter according to Jewish law.

Rabbi Elboim will apparently be curbing his Temple Mount visits until further notice.

On a related note, Shas MK Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen attacked Deputy Foreign Minister Hotovely and other politicians who openly advocate Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount, claiming that they are “fanning the flames” of violence and endangering Jewish lives.

For further reading click here.

Israel News for October 26, 2015

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More Terror
This morning a 19 year old Israeli man was stabbed and seriously wounded by a 17 year old Palestinian man near Kiryat Arba. The attacker was shot and killed by soldiers.

Read more here.

Yesterday Ohad Hertz, a 25 year old Israeli man, got of a bus at a hitchhiker station on his way to his yeshiva in Elon Moreh. He noticed a suspicious 26 year old Palestinian waiting there and told him to move along to a nearby bus stop that was for Palestinians. The Palestinian said “It’s alright, don’t worry”, then turned on Ohad and kicked him to the ground. There was a fierce struggle during which the Palestinian stabbed Ohad several times. Ohad was able to throw the attacker off and draw his weapon, at which point the assailant fled towards nearby Arab villages. He was apprehended by Israeli forces soon after. Ohad sustained moderate wounds and is recovering.

Earlier in the day, at a checkpoint near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, a 17 year old Palestinian girl was asked for her ID by border police. She pulled out a knife and ran towards them. The officers shot her. She later died from her wounds.

Yesterday morning, a 58 year old man got out of his car after it was hit by stones and was then stabbed by a Palestinian at the Sair Junction in Gush Etzion. The man shot the Palestinian, who succeeded in escaping. The Israeli man’s gun was confiscated and has yet to be returned. The search for the Palestinian continues. According to Palestinian news reports a 20 year old Palestinian is in critical condition in Hebron Hospital after being shot at the Sair Junction Gush Etzion. The IDF is investigating whether it’s the same incident. Hmm, sounds about right.

On Saturday a 16 year old Palestinian disguised as a chocolate seller and holding a box of chocolates approached soldiers at a checkpoint north of Jenin in the West Bank. He suddenly threw the box down and tried to stab a security guard. He was shot and killed. No one else was hurt.

For further reading click here and here.

Rabbi Haim Yechiel Rothman, the sixth victim of the terrorist attack on the Har Nof synagogue last November, died of his wounds on Saturday and was buried yesterday in Jerusalem. He was survived by his wife, ten children and numerous grandchildren. May his memory be a blessing.

Glide to Syria
Israeli forces on the Syrian border are focused on making sure nothing comes into Israel from the Syrian side. But they’re evidently not that focused on things going the other way.

On Saturday afternoon a 23 year old Israeli Arab citizen from Jaljulya (Galilee) paraglided over the border into Syria. Israeli lookouts spotted the glider and sounded the alarm, assuming that a recreational paraglider had gone off course and accidentally blown over the border. A large number of troops converged on the area and aircraft flew over to identify the landing site.

It turns out the Arab man had recently become religious and apparently had become enamored with ISIS philosophy. The man’s father received a call from an unidentified man with a bedouin accent who assured him that, “Your son is fine. He’s with us. Don’t worry.”

Over the past two years 50 Israelis have left Israel to join ISIS forces. Ten of them have returned and been arrested.

Maybe Israel should open the border one way (out) and let anyone who wants to, leave and forfeit their citizenship? Let their people go!

For further reading click here.

Mounted Cameras
Arab leaders, including PA President Abbas, have used the Temple Mount as their main source of incitement, claiming that Israel is attempting to change the “status quo” and take over the site of the Al Aqsa mosque. Israel has consistently asserted that is has done no such thing, and has meticulously enforced the existing prohibition preventing non Muslims from praying on the Temple Mount.

Well, it took US Secretary of State John Kerry to come up with what he believes to be a fool proof way of monitoring the situation: cameras. Kerry announced the placement of the 24-hour-a-day cameras at an appearance before reporters on Saturday with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh in Amman.

“This will provide comprehensive visibility and transparency, and that could really be a game changer in discouraging anybody from disturbing the sanctity of this holy site,” Kerry said, calling it a “first step” toward bringing Israel and the Palestinians back together to discuss long-term peace.

Yesterday, Netanyahu defended the decision to install the cameras. “Israel has an interest in stationing cameras in all parts of the Temple Mount,” he said. “First, in order to disprove the claim that Israel is changing the status quo. Second, to show where the provocations really come from and to foil them before they ever happen.”

Upshot
So let’s try to understand this. The Arab leaders are going to watch the videos and admit that Israel is doing everything right and that they themselves are to blame for the incitement and violence. Are you kidding?

PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki called the plan “a new trap” on Voice of Palestine radio, accusing Israel of planning to use footage to arrest Muslim worshipers it believes are “inciting” against it.

Does John Kerry or his president understand how Arab incitement works or are they just living in a utopian fantasy? I assume PM Netanyahu knows that having cameras on the Temple Mount won’t change anything, but it can’t really make things worse. Can it? Only if the Palestinians control the videos.

For further reading click here.

Editor Fired
Not wanting to be left out of the controversy over PM Netanyahu’s recent statements regarding the Mufti and his role in convincing Hitler to murder the Jews, an editor of the Ynet news English language website decided to do a really stupid thing and post a photoshopped image of Netanyahu wearing an SS uniform on his Facebook page.

Netanyahu discovered it and filed a police complaint. The editor’s bosses found out about it too and fired him. He’ll probably think twice before posting something like that again. Hope it was worth the laugh.

For further reading click here.

It’s Pouring
Rain at this time of year in Israel is considered to be a blessing. But for tens of thousands of Israelis left without power, it might have been too much of a good thing.

The Israel Electric Company said that due to flooding, collapsed trees, and resulting traffic delays, repairing the damage could take quite some time. It’s also blaming the union for not putting their workers into emergency mode. The union says that their workers are going way beyond the call of duty.

The rain is expected to continue throughout the week. How can you complain about that?

Speaking of rain, the Israel Water Authority Council announced yesterday that water charges will fall by 3% from January 1st. Charges have been cut by a cumulative 20% in the past three years. The current cut is thanks to a 16% fall in the price of electricity in Israel in the past year. Electricity is the main cost in water desalination, which produces much of the water consumed in Israel.

So maybe so much rain is not such a blessing anymore after all?

For further reading click here.

Stock up
If you’re in Israel and planning on serving chicken for dinner this week, you better stock up. That’s what the Ministry of Agriculture is advising Israelis to do, in anticipation of a planned strike by veterinarians. All meat and poultry producers in Israel are required to have their facilities inspected by veterinarians of the Agriculture Ministry’s Veterinary Service several times a week. Without those inspections, any “live” food – meat, chicken, or fish – may not be legally sold.
So buy now, or pay up or go hungry later.

For further reading click here.