Posts

Israel News for November 27, 2015

/by

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.

israeli border police

Israel News for October 14, 2015

/by

< back to sign up

Security Measures
Last night, the government’s security cabinet approved several measures in response to the recent wave of terror.
– It gave police the power to impose lock-downs on violent areas of Jerusalem.
– It prohibited the rebuilding of the homes of terrorists destroyed by the IDF.
– It ordered revoking the permanent residency or citizenship of terrorists (subject to authorization of the Attorney General).
– It authorized expanding the police force, using IDF forces to reinforce the police, and hiring 300 security guards for the public transit system, at a cost of more than 80 million shekels. Initially, IDF troops will be used to secure buses until the security guards are trained.

The cabinet will meet again later today to continue discussion.

For further reading: http://news.walla.co.il/item/2897174

Rabbis and Terrorists
The recent terror attacks by Palestinians have spurred debate among Israelis about how to treat terrorists who have already been subdued. Is deadly force against a terrorist permitted if he or she is no longer a threat? How about non deadly violence, like beating?

Three major Israeli Zionist rabbinic leaders have offered rulings on the issue.

Rabbi David Stav, the Chief Rabbi of Shoham and head of the Tzohar rabbinic organization, has ruled that it is NOT permitted to harm a terrorist who is subdued and poses no further threat. R. Stav said that the primary reason for his decision is so that Jews do not damage their moral compass and sink to the level of the terrorists. He also thinks that photos of Jews beating subdued terrorists will damage Israel’s standing in the world community. R. Stav said, “even though the terrorists deserve it, it is not our way.”

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, the head of the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem, agreed that civilians must not take action against subdued terrorist who are no longer a threat. He is, however, in favor of the death penalty for terrorists, as long as it is administered by the court. He believes that prison is not a sufficient deterrent.

On the other side of the debate Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of Safed, ruled last week that “it is forbidden to leave a terrorist alive after he has committed a terror attack. If he’s left alive there’s a possibility that he will go free and kill more people.” He said that only in special situations where shooting the terrorist could cause explosives to detonate or if they need to interrogate him can he be taken alive.

R. Eliyahu went so far as to demand a special investigation into the circumstances which lead to terrorists being taken alive to determine if the security forces had been negligent in their duties.

For further reading: http://news.walla.co.il/item/2897134

Ex Chief Rabbi Indicted
R. Yona Metzger, the former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, was indicted yesterday. The charges included accepting bribes of up to 8 million shekels (of which he personally kept 5 million), theft, fraud and tax evasion. Metzger’s attorneys tried to reach a plea bargain but the prosecutor refused.

One of the most serious, and disturbing, charges against him are related to conversions. It seems that Metzger made a deal with a Los Angeles rabbi, Gabriel Cohen, whereby he would send foreigners who wished to convert (who were either unable or unwilling to do so in Israel) to the rabbi who would do the conversion in exchange for payment, giving Metzger half.

In one case, from 2011, Metzger referred to Cohen a Russian businessman who had immigrated to Israel and wanted his two children converted. After the conversion, Metzger and Cohen allegedly split the $360,000 the man paid.

Metzger is also accused of getting kickbacks from money he raised for charity organizations and yeshivas as well as for receiving gifts and bribes and concealing funds from tax authorities.

He denies all of the charges and pledges to fight for his vindication.

For further reading: http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/1.680292

Jews in Yemen
If you thought Yemen was a bad place for Jews, it seems like it just got a lot worse. According to a Jew who recently escaped from Yemen, by pretending to be a Muslim, and arrived in Israel, the government of Yemen recently issued a warning to the Jews in the country: “Get out of Yemen or convert to Islam.”

Over 150 Jews fled Yemen between 2009 and 2013. Those remaining were under the protection of Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh, until he was ousted in 2012. Now they are effectively under the control of the Houthi rebels who took over the capital, Sana, earlier this year.

The remaining 80 to 100 Jews in Yemen are living in a protected compound in Sana called Tourist City and in the town of Raida in the north. Despite their often precarious existence, most of the Jews don’t seem eager to leave. They continue to practice Judaism and live much as they have for over 2000 years and they’re set on continuing, at least for now. Hard to believe that Jews would choose to live in Yemen, but who are we to judge?

In an interesting twist, the Israeli Knesset member advocating for their rescue is a Druze member of Likud.

For further reading: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/10/12/israeli-politician-says-yemens-last-jews-need-help-to-get-out/

Believe It
Yes, it’s true. The Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, UAE and Qatar are in talks to purchase the Israeli made Iron Dome missile defense system. They won’t be buying it directly from Israel, because how would that look? But they’ll still be using Jewish technology to protect against potential Iranian missile attack. Sweet.

For further reading: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.680291