Posts

Israel News for March 14, 2016

/by

Terror in Kiryat Arba
Two armed terrorists in a car opened fire on a group of soldiers at a bus stop in Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, today. A 20 year old soldier was lightly wounded. Both terrorists were shot and killed at the scene.

Moments later, while soldiers were active at the scene of the first attack, a Palestinian rammed his car into an officer at the scene. The terrorist was shot and killed when he tried to exit his vehicle. Two other soldiers were lightly wounded by shrapnel from the shooting.

Following the attacks the IDF raided the homes of the three terrorists in Hebron.

To watch videos of the attacks, click here.

Indonesia Barred
Israel denied permission for the Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi to enter the Palestinian Territories to dedicate an honorary consulate there, after she refused to first meet with Israeli officials in Jerusalem.

Indonesia does not have official diplomatic ties with Israel, but the two states communicate quietly and maintain economic and tourism ties. In 2013, 300,000 Indonesian tourists visited Israel, which reflects a huge increase over the past few years since 2009, when less than 10,000 visited.

Indonesia asked Israel, through diplomatic channels, to allow its foreign minister to visit Ramallah, but the Prime Minister’s Office instructed authorities to bar her entry. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki will meet the foreign minister in Jordan.

The Indonesian government recently appointed a Palestinian to serve as Indonesia’s honorary representative to the Palestinian Authority. He will work to strengthen economic, social, and cultural ties and to encourage tourism and business exchanges.

For further reading click here.

Sweden vs. BDS
Following a meeting with MK Tzipi Livni of the opposition Labor Union party in Stockholm, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström has agreed to publicly denounce the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Wallstrom has previously made controversial statements against Israel, including accusing Israel of extrajudicial executions and of being a cause of radical Islamic terror.

Livni was in Stockholm to give a speech for “Israel Day,” an anti-BDS conference organized by the Jewish community in Sweden. In her speech and in meetings with members of Swedish parliament, Livni talked about ways to effectively isolate the movement – with a sharp distinction between “the small organization which denies the legitimacy of Israel, and which hopes to flood it with refugees, and those who get swept up in the movements through a misunderstanding of their goals.”

Livni’s next stop is Berlin. Keep up the good work!

For further reading click here.

Top Cop Decision
Despite a recent wave of sexual harassment allegations and trials against senior police officers, Israel’s Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich declared last week that, “Anonymous letters have turned into a culture of settling scores in the police force, and as such, from now on the police will not deal with anonymous letters that raise suspicions of violations by policemen. In an organization that requires reporting by policemen, there is no need for such letters.”

While Alscheich’s goal is to prevent baseless accusations that can ruin the reputations of innocent officers, the fact remains that most of the major investigations launched in sexual harassment cases that resulted in guilty verdicts were in response to anonymous tips.

The Justice Ministry’s police investigation unit announced on Sunday that it would continue to look into all anonymous accusations and tips saying, “The department is authorized to investigate complaints leading to suspicion of the commission of a crime by a policeman even when they come from unidentified sources. Every complaint that reaches the department will be investigated as has been done until now.”

For further reading click here.

Download Tax
The Israeli Treasury is proposing that overseas companies be required to pay VAT (value added tax) on electronic products sold via download. Currently, when Israelis download products such as songs and ebooks from overseas vendors, they are technically required to voluntarily declare their purchases and pay VAT on them. Obviously, very little tax is collected. If the new proposal passes, the overseas companies will be required to register with the Israel Tax Authority and pay the VAT, which is currently at 17%. That means higher prices for consumers.

For further reading click here.

Beware of Dog
If you’re planning to visit the Prime Minister’s residence, you might want to be especially careful around the PM’s dog. Kaiya, the Netanyahu’s “First Pooch”, has been known to sink her teeth into select individuals. At a Hanukkah lighting ceremony at the residence last year Kaiya bit MK Sharren Haskel (Likud) and the husband of Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely. Just recently she struck again, this time biting a security guard.

The Netanyahus don’t seem bothered, and are sticking with Kaiya. If you’ve got a problem, then don’t visit!

For further reading click here.

Israel News for January 11, 2016

/by

Close Call
Police today deployed large forces and set up numerous checkpoints in the Ashkelon, Ashdod and Sderot areas in the south after receiving intelligence of an impending terror attack by a Palestinian woman from Beit Sira in the West Bank. Police arrested a man in Kibbutz Erez, near the Gaza border, who she was allegedly in contact with. After interrogating him police determined that the woman had not succeeded in getting past the barrier separating the West Bank from the rest of the country. The alert was lifted.

In an unrelated incident today, a Palestinian who attempted to stab soldiers at a checkpoint near Jenin in Samaria was shot and wounded. No soldiers were hurt.

For further reading click here.

Terrorist Funeral
Police are refusing to release the body of the Tel Aviv terrorist, who was shot and killed on Friday, to his family for burial, fearing that radicals will turn the funeral into a pro-terror demonstration, which is against the family’s wishes. Police want to avoid a repetition of a terrorist funeral last week in the northeastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, in which hundreds of armed Hamas terrorists marched and fired automatic weapons in the air, as thousands of people chanted and waved knives and machetes.

Regarding the investigation into the Tel Aviv attack, police have arrested a relative of the terrorist from his hometown of Arara for aiding him in fleeing from Tel Aviv. Police suspect that there may have been as many as twenty people in the town who either helped or knew the terrorist’s location but did not report him to authorities. The investigation continues.

For further reading click here.

Arson or Accident
A fire broke out last night in a building that houses the office of human rights group B’Tselem, in Jerusalem. B’Tselem’s offices were empty when the fire broke out. At first the fire department said that they suspected arson as the cause of the fire. That triggered statements by B’tzelem and Peace Now blaming the right wing and the government for inciting against the left. Upon further investigation, the fire department today believes that the fire was caused by an electrical failure in the office electrical system. The investigation is still ongoing.

For further reading click here.

Deri Returns
Yesterday the cabinet unanimously approved the appointment of Aryeh Deri, the leader of the Shas Ultra-Orthodox Sephardic party, as Minister of the Interior. The position is the same one that Deri held 22 years ago before he was forced to resign over corruption charges. He was subsequently found guilty of bribery and served 22 months in prison.

Yesh Atid leader MK Yair Lapid had proposed a bill last May, which would have barred anyone convicted of a serious criminal offense from serving as an MK, cabinet minister or mayor. However, the coalition voted the bill down.

Deri had been serving as Minister of Economy until several months ago, when he resigned to allow PM Netanyahu to take over the portfolio and approve the natural gas deal. He then became Minister of Galilee and Negev Development.

The Prime Minister congratulated Deri and said that he is faced with two main tasks – preventing illegal migrants from entering Israel and deporting those already in the country, as well as changing the borders of local councils in order to distribute municipal taxes in a more just manner.

For further reading click here.

Fare Cut
The cabinet today approved a bill proposed by Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon and Minister of the Development of the Negev and Galilee Aryeh Deri to reduce public transportation fares by the amount of VAT. In other words, the rates will be cut by 17%. The state will subsidize the cut by transferring NIS 650 million annually to the public transportation operators. In addition, the bill will prevent future changes in fares resulting from changes in VAT.

Prime Minister Netanyahu commented on the fares cut, saying, “After we cut electricity and water prices and introduced reform in food, we are now lowering public transportation prices, which also has clear social significance. Those using public transportation tend to be more economically disadvantaged – this is a significant relief for them.”
Deri added, “Cutting VAT on public transportation means fulfilling the commitment I took on myself in the election campaign, and will save poor families and those without cars thousands of shekels. This is a major reduction that will be brought up for quick passage by the Knesset in order to make sure that it is not canceled in the coming years.”

For further reading click here.

Israel News for September 3, 2015

/by

< back to sign up

Shots from Gaza
Several shots were fired from Gaza yesterday at Israeli moshav Netiv Ha’asarah. Three homes were hit. Miraculously, no one was injured even though the inhabitants were home. In one of the homes a bullet hit the TV that the kids were watching at the time.

The IDF is sure that the shots came from Gaza, but not so sure that the shots were deliberate. Hamas has a training camp right near the border in the area.

In any case, the air force quickly responded by hitting the Hamas military area where the shots originated from. The IDF said that they hold Hamas responsible for any attacks coming from Gaza and for keeping their side of the border quiet.

Budget Approved
The Knesset yesterday approved the 2015-2016 budget in its first reading with a narrow margin of 57 in favor and 53 against. It still needs to be approved in two additional readings to become law. 

In presenting the budget, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said “this budget includes a significant increase for the social ministries, with an increased budget for education, health, welfare and public security.”

The main challenges Kahlon faced in getting the budget approved were the promises that had been made to individual parties, especially the charedi parties, during the coalition building process. Many of those promises could not be honored within the proposed budget.

Economy Minister Aryeh Deeri of Shas was noticeably absent from the vote and threatened that if his proposal to eliminate all VAT (value added tax) for the poorer sectors is not implemented, his party will vote against the budget in the second and third readings.

One of the largest bones of contention is the size of the defense budget. According to the Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist, it stands at 55 billion shekels, but the political establishment is estimating the final number to be much larger. Any increase in the defense budget is likely to mean cuts in the welfare budget or an increase in the national deficit.

The opposition strongly opposed the budget.

PM Gets Tough
PM Netanyahu is getting tougher on security. In a meeting yesterday regarding the security situation in Jerusalem and on Highway 443, he told the IDF to reassess its standing order on opening fire on stone and fire-bomb throwers.

The current order, which was issued after the Duma attacks, prohibits soldiers from firing at stone throwers unless the soldiers feel that their lives are in immediate danger. The order was meant to prevent increased violence by avoiding Palestinian casualties. That seems to be working. Unfortunately, stone and fire-bomb throwing seems to have increased.

The PM wants the attacks to end. He stressed that his policy is, “zero tolerance for stone throwing and terror.”

As a result of the meeting, two new Border Police companies and another 400 police officers will be added to the existing forces in Jerusalem and additional security will be added along the 443.

Firemen Attacked
A fire broke out in a building in an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem last night. Five firefighting units responded. Firemen entered the building and rescued five people, including a mother and her children. They put out the fire. Then the neighborhood came out to attack them with stones. Police forces that were on the scene protected the firefighters from their grateful audience.

This wasn’t an isolated incident. It seems that rescue workers that respond to calls in Arab neighborhoods routinely get attacked. Not very nice.

Charedi Minister
It finally happened, without hell having to freeze over. For the first time in over 50 years, there will be a charedi cabinet minister in the Israeli government.

Yesterday, Yaakov Litzman was sworn in as Minister of Health after a Knesset vote of 83 to 10 in favor of his appointment. Among those who voted for him were opposition leaders Isaac Herzog and Yair Lapid, as well as all of the Labor party Knesset members.

Litzman had held the position of Deputy Health Minister in accordance with the charedi position of not accepting government ministerial portfolios based on their ideological objections to secular government in the Holy Land. But when the High Court ruled that he must either become full minister or quit, the Council of Torah sages of his Agudas Yisroel faction gave him the green light to become minister.

After his swearing in Litzman received congratulations from most of the Knesset members. He even got some hugs, but just from the men.

Druze Shortchanged
The Israeli Druze population contributes more than its fair share of combat fighters to the IDF. Many Druze soldiers fought valiantly and were decorated for their service during Operation Protective Shield (Gaza War) last year. Unfortunately, many of their homes aren’t even connected to the electrical grid. That’s caused a group of veterans to return the decorations they received during Protective Shield to protest their situation.

MK Nissan Slomiansky of Bayit Yehudi met with representatives in the Druze town of Dalit Al-Karmel to hear their grievances. He sympathized with their problems, but tried to convince them to keep their commendations.

So the Druze have their ribbons and medals, but still not much electricity.

They deserve better.