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Israel News for July 18, 2018

Kindergarten Attacked
An incendiary balloon launched from Gaza yesterday landed in the yard of a kindergarten in the Sdot Negev Regional Council. There were children around, but none were hurt.

Earlier, IDF aircraft attacked a group of Gazans who launched incendiary balloons from the northern Gaza Strip into Israel. Firefighters put out 9 different fires caused by incendiary balloons flown from Gaza throughout Tuesday.

Speaking during a visit to a regional military base, Netanyahu said: “We are in the midst of a campaign, there is an exchange of blows, and I can say that the IDF is prepared for every scenario. Like me, all Israeli citizens believe in and support the IDF ahead of any possible development.”

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Egyptian Warning
Egypt has warned Hamas to significantly reduce or completely end within a few days the launching of incendiary balloons and kites into Israeli territory from Gaza. The ultimatum came after Israel announced on Monday evening that it would be closing the commercial Kerem Shalom crossing to gas and fuel supplies after a ceasefire agreement was violated earlier in the afternoon when a rocket was fired into southern Israel.

Hamas claims that it is unable to stop all of the incendiary attacks being launched by rogue terror groups. However, it does seem that the number of attacks has dropped significantly since the weekend.

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Online Law
PM Netanyahu prevented the passage into law of a bill today that would have required all online media providers to remove terrorist content. The bill passed its initial reading on Monday in the Knesset Law Committee and was set to pass into law in the plenum on Wednesday night. But Netanyahu asked that it be removed from the Knesset’s agenda.

A Likud spokesman said, ”Out of concern that freedom of expression could be harmed and to guarantee the rights of Israeli citizens to freely express their criticism online, the prime minister asked to halt the legislation of the Facebook bill and return it to its original goal of preventing online incitement to terror. The prime minister believes the current version of the bill could be interpreted too broadly and permit censoring of opinions and gravely harming freedom of expression in Israel.”

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New Airport
The first airplane – an Arkia flight from Tel Aviv – landed at Israel’s new Ramon Airport in Eilat today. The airport will be officially opened in April of 2019 will be able to serve 2 million yearly passengers.

The 875-acre airport is located a 30-minute drive away from Eilat. It will be used for both international and internal flights and will be Israel’s second largest airport after Ben Gurion Airport. The terminal covers 35,000 square meters, including a 3,320-square meter duty free area. The airport will replace the smaller Eilat airport in the city center for domestic flights and Ovda airport in the Negev for international flights.  

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