Arutz Sheva Daily Israel Report
http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe/
Sunday, Jan. 17 '16, Shevat 7, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. TERROR ATTACK THWARTED AT JERUSALEM SYNAGOGUE
2. NGO TRANSPARENCY BILL TO BE MODELED ON EXISTING US LAW
3. NETANYAHU AND BENNETT SPAR OVER 'UNPATRIOTIC' FOREIGN MINISTRY
4. CRUZ: I'LL RIP UP IRAN DEAL ON DAY ONE
5. SOLDIERS FOIL STABBING ATTEMPT IN SAMARIA
6. ISRAELI COMPANIES FIND HUGE NEW NATURAL GAS FIELD
7. DID CRUZ'S 'NEW YORK' JIBE REFER TO JEWS?
8. LONE SOLDIERS SEND MESSAGE TO THE WORLD: WE WON'T BE DEFEATED
1. TERROR ATTACK THWARTED AT JERUSALEM SYNAGOGUE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2011562]
Three Israeli Arabs were stopped outside of a Jerusalem synagogue on Sunday morning carrying large knives.
The suspects were approaching the Heichal Yaakov synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe that was full of worshipers who were praying their morning prayers.
The three are suspected of attempting to carry out a large attack on worshipers. They have been brought in for questioning and the investigation is ongoing.
2. NGO TRANSPARENCY BILL TO BE MODELED ON EXISTING US LAW
by Nitsan Keidar
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hit back at critics of the government's NGO Transparency Bill Sunday, noting that similar laws already exist in other Western countries.
But speaking at the start of Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said he would be tweaking the bill somewhat to model it along precisely the same lines as existing US laws - effectively neutralizing some of the strongest criticisms.
The bill - sponsored by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) - would obligate any NGOs who receive 50% or more of their funding from foreign states to open their finances to public scrutiny, as well as to identify themselves as "foreign agents" when lobbying in the Knesset.
Although the bill applies to all NGOs regardless of political or other stances, leftist NGOs are up in arms, as in practice they are the only NGOs who receive funds from foreign states - particularly European Union states - to the tune of tens of millions of dollars annually.
While they claim the bill is meant to hamper their activities - despite it not placing any such restrictions - the bill's supporters say it is a crucial tool to prevent foreign states from undermining the Israeli democratic process by funding organizations with the explicit objective of directly influencing government policy or placing pressure on the State of Israel. Ironically, the European Union recently approved tens of thousands of euros to one such leftist NGO - B'Tselem - as part of a political campaign to derail the bill.
Among the most vocal critics of the bill is the US State Department - something Netanyahu said he didn't quite understand given that a very similar American law - the US Foreign Agents Registration Act
While expressing "surprise" at the criticism, Netanyahu noted that his new adjustments to the government-sponsored law meant there now really was no further grounds for opposition.
"I don't understand how a demand for transparency is ant-democratic," he said. "The opposite is true - in a democracy people want to know who is financing this NGO or that, from the left to the right, from top to bottom."
In particular, he added, foreign state actors pouring funds into specific NGOs to further certain political goals "is definitely something that the public needs to know about."
"What needs to be done is to establish norms which were adopted by the US House of Representatives," Netanyahu continued. "Therefore, I have requested to promote this law with two adjustments."
"The first adjustment is to remove the requirement to place labels on representatives of these NGOs in the Knesset," he declared, scrapping an aspect of the law which has been seized upon as "incitement" by many on the Left.
Netanyahu explained that the most important objective of the bill was to ensure total transparency "from the first Shekel and from the first dollar of foreign governments - and so we will model the law on what is already accepted in the US."
Netanyahu also related to the decision last night by the UN to begin providing sanctions relief to Iran.
"Israel will continue to follow all international violations by Iran, including concerning the nuclear agreement, ballistic missiles and terrorism.
"The international community must enact severe sanctions... against any violations," he warned.
He claimed that were it not for Israel's intensive efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions until now - including holding its nuclear program up for international scrutiny - "it would have had a nuclear weapon a long time ago."
He further warned that sanctions relief would help fuel Iranian-sponsored terrorism.
"What is clear is that from now Iran will have more means to direct terror activity and its aggression throughout the world, and Israel is prepared to deal with any threat."
3. NETANYAHU AND BENNETT SPAR OVER 'UNPATRIOTIC' FOREIGN MINISTRY
by Uzi Baruch
An argument broke out on Sunday morning between Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is also acting as the Foreign Minister. The fight revolved around the Foreign Ministry's comments and attempt to boycott Bennett.
Bennett attacked the Prime Minister over his hurry to distance himself from Bennett's comment about "the DNA of those who work at the Foreign Ministry". Bennett asked the Prime Minister what he did about the workers' attempt to boycott him.
The Prime Minister simply claimed that he was unaware of the matter, but Bennett was not going to be shrugged off that easily. He responded to Netanyahu by saying: "My remarks that were made on a local radio station you heard about very quickly, but you didn't hear about this issue at all?"
Bennett went one step further and said that the issue is one of governability. "It is a governance issue. Are you in control of them or are they in control of you?" he asked the Prime Minister.
Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Jerusalem Affairs Zeev Elkin said that comments by both parties were out of line."Naftali, your comment is out of line, and so are the actions of those in the Foreign Ministry.
"You cannot label the entire Ministry due to the comments of a former worker. Just like the statement of a teacher doesn't reflect upon the entire Education Ministry. The committee however can suffice with a condemnation and does not need to progress to the level of boycotting a Minister."
4. CRUZ: I'LL RIP UP IRAN DEAL ON DAY ONE
by Gil Ronen
Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz repeated Sunday that as president, "on the first day of office," he intends to "tear to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal."
Speaking to Americans for Peace Prosperity and Security in South Carolina, Cruz noted that under the deal, Iran gets advance notice before inspections.
"Now, let's just take that component," he said. "Remember early on the Obama Administration said 'anytime, anywhere inspections.' Then it became 'well, we'll give you a couple of weeks' advance notice.' Now, imagine if the state of South Carolina passed a law: before law enforcement could execute a search warrant, they must notify a drug dealer 14 days in advance…"
The audience erupted in laughter.
"The only way to deal with Iran is from strength," Cruz stressed. "Weakness and appeasement doesn't work. That has been the Obama foreign policy. What that means is number one, we need to re-impose sanctions. Number two, we strengthen them."
Cruz said that he has filed legislation laying out exactly how to do this. Sanctions are to become "even more crippling," he explained, and Iran needs to be told that if it seeks to end the sanctions, "it must shut down all 19,000 centrifuges, it must hand over all of its enriched uranium, it must shut down its ICBM program."
The ICBM program exists solely for the purpose of delivering a nuclear payload to the US, Cruz added.
The US needs a commander in chief who calls radical Islamic terrorism by its name, he said, and makes clear that the US will "hunt them down."
5. SOLDIERS FOIL STABBING ATTEMPT IN SAMARIA
by Arutz Sheva Staff
An Arab terrorist attempted to carry out a stabbing attack a the Samaria Regional Brigade Junction in Samaria (also known as Bahad 3), but was shot dead by soldiers before he was able to harm anyone.
It is the second attempted attack of the day Sunday, after a potentially major serious attack was thwarted outside a Jerusalem synagogue.
Three Arab youths were arrested in that incident, having been found armed with knives outside the Heichal Yaakov synagogue in Kiryat Moshe.
The three have been taken in for questioning, and are believed to have planned to carry out an attack on the synagogue as it was packed with worshipers attending morning prayers.
6. ISRAELI COMPANIES FIND HUGE NEW NATURAL GAS FIELD
by Shlomo Piotrokovsky
"Isramco" and "Modiin Energy" companies, announced on Sunday that they found a gas reserve in the Mediterranean Sea the size of the "Tamar" drilling field. The companies who partner in searching for oil and gas reserves in Israel publicized on Sunday morning that they have found gas reserves that equal the size of the offshore "Tamar" Gas field. The reserves are located in the drilling license regions of East and West Daniel.
According to an outside prospective agency that hails from the Netherlands "NSAI", the twin gas field has the potential to drill up to 8.9 trillion cubic feet (TCF), making it quite larger than the "Tamar" field. It will require several drilling points, as opposed to the single drilling point needed for the "Tamar" field.
The chances of taking full advantage of this discovery are estimated at 30 to 40%. Currently the assets of the field are divided among four owners. "Modiin Energy" owns a 15 percent share, "Isramco" owns a 75 percent share, "ATP" and "AGR" groups own five percent each of the additional ten percent.
7. DID CRUZ'S 'NEW YORK' JIBE REFER TO JEWS?
by Gil Ronen
[youtube:2011573]
During a key moment in the latest Republican candidates' debate, Ted Cruz accused Donald Trump of having "New York values," after making similar statements on several occasions in the week before the debate.
"There are many, many wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage and focus on money and the media," Cruz said to the crowd at the Fox Business Network debate in South Carolina. Trump hit back by noting the heroic way the people of New York reacted to the Twin Towers tragedy on 9/11, and criticized Cruz for making "a very insulting statement."
Quite a few liberal commentators took the statement as being a jab at liberal Jews, who are a dominant force in New York culture and politics.
On hard-line feminist website Jezebel, Joanna Rothkopf wrote: "Babe, just say what you mean: Jewish, black, gay values."
The exchange between Cruz and Trump took place on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, where the evangelical vote is critical for Republicans, and the two men are in a virtual dead heat.
Cruz hit back by trying to tie Trump to Hillary Clinton, pointing out that she is the former liberal Democratic senator from New York who has said her fellow New Yorker, Trump, "was basically a Democrat before he was a Republican."
The Jewish Week asked: "Was he just saying to the GOP's very conservative evangelical base in Iowa that Trump comes from the home of the eastern liberal values and mainstream media they love to hate, or was there a subliminal message?
"'New York values' or some variation of the term has often been used as a euphemism for 'Jewish,'" the publication noted. "Trump and Clinton have something Jewish in common besides New York: their daughters are married to Jews." It added that an essay in Entertainment Weekly once pointed out that some critics thought Seinfeld was "too New York," but what they really meant was "too Jewish."
Mark Silk, professor of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College, wrote in Religion News Service that "'New York' certainly can serve as code for 'Jew' throughout what The New Yorker's Saul Steinberg (yes, a Jew) famously portrayed as the American Outback — in national politics no less than in other venues.
"To Jesse Jackson, the city was ipso facto a Jewish place called Hymietown," he added. Silk referred to the TV show "West Wing," which had an irate Christian conservative say to Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, "It was only a matter of time with you, Josh. That New York sense of humor was just a little..."
"She meant Jewish," Communications Director Toby Ziegler then said to Lyman. "When she said New York sense of humor, she was talking about you and me."
[youtube:2011574]
"The key term in his debate explanation of New York values is 'money,'" Silk opined. "[T]hat 'focus around money and the media'? That was "New York = Jews" all the way. Don't kid yourself."
But others noted that while the comments may have been poorly-judged, Cruz clearly wasn't aiming at Jews.
Writing in The Observer, Lisa Shiffren said that while she thought Cruz was describing "the less attractive attributes of one loud, brash, money-obsessed, vain and attention-seeking, three-times-wed Donald Trump," she added that "every liberal New Yorker I know" thought he was "attacking New York Jews, by evoking deep, old-line anti-Semitism. To be sure, this view of New York as a bastion of liberal, libertine, Jewish communists and bankers and media moguls who manipulate the rest of the country for their own benefit, and Israel's, while undermining real American values, hasn't entirely disappeared."
In The Forward, Gabe Friedman noted that "Cruz, who is a far stauncher supporter of Israel than anyone in the current administration, or on Hillary Clinton's former or current staffs, is no anti-Semite."
Indeed, the Senator last year walked out of a key Christian conference halfway into his keynote speech, after attendants booed his call to support Jews in Israel.
Republican conservative Friedman explained: "Listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay-marriage, focus around money and the media."
Representative Steve King, a conservative Iowa Republican who supports Cruz, suggested on CNN that Cruz's remark had backfired, saying, "It would have been better on the part of Ted Cruz not to have had that exchange."
But Shmuley Boteach, a New Jersey rabbi and former congressional candidate who has been introducing Cruz to New York Jews, told MSNBC he didn't take the Texas senator's "New York values" attack too seriously.
"Personally, I saw what the senator said as being more tongue in cheek," Boteach said, suggesting that perhaps Cruz's comments were partly inspired by a scathing New York Times op-ed against him. "I think he was poking fun of how New Yorkers are portrayed in film and TV, like in 'Sex and the City' and 'Billionaire.'"
NBC's Saturday Night Live thought otherwise:
8. LONE SOLDIERS SEND MESSAGE TO THE WORLD: WE WON'T BE DEFEATED
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[youtube:2011577]
At a recent event held in honor of Lone Soldiers from North America all of whom are alumni from the youth group known as NCSY which is run by the Orthodox Union (OU), OU Israel Director Avi Berman spoke to Arutz Sheva about the important contribution that youngsters who choose to come and serve in the IDF from abroad make for their country, and the example it sets for people back home.
"These youngsters come to me and say 'Avi, why are you thanking us, we are doing what we have to do.' I tell them that you are volunteering three years of your life to come and do the IDF or one year to do national service to a country that you have no legal obligation to, what you are saying is that morally you want to give back. That is an unbelieveable message. We are seeing the Jewish people understanding that we are one. It doesn't matter where you were born, but if you are Jewish then you are connected to the entire 13 million Jewish people that are unified and standing together."
More than just the message within the Jewish people, Berman feels that the message of the lone soldiers is an international one. "The message that is being sent here, that we are sending to the world, is that no matter how many stabbing attacks, or other attacks we face, people have tried to kill us for 3,000 years and no one will succeed."
Berman talked about the discussion lead by Miriam Peretz a widow who lost both of her sons while they were serving in the IDF. "To hear Miriam, who has inspired so many and who has had her own loss, to hear her thank the American and Canadian soldiers, to thank these NCSY alumni who have come here to serve, that is an unbelieveable recognition of thanks that we can show these kids."
Peretz gave a talk to the volunteer soldiers and national service participants in which she said, "If Uriel and Eliraz [my sons] were here, they would say that they had not died in vain." Peretz continued her inspiring talk to the volunteers. "It is not a simple thing to come and enlist when you don't have to. You leave everything behind you and you come to fight for the land of Israel and the people of Israel. Especially at a time when others are debating whether or not to enlist. It moves me as a bereaved mother to see youngsters such as yourself."
Rabbi Yehoshua Marchuck the Director of NCSY Alumni said that the service which the youngsters are doing for Israel, "inspires and gives us chizuk back home to NCSY'ers in North America."
One of the NCSY alumni and participants in national sevice at Sharei Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem, Tova Berman, said that the opportunity of doing national service "is an incredible opportunity for someone to give back to Israel. You spend your whole life getting from ISrael, and having everyone give to you. Now we get to give back. Whatever people need in the hospital, whether it be patients, nurses or doctors we are there for them. Whether it is giving them a smile or bringing them a pudding. That's our job."
Tova compared the relationship that the volunteers have with Israel. "In America you have your family and your community, but you don't have your real family and your real community. Your family is. I have a lot of love and gratitude to America, but Israel is home!"
[album:open
------------------------------------------------
Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe/
