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Sunday, Nov. 20 '16, י"ט בחשון תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. 1,440 NEW HOUSING UNITS TO BE BUILT IN JERUSALEM
2. SENIOR IDF OFFICER: WOMEN IN ARMORED CORPS MEANS A WEAKER IDF
3. 11-YEAR-OLD OKLAHOMA GIRL FINDS CRIMINAL IN CLOSET
4. NETANYAHU: SUBMARINES NEEDED FOR ISRAEL'S SECURITY
5. ENTIRE RABBINICAL COURT TO RULE ON DIVORCE CASE
6. GAY FLAG HUNG UP AT RABBINATE
7. HAREDIM ATTACK SOLDIER IN BEIT SHEMESH
8. HAREDI STUDENTS PROTEST IN JERUSALEM
1. 1,440 NEW HOUSING UNITS TO BE BUILT IN JERUSALEM
by Arutz Sheva Staff
The Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee is scheduled to discuss on Sunday a new plan to build 1,400 new housing units in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood. The units will be built on 70 dunams of land.
Municipal sources say this is one of the largest projects the Committee has authorized in the past several years, and that it comes as result of the US elections.
Last week, the Committee's chair announced his intention of bringing building plants "out of the freezer" but the current plan is actually an expansion of a previous plan to build in Ramat Shlomo, which officials say"was not discussed prior to today, because of the Obama administrations opposition" to it.
Committee sources say, "Jerusalem is acting as if Trump was already president, but the issue is no one knows what his policies will be. There's a feeling that whatever isn't accomplished in the next two months won't necessarily succeed later on. Even if America condemns us, it's not worth too much right now. We need to tell Trump very clearly that Jerusalem intends to build."
Jerusalem Vice Mayor Meir Turgeman told Channel 2 last week, "There was pressure not to go through with the plan, because it was 'over the green line.' They didn't allow us to build there."
In addition to the units planned for Ramat Shlomo, 2,600 units are planned for Givat Hamatos as well as 3,000 for Gilo.
Turgeman said, "There are a lot more plans, and I intend to use the US transition period to get them approved. Until now we were prevented from building by the Obama administration's pressures on Israel. It's over. From now on we're going to pull those plans out of the freezer."
Nachman Shai (Zionist Union) said on Sunday that, "Building right now is crazy, someone in Jerusalem has obviously gone out of his mind, and I'm not even sure who it is anymore. Approving new housing units in Jerusalem means playing into the Palestinians' hands. It's an invitation for international pressure. It's like sticking a finger into the US president's eye over and over again."
For several years there has been a de-facto building freeze in Jerusalem, even though eastern Jerusalem was officially annexed to Israel in 1967 and is not considered to be part of Judea and Samaria. After the US elections, right-wing MKs began pushing to use the transition period and president-elect Donald Trump's apparent pro-Israel stance to do things outgoing President Barack Obama had previously forbidden.
2. SENIOR IDF OFFICER: WOMEN IN ARMORED CORPS MEANS A WEAKER IDF
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Reserve Major-General Yiftach Ron-Tal, formerly the commander of the IDF's ground forces, fiercely criticized the decision to integrate female soldiers into the Armored Corps, saying those who push for it are out to weaken the IDF.
In an interview with Kelman Liebskind on Galei Israel Radio, Ron-Tal said the decision to integrate women into the Armored Corps was a "scandal that will harm everything you can even think of, including the IDF's abilities to fight."
He also said the next thing feminist organizations would attempt will be to put women into the foot soldiers' combat units.
"The ones who are leading this push, are, excuse my expression, are imbeciles,"said Ron-Tal. "What, have they gone out of their minds? The next step isn't tanks, it's the paratroopers, the Golani and Givati troops, and then he haredi units."
Ron-Tal also revealed that there are several groups who have a vested interest in pushing women into all divisions of the IDF, in order to weaken it.
"These groups, and there are proofs for this, are trying to weaken the IDF. I heard this first hand and I suspect this so-called 'democratic' process is trying to weaken the army, and that is unthinkable. I'm really worried," he said.
"Anyone who has ever fought in these units knows that this will not only be something we will forever regret. It will turn the army into an army which cannot fight. This isn't related to women specifically, but to the fact that we'll be integrating people who are aren't fit for these jobs. Not all men are fit to be paratroopers or fight in the Golani units," Ron-Tal pointed out. "And now they want to integrate women, who not only aren't physically fit to fight, but also in Caracal they are injured dozens of times more than men, and now you want them to be foot soldiers? It will one day turn the army into an army that can't fight.
"And since we are, unfortunately, in a country surrounded by hostile neighbors, most of whom are not interested in seeing us continue to exist, that's a big problem. There won't be anyone who can fight and protect us. I would hope that those who come after us will protect us, but I see they have decided to turn the IDF into a crippled army," Ron-Tal concluded.
Ron-Tal is not alone. The number of women joining combat units is at a record high, and experts suggested several months ago that women in combat would mean decreased fighting abilities for the IDF as a whole.
3. 11-YEAR-OLD OKLAHOMA GIRL FINDS CRIMINAL IN CLOSET
by Chana Roberts
10-year-old Presley Brown was playing on her phone when she saw a man's reflection on her closet mirror. She ran out of her room screaming, and her parents, who were home at the time, came running to her.
"He kind of popped out, and I was scared to death. He said, 'Don't be scared, little girl,'" Presley recounted.
When her father came in, he spotted 26-year-old Race Cox and began fighting with him. Though Cox managed to escape the Brown home, police arrested him a short time later.
Presley said Cox not only got $100 of her birthday money, but also stole her sense of security.
"Every time I open my closet or my room or my bathroom, anywhere, I just think about it and like I remember how scary it was," she said.
Cox was wanted on two counts of felony.
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4. NETANYAHU: SUBMARINES NEEDED FOR ISRAEL'S SECURITY
by Shlomo Vile
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the recent controversy over Israel's decision to purchase 3 additional German submarines. The controversy erupted over the Prime Minister's spearheading of the deal and the business relationship of his long-time personal attorney, David Shimron, with the German shipbuilding company.
Former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon vigorously opposed the $1.5 billion deal, and there have been charges that Netanyahu fast-tracked the deal over the heads of the Defense establishment. Unusually, the initiative for the deal came from the Prime Minister, not the IDF, and the degree to which IDF approves of the purchase is still not clear.
Netanyahu this morning said that the only consideration that guided the topic was strengthening Israeli's military power. "Israel's security requires purchasing these submarines. These strategic systems ensure Israel's future and its very existence for decades to come."
Minister Ze'ev Elkin also defended the deal before the weekly Cabinet meeting. "As a member of the political-security cabinet and a past head of the Knesset Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, the discussion of the submarine purchase was purely professional. The attempts to ascribe external considerations to the purchase are nonsense."
5. ENTIRE RABBINICAL COURT TO RULE ON DIVORCE CASE
by Shlomo Vile
For the first time in the history of the State of Israel, the full Supreme Rabbinical Court will shortly convene. They will be deciding on the case of a get that was issued by the rabbinical court in Tzfat, headed by Rav Uriel Lavie, to the wife of a man who has been in a coma for the past nine years.
The question is whether a rabbinical court can grant a divorce in such a case. The Supreme Rabbinical Court is being convened by Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, Israel's Sephardi chief rabbi and the head of the court.
It's unclear how the court will rule. The late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, former chief rabbi and father of the Yitzchak Yosef, ruled after the 1973 war that wives of soldiers who were missing in the war, with no evidence whether they were dead or alive, could be granted a divorce. This freed them from their status as agunot and allowed them to move on with their lives and remarry.
On the other hand, there is another case of a comatose husband in which Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ruled, in a 10-page teshuvah, that there was no place granting divorce in the case of a comatose husband.
6. GAY FLAG HUNG UP AT RABBINATE
by Shlomo Pyutrikovsky
The Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transexual was hung up outside the offices of the Rabbinate last night in downtown Jerusalem and an additional flag was painted on the floor at the entrance. The police have opened an investigation.
The incident comes in response to the remarks of Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar to Israel Hayom in which he called the LGBT community a "cult of abomination." According to the interview, Rabbi Amar said "It is a cult of abomination. It is clear that it is abomination. The Torah punishes it with death. This is in the first line of serious sins. They say 'tendency,' 'perversion' -- nonsense. There is lust, and a person can overcome it if he wants, as with any other kind of lust. This is one of the most forbidden types of lust. The most grave."
7. HAREDIM ATTACK SOLDIER IN BEIT SHEMESH
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Beit Shemesh policemen arrested three haredi men on Saturday night after they attacked a haredi soldier last Friday.
The haredi soldier, as well as the attackers, live in Beit Shemesh. Two of the attackers are over the age of 18, while the third is only 14 years old.
The soldier was walking in Beit Shemesh when he was attacked "only because he was wearing a uniform." An IDF officer, also haredi, saw the incident and got out of his car to help. In response, the attackers turned and began attacking him as well, throwing stones in an attempt to prevent him from reaching the first soldier.
As well, a week before this event, a police officer was injured when dozens of haredim blocked the road and threw stones at police officers who had come to arrest a draft dodger.
Those arrested were brought to the Beit Shemesh police station, and their case will be transferred to Hashalom Court in Jerusalem, where their arrest will probably be extended. The police have stated there may be more arrests in the coming weeks, as possible accomplices are discovered.
8. HAREDI STUDENTS PROTEST IN JERUSALEM
by Hezki Baruch
[video:2021188]
Dozens of haredi students from the Netivot Moshe school in Haifa protested on Sunday morning opposite the Knesset in Jerusalem.
Since the beginning of September, over 400 students have not been able to attend school due to the difficult conditions noted by both parents and staff.
The Haifa municipality told Arutz Sheva that the Netivot Moshe school belongs to the "independent" education system and is run solely by a private organization, without any intervention from the municipality.
They also mentioned that most of the school's students are not residents of Haifa, claiming this factor placed the blame and responsibility for finding a solution solely on the Education Ministry.
"We will continue working for the best interests of Haifa's residents, by using the resources available to us for their benefit. We will not agree to finance the studies of students who do not live in Haifa," Haifa's municipality said. "In Kiryat Shmuel, there are two state-of-the-art educational institutions that can provide a solution for all of their neighborhood's children according to the parents' preference. Haifa parents are welcome to visit the municipality at any time in order to find a true solution for their students' needs."
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