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Sunday, Mar. 19 '17, כ"א באדר תשע"ז
HEADLINES:
1. 'I WON'T BUDGE ON THE BROADCASTING CORPORATION'
2. NETANYAHU'S CRUEL GAME
3. WATCH: NEW VEGETABLE CAKES SPARK MAJOR INTEREST
4. SUSPICION OF TAX OFFENSES IN 120 GARAGES
5. TOWARDS WINTER'S END, KINNERET STOPS RISING
6. PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PROTESTS UNRWA CURRICULUM CHANGES
7. PARIS: MAN SWIPES WEAPON FROM SOLDIER, SHOT DEAD
8. WATCH: NEWLY RELEASED NUCLEAR TEST VIDEOS ARE DECLASSIFIED
1. 'I WON'T BUDGE ON THE BROADCASTING CORPORATION'
by Hezki Baruch
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday slammed Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu) for causing the current coalition crisis.
After landing in Beijing, Netanyahu told Channel 10, "I will not budge on the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation issue. If one Finance Minister understood I'm serious, another Finance Minister will understand as well."
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) said, "Anyone sane understands that the last thing Israel needs right now is new elections. I hope the parties will agree to compromise when the Prime Minister returns from China. Each of them must do his best."
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) said, "There are many issues which need to be dealt with," Katz said. "For a disagreement on communications, we will not hold new elections.
"Meetings with the Likud management were not held, and no official party decision on the subject was made.
"Israel does not need new elections, and I assume there will not be new elections. We cannot tell the Israeli public that there are considerable challenges, and then go to unnecessary elections."
On Saturday night, Netanyahu announced that he changed his mind regarding the closure of the Israel Broadcast Authority and the creation of the new Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation. He also said he expects the other coalition partners to respect the Likud's decision, but left the final decision up to Kahlon, who may or may not decide to pull out of the coalition. If Kahlon did pull out, this would force new elections.
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2. NETANYAHU'S CRUEL GAME
by Shlomo Pietrekovski
Netanyahu wants elections. Now. There is no other way to explain Netanyahu's behavior regarding the Broadcast Corporation except a conscious decision to hold elections.
Everything seems too similar to a previous episode of the same nature, the one that occurred in early December, 2014. Then, let us recall, Prime Minister Netanyahu had put an ultimatum to (then) Finance Minister Yair Lapid, demanding that Lapid give up the Zero Value Added Tax program on apartments for young couples.
This was not a cardinal issue for Netanyahu. The Prime Minister did not especially care for the plan from the outset, for good reasons, but decided to swallow it and cooperate with Lapid about it all along. Again, it should be noted, the Broadcast Corporation began as a project that Netanyahu was definitely for, despite the history he's trying to have written about it now.
Even when the Prime Minister turned on the Corporation, it was clear that he was ready to reach agreements, and those, recall, were obtained last week. The decision to accost Kahlon with the Corporation issue and present him an ultimatum has only one purpose: To lead the State of Israel to elections.
Netanyahu's essential desire to hold elections is legitimate. While you can and should ask whether it's logical for a country to go to elections every two-and-a-quarter years, but if this is what Netanyahu wants, who can tell him not to. But the way Netanyahu chose to advance this goal is already much less legitimate. Netanyahu is performing a cruel and cynical game with the feelings of IBA employees in order to achieve political gain that he doesn't really need at this point in time.
To clarify what is so terrible in what Netanyahu is doing now, we must return to his previous stunt, what he did to Lapid. Then, the outcome of the elections was eliminating Lapid's Zero VAT program. One could draw a rational connection between the alleged purpose, scrapping the zero tax plan, and the means, going to elections.
In our case, however, if we go to elections the Corporation certainly will arise, because the law for it has been already been written, as is known. In this case the Prime Minister will not even have the same degree of influence that would perhaps enable him to bring more IBA employees to be absorbed into the new corporation. Elections will not benefit IBA employees, who are supposedly the whole reason for the move according to Netanyahu's claim, in any case. So what do we have? Callous and despicable exploitation of IBA employees and their feelings for crass political motives, whose real aim are not clear to anyone.
One possibility, which the Right should actually fear, is that Netanyahu's attempt to change the coalition's composition so that it does not depend for its survival on Jewish Home. An attempt that aims to allow Netanyahu more political flexibility to carry out policy moves. If this sounds preposterous, let me remind you that Netanyahu is under investigation, which is far from over as of now. What the last prime minister of the Right who was under investigation did, we certainly needn't remind anyone.
3. WATCH: NEW VEGETABLE CAKES SPARK MAJOR INTEREST
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[twittervideo:2026009]
4. SUSPICION OF TAX OFFENSES IN 120 GARAGES
by Arutz Sheva Staff
All tax offices throughout the country conducted audits last week on garages.
The audit focused on 300 garages, selecting data processed on suspicion of failure to report transactions and illegal accounting of deductibles. Indeed, preliminary findings indicate that 120 out of 300 garages examined did not comply with the law.
In auditing an automotive parts business in Jerusalem it became clear that the business owner offset false invoices. An attempt to trace the source of the invoices showed that a worker of the business whose invoices were offset in its name printed, at his own initiative, false invoices in the name of his employer and distributed them for a fee of 3%.
A garage owner in the northern coastal plain operating near car sales lots and performing pre-sales performance tests was revealed by investigators to keep no work log or record of tests. When asked about the registry software he argued that test results are given orally without test outputs. However, when testing outputs were found, he changed his version and said that the software had been deleted, and then again changed his version, claiming that the computer was burned.
If that were not enough, for-sale signs were found waving in the car sales lots with this same garage owner's name on them. Here, too, the business owner changed versions, initially arguing that what he's selling is not a vehicle, then he chose not to respond.
Another audit in a garage in the north found no vehicles that the auditors saw being worked on registered in the logbooks, as required. Moreover, investigators found a garage owner running taxi services, without any registration or bookkeeping. An inventory of a tire repair garage in Yarka revealed irregularities between the information reported and the actual inventory. The business owner said: "I bought the stock, but it's still by the distributor."
A garage owner in Hadera who didn't document cars that were up on his lift argued that the fellows come to drink coffee, and he parks their car up there. And another garage owner, also in Hadera, caught not keeping a work log since the opening of his business explained that he was going through a divorce.
In a garage in Lod, the owner was found by investigators never to have recorded vehicles on Fridays before the operation. He said he logs a vehicle only once and if it returns for more treatment it is not recorded. He even rationalized that in cases where he does not charge a fee, he does not record the work in the log. Investigators to a garage in Ramla observed 15 unlogged vehicles being worked on, while the business owner claimed: "I'm in bankruptcy and am working without court approval."
Tax offices chose the first third of the year to conduct their audit in the garage sector, which employs about 35,000 workers. In preparation for the operation stake-outs were placed and garage's VAT reports were processed. On the day of the operation auditors arrived to the garages, examined the business books and compared them to their surveillance observations and log reports. Upon completion of the audit, estimates will be made in garages where problems were found, which stand at tens of millions of shekels.
The day before the operation, an audit and collection enforcement action was conducted in all business areas (besides garages). Approximately 86,000,000 NIS were collected from about 1,400 tax delinquents. Tiberias VAT employees arrived at a restaurant in Rosh Pina whose owner evades his VAT obligations, and seized NIS 700 from the cash register. Soon after, the restaurant owner came to the VAT office and paid his debts in the amount of NIS 380,000.
Hadera VAT employees visited three businesses in the catering field, operated by a father and son, who evaded filing tax reports. An analysis of the cases and the investigation showed that the businesses evaded reported revenues totaling 1.6 million NIS. The case was transferred to the legal department for the purpose of filing indictments. Indictments will be filed against six businesses in the Nazareth area, who cut off connection with the tax office for a long period. These business owners were investigated and found not to have reported income totaling 9 million NIS.
5. TOWARDS WINTER'S END, KINNERET STOPS RISING
by Shlomo Pyutrikovsky
The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) on Sunday morning measured 698.8 feet and 2.2 inches (213 meters and 5.5 centimeters) below sea level.
Since Thursday, the Kinneret rose a centimeter and a half, and currently stands at 2.2 inches (5.5 centimeters) below the lower red line.
This is the first time in the past decade when the Kinneret measured below the lower red line at the end of winter.
The low levels are due to a combination of especially arid weather and extensive use by Lebanon and Syria of the ground water which flows into the Jordan River and into the Kinneret.
Recently, the Water Authority published a report stating February 2017 was an arid month in all of Israel, and some water stations had reached a new deficit of water, unprecedented since the 1920s.
This is the fourth winter in a row in which the Water Authority has ordered an almost complete halt to drawing water from the Kinneret. The Kinneret itself is below both red lines, and Israel's entire north is suffering from a drought, which is expected to worsen during the coming summer.
6. PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PROTESTS UNRWA CURRICULUM CHANGES
by Dalit Halevi
UNRWA Judea and Samaria Manager Taeh al-Bas announced the UNRWA Education Committee's intention to change the textbooks of schools belonging to the organization.
In an interview with Palestin on Saturday, al-Bas said the changes are all connected to "national issues related to Palestinian cities conquered by Israel in 1948, geography maps, history, and national culture."
He also warned the changes were "very dangerous."
According to al-Bas, the changes are meant to prove UNRWA is a neutral organization which teaches subjects objectively. He blamed UNRWA for allowing the US to dictate what happens in Israel and other countries.
Al-Bas called on the Palestinian Authority to involve itself in the matter, and said he had sent a letter to UNRWA demanding they immediately cease efforts to change the curriculum.
The Center for Near East Policy Research, led by David Bedein, has closely followed UNRWA's activities for two decades, and exposed the fact that the Palestinian Authority teaches children not to recognize Israel's existence and brainwashes them to want to return to "Palestine" and destroy Israel.
Schoolchildren in UNRWA schools in Gaza are trained to infiltrate and attack Israeli towns,
Recently, an UNRWA employee was elected to the Hamas political bureau. The US government is currently investigating UNRWA's connections to terror.
7. PARIS: MAN SWIPES WEAPON FROM SOLDIER, SHOT DEAD
by Chana Roberts
[youtube:2025989]
A Muslim male on Saturday morning fired at police in northern Paris before traveling to the city's Orly Airport. He was shot dead while wrestling with a female soldier.
The attacker assaulted three French Air Force soldiers - two men and a woman - who were part of the anti-terror Sentinelle special forces group. Wrestling the woman to the floor, he attempted to take her weapon but did not succeed.
The remaining two soldiers then opened fire to protect their comrade and others in the airport, killing the would-be thief.
No explosives were found on his body, and no other casualties were reported.
As a result of the incident, 3,000 passengers were evacuated from the airport, and all flights were suspended, with some diverted to Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Prior to the airport incident, the man had shot a female police officer who stopped him for speeding. He then stole a car at gunpoint and drove to Orly Airport.
The officer was "not badly injured."
According to French broadcaster BFMTV, the man, 39-year-old Ziyed Ben Belgacem, immediately after he shot the officer, sent his father and brother a text message reading, "I screwed up, I shot the police."
Belgacem was a French native and known to French security services.
In November 2015, immediately following the Paris terror attacks which killed 130 people, Belgacem's home was one of those searched in investigations.
Belgacem's father and brother were detained by French police for questioning.
Security services have opened an investigation and French President François Hollande said they would investigate "whether the attacker had a terrorist plot behind him."
8. WATCH: NEWLY RELEASED NUCLEAR TEST VIDEOS ARE DECLASSIFIED
by Arutz Sheva Staff
[twittervideo:2026010]
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